Surf and turf dining is writ large in Dubai
Briatore expands his empire with Beefbar and Crazy Fish, writes Ashleigh Stewart
Two restaurants, one bigticket owner, and one important question: meat or fish?
They might technically be attached, but Dubai International Financial Centre’s newest restaurants are dealing in very different specialities and species.
Beefbar and Crazy Fish recently opened in Al Fattan Currency House and they do exactly what they say on the tin. One restaurant deals in prime cuts of meat, while the other in fresh seafood.
They are both welcome additions to the DIFC dining scene, which was dealt several blows late last year when three of its standout restaurants closed their doors. Ceviche in Emirates Financial Towers – which despite being criticallyacclaimed managed less than a year in operation – closed around the same time as La Luz and Totora Cebicheria Peruana. Both restaurants were located in Gate Village.
Both of the new ventures are owned by Italian business mogul and former F1 team boss Flavio Briatore, whose court appeals against a jail sentence for tax evasion continue. He has a long history as a restaurateur and is clearly determined to expand on his culinary business footprint in Dubai. He’s also the man behind Billionaire Mansion, a one-stop jet-setter entertainment complex with five venues. All are concepts that hail from the principality of Monaco.
Where Crazy Fish is all contemporary paintings and pastel hues, Beefbar relies on a slick decor of black marble, leather booths and warm lighting. However, it’s not the Ron Burgundy-esque calibre of sophistication that will be the first thing you’ll notice as you enter the restaurant – it’s the glass display case full of meat. That’s raw meat.
What to order at Beefbar? The full-length wall display of different cuts and types of beef is a tribute to the humble bovine – and the parts of it you’ll find on the menu. You can even choose a lump of meat you fancy and have a steak or two hacked off to parcel up and take home.
Dubai’s Beefbar is its sixth incarnation after outlets in Hong Kong, Mexico, Mykonos, Cannes and, of course, Monaco – so it’s a well-established concept. But in a city with a wealth of steakhouses, can this one stand out? The starters are dubbed “street food”, and are made to share. Here you’ll find a mix of cuisines from around the world – think Kobe and Angus beef sliders with truffle cream (Dh95), to black Angus skirt tacos (Dh85) to Kobe and black Angus spiced meatballs (Dh80). They’re inventive ways to utilise very expensive cuts of meat, sure, but let’s be honest, we’ve all come here for the main event.
You’ll be handed custommade and engraved steak knives as your cuts of choice are served up on a hot plate. As far as slabs of beef go, the New York City petite tender steak (Dh155) comes recommended and doused in herbs and spices, and the Dutch milk-fed veal (Dh210) is akin to gliding your knife through butter. But if you know your steak, then the menu basically reads like a what’s what of the flashiest names of the meat world. They include Giraudi Rangers Valley Australian black Angus Black Onyx, Creekstone Farm American USDA certified black Angus beef, and Japanese Kobe, a Beefbar Dubai exclusive for the Middle East.
Next door or, through the door to the shared bathrooms, is Crazy Fish, where you’re greeted with the catch of the day, on ice and staring back at you. The seafood restaurant solely serving up fresh seafood is not a concept yet overdone in Dubai, so one would assume Crazy Fish is set to be a big presence in a small but highlycompetitive pond.
Oysters are available for Dh30 per piece, and served alongside a selection of raw and hot starters. The octopus with rosemary potatoes (Dh70) and tuna tartare (Dh70), served smoking at your table no less, are valiant accompaniments. It’s easy to forget you’re not beachside on an island in the Mediterranean, such is the freshness of the catch. It’s somewhat startling to hear the restaurant only buys its fish from auctions in Spain or Italy, as it tastes as though it’s been hauled off a boat only a few hours prior.
With the glut of dining options down this end of town, and the ghosts of DIFC restaurants past, it would be premature to crown these new eateries as surefire winners, but they’re certainly on to a good thing. Of his recent feathers to his cap, even Briatore spoke of his excitement at bringing more of his concepts to “one of the most incredible cities in the world”. But as competition abounds, success may only come with time.