It happened to me the other day when I was invited to the Korean Restaurant called Manna Land. It is nestled in an unassuming position alongside the Capitol Hotel just off Al Dhiyafa Street.

While I am no expert in Korean food it was an excellent education as one of our dining partners had lived in Seoul for three years and was happily conversing with the staff in their native tongue, which took everyone by surprise.

In the times of going out to eat in Dubai the choice seems to be polarised at the moment between super high end designer chef places to international franchise chains to the Pakistan and Indian restaurants in Karama and Bur Dubai. It is always hard to find a middle ground. I believe Manna Land fills the gap perfectly.

Quickly a selection of Kim Chi and other traditional accompaniments are brought to the table in a blink of an eye.

We ordered some nice starters the bipat bibimbap(a super heated metal bowl containing rice, egg, beef and veggies) that you stir vigorously to complete the cooking process was excellent and would make a perfect lunchtime meal. Alongside some tasty seafood pancakes and rice cakes setup us up for the main course.

We opted for the Korean BBQ and a hot plate was brought to the table alongside some tongs and scissors. The waitress asked if we wanted to cook it and we promptly said of course. The beef short ribs we ordered looked amazing.

Long and beautifully marbled they were soon sizzling on the hot plate alongside some chilli, garlic, mushrooms and onions. Eating instantly cooked pieces of beef short rib with a dab of bean paste wrapped in lettuce leaf was a taste sensation.

The other great thing about Manna Land is that they also offer some special treats i.e. Pork Belly and they even serve alcohol. A rare decadent treat for those of us in Dubai who indulge in such things.

However, more than this it was a super sociable way to eat. Far better than the slews of buffets that haunt Dubai meaning I usually end up eating food on my own while my companions or I are getting stuck into their nth course.

Overall 9/10 – Manna Land is an authentic, inexpensive taste of Korea. Mix it in with a wonderful social eating experience it is a regular on the I want something both casual and tasty dining list.

The first thing to say about Zuma in Dubai which is located in the finance DIFC district is that is has a distinctive “London” feel to it. Especially on a work night the gents in their pinstripes and quaffed hair wouldn’t be out of place in the square mile.

The bar and lounge are situated upstairs allowing for the restaurant to have a more relaxed feel and the open kitchen gives eager diners something to focus on while waiting for their treats.

The first thing I wanted to do was to work out what Sake to drink. There is certainly no shortage of choice with an extensive menu of Sake’s and wines. In the end, I settled for a carafe of Sawanoi – I choose it for the description that went something along the lines of “stored in large tanks buried under a lot of ancient snow” – that is all it had to say, I was sold.

The menu certainly takes some studying and the South African waitress was full of good advice and helped assemble a menu for me and my dining partner.

First up we shared some edamae as well as the “ika no kari kari age” which was the calamari with green chilli and lime that I liked so much at the Taste of Dubai. The waitress also recommended the “age watarigani” or soft shell crab with wasabi mayonnaise.  I remember having soft shell crab years ago in KL and liking it.  I was not disappointed, it was a crispy on the outside with delicious meaty white crab on the inside. A little weird to be eating the shell but an excellent dish. Here it is:

For the next course we had the Chef’s selection of Sashimi. It was predictably excellent especially with the freshly grated wasabi. The presentation was also outstanding, served on crushed ice with a couple of mini-icebergs setting it off nicely:

For the main course we opted for more seafood accompanied by asparagus and wild garlic mushrooms. The “ebi no sumibiyaki yuzu kosho fuumi” or jumbo tiger prawn with yuzu pepper was excellent. Still firm and expertly cooked and presented in a way that made it a snap to eat with chopsticks:

Then we had to have what surely must be the signature dish at Zuma. The “gindara no saikyo miso yaki” or miso marinated black cod wrapped in hoba leaf is simply sensational. It flakes beautifully and when put it in ones mouths melts with an irresistible burst of flavor that makes you produce noises like “yummm” or “oh my” or even “mmmmmh mmmmmh mmmmmh” . It really is that good and no trip to Zuma is complete without ordering this dish:

Zuma really is that good, though you are going to pay a healthy amount for food this good. Personally, I thought it was worth every dirham ($150-$200 a head is a good budget to include drinks).

A booking is essential as it gets very busy, in fact after the meal we tried to get a drink in the bar but it was just too busy. We we were full and content so we headed to somewhere else to enjoy a quiet drink and talk about just how good that food was.

