Taste Of Hakkasan

From 6pm to 9pm every night, Hakkasan Dubai in the Emirates Towers, offers an unreal early bird menu that is ideal for a date night on the cheap (ish) or a ladies night.

If you haven’t heard of Hakkasan, you need to add it to your Dubai foodie bucket list. With locations all around the world, it’s one of the best restaurants you’ll ever go to and is well worth donning a pair of heels or a shirt for the occasion.

At first, I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t be completely satisfied by meal-end (always afraid I’ll leave a meal still hungry!) but I was very wrong indeed. The sizes were small, but there were so many dishes they all added up to leave you plenty stuffed after.

Recommended

6 reasons why you must visit Mango TreeHakkasan Terrace: an urban sanctuary in the heart of DubaiIs it an Enigma?

Here’s the lowdown on what we had:

To drink: Pick your poison – A Hakkatini or Bellini cocktail or the house red (Cabernet Sauvignon) or house white (Sauvignon Blanc).

I had the house red which was nice and mellow and had the usual ‘black forest’ flavours (cherry and blackberry for me) that I’d associate with a Cabernet Sauvignon. My date had the Bellini which was crisp and sweet like you’d expect but had a delicious Hakkasan-twist that added to its fragrance. Both drinks went down extremely well. Unfortunately you only get one drink with the menu but you can add more for an additional AED 50 per glass.

Soup: A choice between the sweetcorn soup with edamame (beans) and the chefs special

We chose to have both, and then we shared the two. The Chefs Special was a chicken broth. Both soups were delicious and warmed us up nicely for the main event.

Starters: Crispy Duck Salad (additional AED 40) and Chef’s selection of steamed dim sum.

There is also the choice of crispy duck roll but we went with the above options. The duck salad was possibly the tastiest thing on the menu and is definitely worth the extra bit of doe – just look at the picture. WOW. The dumplings, although small, were every bit as tasty and succulent – little taste bombs if you ask me. They also came with a choice of three yummy dips.

Mains: Osmanthus Wagyu beef rib eye and spicy prawn with lily bulb and almond

The prawns in the main were absolutely HUGE and thankfully full of flavour unlike some of those big ones you get in some places that taste of zilch. The dish was spicy but not too spicy and the aroma’s coming out of it made your eyes roll back it was that sensuous. It was also served with a hefty side of rice to help with the soakage.

The Wagyu beef was top notch as well and earned the ‘three s’s” status: sweet, succulent and sticky.

Dessert: Hazelnut Jivara bomb with chocolate sauce.

Honestly, this made the meal and was the perfect finale. Not only was it really delicious but it also crackled (who doesn’t love a crackling dessert?!). Usually we like to share our meals and each get something different but once we both took a look at the menu we knew we’d have to both order our own one of these babies. Honestly, it was to die for.

If a crackling hazelnut jivara bomb with chocolate sauce isn’t up your alley (WHO ARE YOU?) you can also order a selection of homemade ice creams, sorbets or an exotic fruit platter.

The verdict

Add to your foodie bucket list ASAP, it’s well worth it and thankfully is right on the Metro line so you can avoid all the traffic on the SZR (and have a couple of extra tipples).