'Bah, humbug! @ The Burj Al Arab

As we had our Mum's visiting us, the plan was to do Swedish Christmas on the 24th (that's when the Swede's celebrate Christmas)complete with Svenska Jul bord (translation: Swedish Christmas food) and open half our presents. 

Then have English Christmas on the 25th, whereby we open the rest of our presents. 

One present we had planned as a surprise for our Mothers was taking them for Christmas dinner the Burj Al Arab. 

The Burj Al Arab is the iconic, sail shaped Dubai landmark and allegedly the worlds only 7 start hotel. 

To finish off the festivities I was intending to cook a mega Christmas roast of Lamb and pork on the 26th,Boxing Day.Phew!

Our festive Swedish Smorgasbord! 

Swedish Christmas was a great success, being married to a Swede I've become quite proficient in Swedish cooking and we had all the traditional favourites. 

Luckily, as there are so many ex pat's living in Dubai you can get pretty much any specialised foodstuffs from most countries. 

We were able to buy all the Swedish brands of Sill (pickled herring) and Vendance Roe & King Salmon caviar. I also made meatballs, a whole roast ham, caviar devilled eggs, toast Skargen, beetroot salad, Gravlax and 'PepperKaka' ginger biscuits with Gorgonzola!

The iconic Burj Al Arab up close

Now, the Burj Al Arab has several restaurants. Johan was working on Christmas day as it's not a holiday here. This meant we couldn't book the Festive lunch at Al Muntanha restaurant as we had wanted, as it was lunch time only on xmas day. 

The BAA instead recommended their evening buffet @ their Al Iwan restaurant, which cost 395Dhs per person (approx £70) + drinks. 

We figured that as it's a 7 star hotel all of the restaurants should be pretty good, right? 

After the grandeur of your entrance to the Burj Al Arab, your expectations are set very high. However, once inside they are snatched from beneath you like a table cloth trick.

Amazing ceiling at
the Burj Al Arab

The architecture is spectacular, in contrast with the interior decor is awful. 

IMO, the interior is a throw back from the 1990’s, lacking in sympathy or refinement to it’s surroundings. 

It felt cheap and the irony is it most likely cost a fortune. 

This characteristic filters through to Al Iwan restaurant. 

It should have felt very sophisticated, yet there was none of the crispness a good restaurant should deliver.

My particular gripe was with the food itself. 

The international buffet was below average, bland with little selection and nothing unusual or of outstanding quality. 

When researching I had read reviews on Tripadvisor that the champagne cocktails were the ‘best ever’... ahem afraid not and at £35 each don’t match up to the ones at half the price from The Mandarin Oriental or any other good London hotel or bar.

By going to Al Iwan you are basically paying for access to the Burj Al Arab lobby and a few photo opportunities. Rather than the food or the ambiance. 
Considering the BAA is supposed to be the pride of Dubai, with it’s much purported 7star(?!) rating. 

Plus, with so much competition in terms of great dining experiences locally you'd think the BAA would exceed such high standards. 
Unfortunately it does not, it’s a tired, lack luster space and Johan and I were brutally disappointed.

That said our Mum's loved it though, they loved that we had wanted to do something special for them for Christmas. So of course we had a great time as we were with our family at Christmas and that's really all that matters. 

Spot the Brits: 'We don't care if we're in the world's
only 7 star hotel it's Christmas and we'll  wear our paper cracker hats!'

Merry Christmas!