Underground restaurant in the basement to the world's only 7* hotel (Burj Al Arab) which, as of 2016, has been taken over by Nathan Outlaw

This was, to my surprise a very good meal. Firstly, the service was out-of-this-world good; practically served like royalty on greeting at the top of the stairs inside the Burj Al Arab where the greeters to the restaurant then escorted us to an elevator to back down to the ‘ground’ floor and all the way to the restaurant. I should have mentioned as well that if you are not staying in the world’s only 7-star hotel you do need a specific lunch, dinner or tea reservation in any of their restaurants or upper level bar just in order to get through the security gates to be allowed entrance in to the building.

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Thankfully, this we had and on strolling to the restaurant through the underground tunnel, you cannot, not be considerably impressed or bowled over by the originality and special feel of dining next to the largest restaurant aquarium in the world giving a vivid sense of being somehow in the sea. The amazing display of fish and creatures smoothly floating by is a lovely treat for the eyes to watch as one dines it has to be said.

But, more importantly what was the food like? Well, although the drinks list is pretty limited, they did produce some superbly done cocktails and although their forté is fish as primarily a seafood restaurant two meat dishes were enjoyed and all dishes were actually very well done. The beef carpaccio was light and had a very good balance of garlic senses with its velevty texture, both fish courses displayed very tender meat cooked perfectly with subtle and very agreeable sauces and the beef main, although in last place was also very carefully done with a healthy selection of well judged vegetables. The chocolate meringue was comfort food done superbly and with another chocolate martini was a superb way to finish. I throw in a bonus picture in the gallery to this visit of what one can have here on the liqueurs side if you feel like blowing a month’s wage on a round of the Louix III, which works out as roughly £70 per sip.

The whole meal however, was actually quite reasonable considering where we were as we stuck to the set lunch menu costing approximately £110 each including drinks, however there are options on this menu available which will happily take care of emptying all of your disposable if you wished for the extensive tasting menu.

Without drinks at lunch, this is actually not a bad option for a reasonable meal in Dubai indeed and I would say the quality of the food sat quite comfortably in the lower-echelon 1 Michelin starred bracket, but certainly in the 1 star family, which is all to its credit. Highly enjoyable and well prepared dishes here, whose price tag is not as scary as one thinks with a bit of self-discipline.

Food Grade: 76%