Overall – 9.5/10 – A really treat to go out and eat there, this is the place to go if your boss is in town and he/she is paying. I knock half a mark off as there is no AC in the lift and when it is 46c outside it is necessary.

When a  Friday Brunch is mentioned the usual names spring to mind such as Yalumba, Spectrum on One or for the bargain hunters Waxy’s. However, when I asked where I was to turn up the answer I got was surprising – Peppercrab at the Grand Hyatt.

The format was a little different. Usually at brunches there are a selection of food stations and you go for the all out how many different things can I get on my plate. Then I am always left with that difficult decision. Will anybody really notice if I go up for that fourth plate of food?

This time there was a set menu served to your table in almost military precision. The nice thing was that if you wanted some thing more of one dish they were happy to bring it out. This was great as it meant a very social lunch as people weren’t getting up at random intervals to do battle tongs and sneeze guards.

We kicked off with a selection of Sushi accompanied by Edamame beans and duck salad. There was also a real treat of crispy-fried baby squids. These was any amazing dish that had the texture of crackling with the sweetness of hoi sin sauce. Once the interstitial soup course was dealt with. The staff quickly cleared the table then set it with the surgical like instruments for doing battle with the crab. Next, with a little bit of ceremony the staff proceeded to dress each of us with a bib. While not the height of fashion it was certainly needed later on. Here Monique and Renata model said bib (though their cocktail dresses were far nicer):

After an indeterminable wait the main dishes of beef, bok choi and rice arrived. Then in a flurry of activity we were served with their signature dish of Mud Crab in Black Pepper Sauce. Here it is before we were let loose on it:

I like food you have to battle with. This was no exception, the reward being super sweet crab meat. Handling the shell was a little tricky due to the sensational blackpepper sauce which was a real treat in itself. Sticky and spicy it made you want to lick your fingers the whole time and if that was not enough there were liberal hunks of warm break to dunk into the saliva inducing sauce.

It was a visceral experience with everyone letting go of their inhibitions. There was cracking of crab legs and pepper sauce all over the place, accompanied by the moans of pleasure that only come out when eating deeply satisfying food.

The whole time our glasses were never empty.  There is half a bottle of Moet included in the price and after this house wine or beverages. Then came the best bit. Usually this set menu with the bubbly weighs in at 350AED a person ($95) but Monique had spied a coupon in a recent Timeout for 2 for 1 meaning we paid only 175AED ($47) each for a truly enjoyable afternoon.

If you were to go on a regular evening with their A La Carte Menu – the tanks surrounding the kitchen gave you a good idea what you could be in for:

Overall 9/10 – Excellent food and amazing value with the voucher we used. Set in pleasing surroundings with a high level of service. I dock it one mark as I am next to hopeless at extracting crab meat from its home with any degree of efficiency

There are a couple of places in Dubai who do a reasonable hand at South African food – you have the great fun Sports Bar Nezesaussi in the Al Manzil hotel, the and the posher Hunters in the Westin or the Grand Grill at the Habtoor Grand as well as the old favourites such as the Butcher Shop and Grill and the Meat Company, however they all are a tried and tested formula providing good quality tourist style food.

To my mind there is always room for a restaurant bringing something authentic to the table. So without hesitation me and some friends heads to the Downtown Grill & Bar in the Metropolitan Palace Hotel in Deira. This is under the same management as the Grand Grill so expectations were high.

The staff were very welcoming with a well stocked bar but as soon as I saw the menu I made a beeline for the “Bunny Chow” starter. This is the first time I have actually seen it appear on a menu outside of South Africa and there was no way I was missing out on this. Hailing from Durban, a Bunny Chow is a hollowed out piece of bread filled with delicious curry. I was not disappointed:

Then for main possible the largest Chicken Bobotie I have ever seen was served. We had to include the iPhone for scale:

The food really was excellent. I also got to try some friends Boerwors and the “Greg Norman” fillet steak. All items were well cooked and importantly they tasted like I was back in Joburg.

We were also treated to face painter for some traditional African patterns. I liked the flower Leila got:

Then a further treat with some great Bongo drummers called “Dubai Drums” made a special appearance. got up handed out some extra bongo drums to the diners then a mad amount of dancing kicked off:

I have to admit that I don’t have the South African dance thing down. My mate Lawrence does is rather well. It seems to involve crouching like a crab, sticking ones backside out and stomping the floor with ones foot. I think I will need to work on this for future use. I enjoyed a few Windhoeks while the post dinner mayhem ensued.

