Burgers and milkshakes at Black Tap; fun food at Folly. Plus, a look at the city’s latest Italian restaurants
Is there more to this NYC spot than monster shakes?
Sweet n’ salty. Cotton candy. And the cookie shake. These wonderfully named items are just some of the monster milkshakes available at New York import Black Tap. The calorific collection, devised by Michelin-star credited chef Joe Isidori, became a cult phenomenon thanks to his Instagram-worthy milkshakes. As a result, shake lovers would queue up – sometimes for hours – to get their sugar-fix (and social media snap).
Luckily for Dubai diners, the wait time at the new Jumeirah Al Naseem restaurant is a swift 20 minutes.
The décor is old-school hip hop with black leather chairs, brash art on the walls, bare concrete floors and light fixtures suspended from heavyweight chains. While limited, the food is anything but boring: the menu tightly focuses on burgers with a variety of options paying lip service to different states and regions – Texas, Mexico, California and even the Middle East. But the All American (Dhs65) – the most basic of offerings – is also the best. Served alongside a ginormous pickle, the burger is stuffed with prime meat, lettuce, tomato, American cheese and special sauce. Taste? Smoky, meaty and heavy on cheese. Structural integrity? You’ll need two hands to pick up this bad boy, but the dense potato roll holds the contents together quite nicely. Meat? Very juicy. It would have been an epic home run for this American outpost, but the substandard, generic fries let it down. Shoestring or golden crispy chips would have been a wonderful alternative. We suggest you substitute them for the onion rings instead.
One dish that did have all the winning parts was the Black Tap wings (Dhs35 for six; Dhs60 for 12). Coated in a spicy Korean barbecue sauce, toasted sesame and scallions, these finger-licking pieces were delicious. Dip them into the buttermilk-dill sauce, and it’s a scandalous but scrumptious alternative to buffalo hot sauce.
To finish, well, it would be wrong not to share a shake (Dhs65 each), now wouldn’t it? You can choose from a range of flavours including peanut butter-, strawberry-, or black cherry-based. The cookie shake was indeed an insta-worthy concoction, which was carried precariously to our table by our server who eagerly waited for our immediate feedback. “It sure is a monster,” we said. The outer glass is slathered in vanilla frosting and cookie crumbles. The filling is vanilla-based with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, chocolate chips more crumbled cookies, and, just for fun, a cookie sandwich nestled in yet more cream. It’s good because it’s just so naughty. Verdict? Don’t come here if you’re counting calories. Come here and splurge. And be sure to order 12 pieces of wings. They really are worth it.
Jumeirah Al Naseem, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, daily 11am to 12.30am. Tel: (04) 4229904. Taxi: Jumeirah Al Naseem. facebook.com/BlackTapDubai