101 - The One & Only, The Palm

101 located @ The One and Only on The Palm, is officially my new favourite restaurant!!


Why? Because the setting is just beautiful, service excellent and the food is simply divine.

Located on the Palm at the less famous of the two, One & Only's, which is in itself an oxymoron.
101 is a decked, jetty restaurant jutting out into the sea - with a spectacular backdrop of Dubai Marina looking like a mini Manhattan.

We went in the evening, by road but you can get there by boat from it's sister hotel, Royal Mirage - The One & Only on Al Sufouh Rd. I'd recommend going to have drinks at the bar there first and arrive at 101 via boat, as this is definitely the type of venue one should arrive at by boat, unfortunately we didn't do this.

I was expecting it to be lovely, reminiscent of it's sister hotels and a previous favourite (yes - I'm fickle!) The One & Only - Beach bar & Grill. I was prepared for typical Dubai high end fair, very respectable but just not that surprising or exciting.

However, the menu at 101 is a revelation, Spanish influenced Seafood is the stable and my do they deliver. We were in for a proper treat as even though the venue feels very Dubai and flash the menu and food is dare I say it.....soulful and quirky - which is a somewhat uncommon duet in Dubai.

I'm super excited because it's not very often I've found a restaurant in Dubai, with a chef that tries to be characterful and unique and doesn't just default to the same old crowd pleasing ceaser's, steaks and sea bass.

You can choose between the tapas menu with all the traditional tapas favourites like meatballs, Calimari, Manchego cheese and surprises such as 'Mejillones gratinados' - Gratinated mussels with garlic butter and 'Berberechos al limón' - Cockles in lemon sauce. Cockles in Dubai who'd have thought it!

We ordered from the Al a catre menu, which has a dizzing amount of choice, most of which I wanted to order.

To start I opted for Sautéed baby spinach - 55Dhs, Chicken chorizo, pine nuts and Manchego cheese.

The photograph does not do the dish justice it was eye-rolling-in-back-of-head amazing. And I loved that it arrived fresh from the oven in it's cooking pot.

I followed with the Seafood ravioli with Prawns, mussels, calamari and lemon sauce - 145Dhs. Lushness in every bite, zingy, fresh, subtle lemonyness, cooked to perfection both the pasta and the seafood which often gets overcooked to rubber.

My male companion (note not my husband!) had Veal chop ‘a la Milanese’ - 190Dhs, Macaroni gratin, sage and capers.

Now,  'Milanese' is to my mind a fancy word for a schnitzel and it would never occur to me to order a schnitzel in a fancy restaurant unless in Germany. However, I have to admit it was excellent, tender with a flavoursome accompanying sauce.

There were so many gorgeous sounding dishes it was hard to choose -  I also could have gone for the Casareccia 150Dhs  - Lobster, coco beans, ‘bouillabaisse’ sauce and Provençal butter! Coco beans?! and lobster?!....really would have loved to have been brave and tried that...



What I'd love to try is their signature dish to share, Paella with squid ink and calamari 155 Dhs per person. So I'm now fantistising about a languishing late lunch there -  arriving by boat, dressed in some elegant Jackie-O inspired outfit and endlessly grazing on tapas, a shared Paella and supping cold cava whilst watching the sun set!

That's it.... I'm going off to book that very thing right this minute, I'll update this post upon my return and try to get better pics.