Overall – 9/10 A great restaurant with super friendly service which finally serves the great food you get when you visit South Africa. I wish it was closer to where I live in the Marina.

The Walk is a shopping/dining area that sits on the Plazas and beach front of the Jumeriah Beach Residence. It has come under attack recently by some of the store keepers that there is little footfall going through their premises. I would agree with them – however it is the middle of a hot summer and there are still plenty of outlets yet to open so give it time is all I would say.

Here is my list of places to go out to eat and drink in Dubai Marina as it stands today and one or two to avoid. I will come back and revisit this as more of  The Walk opens and when Marina Mall opens early next year:

Best Place to go to impress work colleagues:

Frankie’s is an Italian restaurant owned by racing Jockey Frankie Dettori situated at the Al Fattan Marine Tower. Going inside reminded me of some type of exclusive drinking club. The menu while serving the regular pizza and pasta dishes comes alive if you go for one of their meat of fish dishes. The food presentation is exemplary and when I went the roasted Sea Bass I had was sensational. Expect to book and if you go for wines and A La Carte expect to pay a small fortune.

Best Place to go on a budget

I first visited Chowking in Satwa last year when my Mom was over and we enjoyed it and I was delighted to see it open opposite the Hilton Hotel. The Chinese food which is prepared with a filipino palate in mind is always fresh and hot not to mention cheap. For only 18AED ($4) you can have rice with three delicious BBQ Chicken skewers.

Best Place to have a nice cocktail:

Hidden at the back of the Al Fattan Shopping mall is a branch of trader vic’s called Mai Tai. My top tip is to get there for happy hour between 6-8pm every night which makes the eye watering prices more affordable. The food served is great but the portions a little on the small side however the same can not be said of the cocktails which are large and lethal. If I am feeling in the mood then the famous Tika Tika Puka rum cocktail with its over proof rum soon sorts the men from the boys. As with other trader vic’s there is an excellent live band playing all your favourite Polynesian hits. The combination of the bouncy music and flavoursome cocktails might make you want to dance. But watch out – they have no license for dancing.

Best Place for Noodles:

A close call between Wagagamas (Al Fattan Marine Towers) and the Noodle House – but I will give it to the Noodle House as I am a sucker for their Curry Laksa and also it has a fantastic location beneath the Damac Marina Terrace Tower which affords a fine view of the First Six towers and all the luxury yachts.

Best Place I am looking forward to opening up

I have written before about how much I enjoyed going to the Butchers Shop and Grill when I was in South Africa. There is a branch of this restaurant in the Mall of the Emirates however its location is often described as having fine steak in a bus stop. The new location in a prime spot on the JBR walk will soon fix that.

Place to avoid

I had high hope for this place but my visit last month to the Fish and Chip House I was disappointed. The food while predictably expensive was poor. The fish was rubbery with the batter not being crispy and the chips were undercooked. I will put it down to them have opening up bugs and will give it another go in a month or so.

The full list of what is going to open up in the JBR walk can be found over at the rather excellent JBR community forum here.

Here are my thoughts on the two venues:

Yalumba

Where: Le Meridien, Dubai

When: Thursday Evening (also Friday Brunch)

Cost: 400 AED

This place is suppose to have an Australian theme, I did not really feel it. The atmosphere is somewhere between a nightclub and a restaurant. The staff were quick to re-fill my glass with Laurent-Perrier though how they managed later in the evening was amazing. I did not really sample the buffet while I was there as they also offer a restaurant style menu and I chose to order the delicious pork belly. (For some reason I felt bad drinking Champagne and eating Pork when two hours before I was in Kuwait). Later in the evening the DJ put on a playlist that appeared to have come straight from the Dubai Rugby Sevens i.e. Country Road and Hey Baby. I don’t really mind this music when I am at the rugby or a beer festival but I felt the surroundings deserved something a little better. Having said that the clientèle in that night (British Expats – lots of them) were enjoying themselves too much to really care.

