I took my Mum to the Ivy in London a few years ago and it was amazing, nestled in hustle and bustle of theatre land, it's bursting with old school charm and art deco glamour. Seeing as you don't find either of those two things often in Dubai, I opted to take a punt on The Ivy Dubai, hoping it would being similar.
No sooner than I'd made the booking, I started having reservations about this choice as how would they re-create the atmosphere of the famous original here in Dubai?
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| Happy 2nd Anniversary! |
Based on previous experiences, creating ambience isn't a speciality in Dubai restaurants. Often I find that what should be an amazing dinning experience is lacking a certain, essential, je ne se que. Which is what makes the difference between a good and great restaurant.
I'd already been dissapointed by Nobu and Armani Peck (though the later not due to the food), so how would The Ivy shape up?
It didn't start that well, walking through the mall at Jumeriah Emirates Tower to enter, allbeit a very posh mall, with a little art exhibition outside The Ivy.
I just can't get used to fancy restaurants being in the middle of malls, I automatically feel like I must be going to Chilli's.
From the outside it looks like an Irish bar but don't let that deceive you. Inside the space is beautiful decorated with sumptuous deco style chandeliers, dark wood and the same iconic Tiffany styled stained glass windows.
We went Tuesday evening, and although quiet, it didn't feel tragic as is often the case midweek.
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| A blush Kir Imperial |
It has to be said the Ivy Dubai has 'it'. So I've tried to identify some factors imo that make up the 'it' - the je ne se que if you like. Not in any particular order.
a) Lighting - Hallelujah! Finally a restaurant that hasn't got a 100 Watts bulb plugged in to every socket, cranked up to the max. Lighting at the Ivy is perfect, subtle, soft, romantic (aka flattering) but not so dark that you can't see your dinner.
b) Crispness of linnens - There is something extremely depressing about a flaccid table cloth, or in fact no table cloth at all. Not a requirement for more casual/gastro style places but at higher end places I want a table cloth that stands to attention.
c) Consumate but not intrusive service - The staff were friendly and pleasant but not, insincere and fake. They got a bit confused at the end of the evening over a few small things but nothing major.
Not like at The Rivington Grill, where they told me the pie I'd ordered would be chicken and leek and when it arrived it was fish and potato.
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| Dressed crab |
E) Silver table ware - Nothing quite compares to real hallmarked heavy silver tableware and by that I mean - cutlery, bread bowl, salt and pepper pot, jugs, side dishes for sauces etc.
F) Good Appetif - The exact amount of raspberry liqueur in my Kir Imperial, making it blush not dark purple a mistake made in many places.
G) Great food - The food was excellent.
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| Crispy Pork belly |
I started with the dressed dorset crab, I'm partial to crab particularly in a pretty dress. It was everything I wanted, light, tangy suace, good consistency, sitting atop it's own toasted cushion.
Johan had Beetroot and goat cheese salad that he said was excellent but I thought it was just fair.
For our mains I had roast pork belly with pigs pudding, which I'm never usually a fan of but this was a completely different to typical fry up pigs pudding. The taste and texture were more akin to chicken's livers, delicious!
Also, I find in Dubai many places cook pork belly Asian style which is quite soggy for my taste, I like the fat crispy which this one was complete with crunchy crackling.
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| French Onion Soup |
We enjoyed The Ivy so much that evening, we returned two weeks later as they have a live jazz band on Thursdays and being the start to the weekend it was busier than our previous mid-week visit.
This time we had the 'Chef's Plate' as it's excellent value @ 3 courses and 1 side for 200dhs, it changes weekly and you choose from a selection of 3 starters, 3 mains and desserts.
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| Aged Tomato & Mozzarella |
Now, we always share our food with each other, often we'll eat half our dish and then swap unless one of us has ordered something the other hates. It sounds sweet doesn't it, but it's actually a competition to see who made the best food choice and is the victor and who will have food envy and be the LOOSA!
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| Dry Cod |
Both we good and against a lesser opponent the brushetta would have had it in the bag, but on this occasion it was no match for that giant oozy-soup soaked crouton!
So johan won that choose.
For mains I'd selected the Indian spiced cod and Johan the rib of beef. Annoyingly, Johan also won that choose as well.
The cod was under spiced and over cooked, it was very dry, whereas the rib beef was mouth-melty tender and came preached on creamy mash and gravy - dreamy! Luckily due to the rules of our little competition I got half the rib-beef and Johan got half the parched cod, result!
Johan finished with cheese which wasn't anything special, meaning I won the dessert choose with the most buttery smelling cherry pie with cream angliase - which was of course perfectly presented in a little silver jug. However, this still mean't Johan was the overall winner.....I hate loosing the food choose.
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| Cherry Pie 'Before' |
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| Cherry Pie 'After' |
Aside from where it's located and it's exterior, The Ivy Dubai does a surprisingly good job at delivering an authentic Ivy experience. Obviously its never going to be exactly the same, but two positive visits and ticks in all the boxes, means The Ivy is our new favourite restaurant in Dubai, great for a romantic date or a some chilled weekend glamour. Only down side was we weren't able to use our trusty Entertainer voucher book:-(
PS. Apologies again for bad photo quality you'll be pleased to know I've know purchased a new phone with a really good camera so better food pics in future.
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