Last week, a friend\u00a0and I\u00a0became acquainted with\u00a0the new Terrace menu at Hakkasan Dubai, located in the Emirates Towers Hotel, downtown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Already fairly well accustomed to Cantonese\u00a0style cuisine back in Ireland\u00a0(my best friend growing up is of Chinese decent), I haven’t had any since I moved to Dubai. Suffice, to say I had extremely high expectations before I had even walked in the door \u2013\u00a0Hakkasan’s reputation precedes them in all of their venues throughout the world and it’s one restaurant I’d been meaning to tick off my bucket list for quite some time.<\/p>\n
We took the Metro from JLT to the World Trade Centre\u00a0for our reservation at 8pm (it\u00a0took about 25 minutes)\u00a0. At this time, the Metro is definitely the\u00a0more preferable\u00a0option as the traffic on SZR seemed pretty stuffed. The restaurant itself is only a five minute walk from the station so is perfectly manageable whether or not you’ve put on a pair of heels for the occasion.<\/p>\n
Here’s the best bits:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Translating the unique\u00a0elements of our personality \u2013 calm, tranquility and humility \u2013 into an elegant and vibrant experience”<\/p>\n Hakkasan<\/cite>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I couldn’t say it better myself. This quote perfectly\u00a0describes our Hakkasan experience. When we first walked through\u00a0the entrance\u00a0and down the dimly-lit stone-walled hall to the reception\u00a0I wasn’t quite sure if I was walking in to a restaurant or some sort of urban spa:\u00a0The low, but not-too-low lighting, the hushed modern-oriental mix music playing melodically in the background\u00a0and the elegant\u00a0dark-wood oriental inspired decor\u00a0all played their part in contributing to the elegant and\u00a0relaxed ambiance\u00a0in the restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n After we introduced ourselves at the reception, we were offered a seat at the extremely<\/em> <\/strong>well stocked\u00a0bar before we made our way out to the Terrace. In all honesty, I’ve never seen such a complete selection of drink\u00a0options\u00a0in one place and the bar staff certainly have the\u00a0flare for putting them to good use. I had one of their speciality cocktails to start, the subtly-sweet yet with-a-kick Lychee Martini which was absolutely delicious. I’m not usually much of\u00a0a cocktail drinker, primarily\u00a0because the sugar loaded concoctions that a lot of venues dish up\u00a0end up leaving me with a pounding head and a severe case of ‘the fear’ the next morning.\u00a0I was very pleasantly surprised with the taste explosion that was the Lychee Martini however and would’ve happily enjoyed another if it wasn’t for the fact that I probably wouldn’t have been able to walk home after (their measures err\u00a0on the side of generosity). They also have a nice selection of non-alcoholic beverages and cocktails for the non-drinkers such as the Virgin Hakka or the Coco Passion.\u00a0Whilst at the bar we nibbled on the incredibly juicy and tasty\u00a0fig-size green Italian olives\u00a0and some perfectly toasted pistachios.<\/p>\n We were escorted outside to the Hakkasan Terrace at about 8.30pm. There were a few other guests there, but we had a partition\u00a0separating us,\u00a0so it felt like it was just the two of us outside \u2013 ideal if you just want to\u00a0escape the hustle and bustle of Dubai, the relaxed atmosphere of the bar definitely transcended outdoors to the Terrace.\u00a0The dark wooded\u00a0Terrace itself is surrounded by\u00a0trees and low lighting\u00a0and the garden-style\u00a0seating outside is\u00a0perfect for cosying up on. Although there was music quietly\u00a0humming in the background, the Terrace is a lot more peaceful than inside the restaurant and provides the perfect environment\u00a0for closing your eyes, putting your head back and inhaling the delicious scents of the\u00a0grape juice\u00a0options they have on their drinks menu. I had\u00a0moved on to the Malbec ‘Finca La Linda’ at this point\u00a0which was crisp, sweet and warmed me up\u00a0from the winter evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n Quite frankly, we were blown away with the Terrace menu, which differs from the restaurant menu inside. It consists of ‘small eats’, perfect for a small dinner\u00a0or a few nibbles with friends: baby octopus in honey glazed sauce, chilli and pepper golden pumpkin, crispy prawn fritter with truffle, hakka steamed dim sum platter,\u00a0chicken skewers with satay sauce. Depending on your hunger level, for two people, you’d need a minimum of two dishes but we’d recommend three or four unless you’re feeling particularly extravagant in which case order them all. They’re all that\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>good.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n chilli and pepper golden pumpkin<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n crispy prawn fritter with truffle<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Chicken satay<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n These were hands down, the tastiest bites we’ve had since we came to Dubai, a year ago (this week!). The succulent sticky-sweet\u00a0beef melted in your mouth, and although you may not think it, the light flavour of the jasmine tea perfectly complimented the full and rich flavour of the beef and gave it a bit of an exotic twist. Wow.<\/p>\n Jasmine tea smoked wagyu beef ribs<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n You need to be careful with this delicious menu, it’s quite easy for you forget about the prices (the food is that good you may not even care) and\u00a0before you know it, you’ve racked up a pretty hefty bill.<\/p>\n For the the cocktails you can expect to pay around AED 70\u00a0and for a glass of vino\u00a0anywhere between AED 50 \u2013 AED 70 depending on what you choose.\u00a0<\/p>\n The sides range from AED 55 \u2013 AED 75.\u00a0So, for two people, treating themselves to a drink of some sort and some nibbles you can expect to pay at least AED 300.<\/p>\n For more info, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/01\/_blogWide\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-13-at-18.12.50.png?mtime=20160113181313\")
<\/figure>\nThe sense of calm\u00a0as soon as you walk in the door<\/h3>\n
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![\"Hakkasan1\"](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/01\/_blogWide\/HAKKASAN1_160118_100740.jpg?mtime=20160118100740\")
<\/figure>\nThe Bar<\/h3>\n
![\"Hakkasan5\"](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/01\/_blogWide\/HAKKASAN5.jpg?mtime=20160109210747\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/01\/_blogWide\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-13-at-17.25.44.png?mtime=20160113172622\")
<\/figure>\nHakkasan Terrace<\/h3>\n
![\"Img](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/01\/_blogWide\/IMG-20160107-WA0005.jpg?mtime=20160113170724\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Img](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/01\/_blogWide\/IMG-20160107-WA0023.jpg?mtime=20160113170728\")
<\/figure>\nThe Terrace Menu<\/h3>\n
![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/01\/_blogWide\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-13-at-17.25.09.png?mtime=20160113172641\")
![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/01\/_blogWide\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-13-at-17.22.58.png?mtime=20160113172714\")
![\"Hakkasan](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/01\/_blogWide\/hakkasan.dubai.2015-259.high-resolution.jpg?mtime=20160113181150\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Hakkasan](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/01\/_blogWide\/hakkasan.dubai.2015-252.high-resolution.jpg?mtime=20160113181156\")
The Highlight: Jasmine Tea Smoked Wagyu Beef Ribs<\/h3>\n
![\"Img](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/01\/_blogWide\/IMG-20160107-WA0020.jpg?mtime=20160118093634\")
The Important Bits<\/h3>\n