Overall: 8/10 – A fun night with great food that turns into a bit of a cheezy disco after the free champagne ends at 11.00

Marrakech

Where: Shangri-La, Dubai

When: Friday Brunch

Cost: 335 AED

When you walk out of the lift on the Mezzanine floor you are greeted by the splendid site of some large bottles of Moet sat on ice. A promising start. We sat in the Morrocan restaurant Marrakech in a really nice private dining room which made our Brunch an intimate affair, especially when a magnum of Moet was left on our table.

You can actually help yourself to food in the the Amwaj sea food restaurant as well as the Morrocan cuisine where we were sat. Good job really as I did not want to miss out on the Oyster mountain or the tasty lamb cutlets. However, the walk between the restaurants is littered with drinks stations. A champagne section (of course), a vodka station, a mojito station (the strawberry ones are delicious) and the martini station.

The martini station is worthy of special note. The sour apple martini with a wafer thin slice of apple in it is simply far too good to miss. I think I will be researching the ingredients as I might have just found my favourite cocktail of all time.

It was certainly a more laid back affair and was populated by mainly British Expats and Emirates Crew however there were assorted other expats from around the region.

Overall: 8.5/10 – The food was pretty good though the walk between restaurants through arctic AC was not ideal but the wide selection of expertly made cocktails and generous amounts of champagne makes for a laid back and boozy afternoon.

The drive was actually quite interesting as at certain intervals there were large billboards of landscapes of various “world projects” that are being planned…for instance there was “Europa” and “Americas” – it all looked rather impressive.

Soon enough we arrived at Bab Al Shams - it is basically a luxury resort out in the desert. They offer lots of outdoor activities such as horse riding and falconery, also they put on traditional Arabic evening entertainment with Sheesha and belly dancing – sadly I did not get to see any of that on my short visit.

We had a little nose around and saw the very nice pool area but were not able to get into any of the rooms as they were fully booked at the time.

What did get our attention was the smell of grilled chicken kebabs – so my friend stopped in and tried their buffet lunch. It was excellent with a really good variety of food – my favourites being the grilled chicken kebab and the handmade ice cream. At 165AED not including beverages it was a little expensive but in the middle of the desert not many other options presented themselves.

The rack rate for a room starts at 1600AED a night (that is a lot!) but they have special offers at around half that price. I would go there for a weekend break providing the weather cooled down a little. The infamous “hair-dryer” wind was in effect and gave an amazing burning sensation on the toes of my flip-flopped feet. How people were enjoying the pool was a little beyond me in what felt like 50C temperatures.

After a few drinks we headed for dinner at Teatro which is situated on the third floor of the Rotana Towers. The restaurant has a very nice atmosphere and tasteful decor. The service was attentive but the most interesting thing was the menu. It was an interesting fusion of western food and eastern cooking styles – with a wide ranging menu.

I ordered a roasted lamb loin – cooked to perfection. I also sampled one of my friend’s Ahi Tuna – again really well prepared. We did not opt for any wine but the list looked comprehensive.

Overall – 8.5/10 – great food if a little too “noveau” for me but I will certainly be back.

The menu offered a real variety of dishes that too a simple Englishman like myself looked very exotic. I ended up with the “safe” sounding Botswana roast beef fillet. Looking back I wish was more daring in my choice. Neverless the beef was outstanding and dare I say it – better than the Butcher Shop…

I really enjoyed the ambience of the restaurant, the service was great and it was well priced. I am keen to go back again and try something a little more “local”

Overall 9/10 – a real taste of africa

The restaurant is fairly unusual as they have a full butchers counter as you walk in displaying the fine array of meat and sea food available. The waiter who led us our table gave us great service all night and I was quite surprised just how large the place is. Anyway down to the steak!

I orderd the prime rib medium rare and it was pretty good – a little fatty for my tastes but it was an epic large piece of meat on the bone. The great thing about it was that it did not come at an epic price – 10UKP – stunning. I have paid more in a beefeater in the UK for something that tasted like shoe sole.

Here is said steak:

Overall for value and service that was hard to beat – 9/10

The Gardina offers a fixed price of 129AED to include as much as you can eat and a selection of alcoholic drinks. The night we went they had a theme of “rotisserie” this essentially meant a whole lot of roast meats (even pork) and yorkshire puddings. I found the prime rib beef they had to be excellent and easily as good as anything I tried on my recent vacation to Las Vegas.

Overall – 9/10 – great value, tasty food in pleasant surroundings – a big thumbs up