Dubai was one of those places that we had wanted to go for years but never really found a good reason to fly all the way there because of our preconception that it was just a plot of land in the desert with big tall buildings and massive shopping malls and not a lot else.
We finally took the leap of faith and booked our tickets out there for the Easter long weekend as the hotel we wanted to stay at in Oman was full and the flights to Turkey were too long. But like many of the flights out from Singapore, the timing of the flight wasn't the greatest and we ended up arriving into Dubai at around 3am (having departed just past midnight) via a 7.5 hour flight.
The taxi ride from the airport gave us the first idea of what Dubai was like, throwing out a $40 taxi fare for the 8 minute cab ride to the Intercontinental - reason being that we were taking the "night fare" according to the meter in the taxi. Everything was smooth enough, with the taxi ride reminding me of scenes in Collateral when Tom Cruise is riding in the back of Jamie Foxx's taxi in the middle of the night - quite surreal!
After a quick check-in we grabbed some zzz's before a day of exploration
Day 1:
A view from the hotel lift lobby on our floor towards the main city:
The Intercontinental hotel lobby:
As we headed towards the Atlantis, we passed by the iconic Burj-al-Arab. We had wanted to go and see what all the hype was about, but paying US$120 for afternoon tea seemed a bit ridiculous:
While Arabic food contains many elements from Asian and African cuisine, we could not help but to try out one of our favourite restaurants: Nobu. Located at the Atlantis Palm Resort, we had high expectations of food in Dubai in general given the perceived wealth in the region and our initial impressions of the decor were pretty decent:
Quite similar to that of the Tokyo restaurant. I wish we could say the same about the quality of the food though:
Traditionally one one of our favourite dishes served by Nobu: the new style yellowtail sashimi with jalepenos. Flavourwise was a bit off and the fish was a bit too chewy:
A tuna tartare with caviar was too sweet:
New style wagyu beef sashimi. We have had this dish every time we have gone to a Nobu restaurant, and while the flavours were OK in this case, the beef wasn't very marbled at all... truly disappointing.
Snow crab with creamy spicy sauce. Sounds great on the menu, but it just tasted just a massive clump of mayonnaise with a bit of a spicy tang to it. So much so that we couldn't really taste the crab:
Spicy prawns with a bed of enoki mushrooms. We hadn't had this dish in the past but it was one of the better ones of the lot.
Nobu sashimi tacos. Leeann found this one to be almost inedible with its strong flavours and overwhelming use of fruits and barely any fish.
And finally, a slight adaptation of the chocolate souffle with green tea icecream sees the green tea icecream replaced with what was supposed to be a beer icecream. Couldn't really taste much, but part of the reason why the original is so good is that green tea complements chocolate so well. Beer, not so much.
We went for lunch and there were only about 5 tables out of 100 which were occupied but yet the food was just disappointing. The only thing worth reporting was that the service was not bad - though not to Nobu standards. Overall, the US$280 bill (with very few drinks) was underwhelming and taught us a valuable lesson; Never opt for a Japanese or a Seafood restaurant in a country where seafood is not one of the main produces.
Nobu is at the Atlantis Palm Jumeirah and is another example of big named restaurants capitalising on past fame. If you are going to check out a Nobu, we would recommend Tokyo and London branches.
A view of the Atlantis Palm resort:
The monorail station:
After the lunch, we headed back towards the main city, catching another glimpse of the Burj on the way:
The monorail which takes you back from the Atlantis Palm towards the skyline of mega-skyscrapers:
A glimpse of the houses built on the man made palm island. Conceptually the idea is excellent, but I think there is just something lacking about the location and the surroundings to justify the US$1mm+ price tags:
Never ending construction:
We headed back to our hotel to check out the neighbouring Festival City, a newish development about 15 minutes away from the city center (towards the airport) which was established as a second 'city center', along the Dubai Creek with full facilities:
Leeann getting inspired to imitate the teacup while investigating the Bistro Madeleine's menu:
A common sight in Dubai:
The boardwalk of Festival City, lined with restaurants and shops - this made for a nice walk:
We took a brief rest and then headed out to do some Dune Bashing. One of the coolest activities in Dubai, it involves driving about 45 minutes out of Dubai city into the desert, deflating the pressure in the tires of our 4x4 and then driving as fast as possible over sand dunes. This is coupled with some dune buggy and camel rides as a half day adventure:
Our friendly camel:
Who turned out not to be so friendly afterall. It was almost frightening when the camel goes from a vertical standing position to a sitting one. Furthermore, that seat was definitely NOTE comfortable for the backside.
Heading downhill in a rigged out offroader was some serious stomach churning madness:
The view from our car - definitely not a place you want to get lost in:
Our driver showing off his driving skills:
We spotted another tour group making their rounds as we were heading back:
Our man putting air back in the tires as we headed back to civilisation:
The next day, we got up to a bright and early start, heading for the 'new' icon of Dubai, the Burj Khalifa. A few weeks before we were going on this trip, the world's tallest building had suffered a massive power/electrical failure which led to the closure of the entire building for weeks, but fortunately for us, they had JUST reopened the day we got there! Expecting long queues, we got there nice and early, and to our surprise it wasn't all that bad waiting!
The building has 160 habitable floors plus 46 floors in the ceiling and took only 5 years to build. Chicago based Skidmore, Owings and Merrill were contracted as the architect and the project carried a US$1.5bn price tag to complete.
The drive along the main highway to the Burj Khalifa:
In all its glory:
Walking down the hallways and exhibits on the way to the elevator reminded us of another movie, Gattaca. Ultra futuristic with sublime background music and flashing TV screens all over the place, the designers for the Khalifa clearly had the future in mind.
But because of the design of the building, the elevators remain in the core of the tower, and therefore have no views of the outside as you go up and down. It would have been cool to get a perspective of moving vertically in the fastest elevator in the world (42km/h)
A view from the top:
The Dubai branch of New York's Magnolia Bakery in the shopping complex just underneath the Burj Khalifa:
Some random guys were just standing there getting shot at by paintballs... fun....
As we were leaving, some exterior shots of 828m beast which also houses the new Armani Hotel, residential units, office units and retail, the building also holds the world records for:
- The highest swimming pool in a building (76th floor)
- The highest occupied floor (160th floor)
- The highest observation deck (124th floor)
- The highest mosque (158th floor)
Driving around, we saw a lot of what Dubai is known for:
Lunch took us to the Wafi Mall, an Egyptian/Moroccon inspired mall with pyramidal architecture and influences from Africa, where we stumbled upon Wafi Gourmet, a deli style eatery serving Lebanese and other middle eastern cuisine:
Some kebabs:
Underneath is a massive Souk (market) complex:
The Egyptian influence from the outside:
A view of our hotel as we headed back to get ready for dinner:
The skyline as sun sets:
One of the futuristic train stations being built, which connects the airport area to the main downtown area:
More construction:
Apartment and office complexes near the Marina:
And finally, dinner took us to Gary Rhodes' "Rhodes Mezzanine" restaurant at the Grosvenor House:
First of all, apologies for these photos as the restaurant is a bit dark and we didn't bring a flash.
A few foie gras on top of ginger biscuits was our amuse bouche. Interesting flavours with an almost melt-in-your-mouth sensation which was a bit odd for foie gras, and to be honest, I think one per person is sufficient:
We don't fully remember what this one was:
This was quite an interesting dish. A white tomato capuccino to finish of the amuse bouches. Acid from the tomato could be tasted through a creamy, perfectly temperate soup - very interesting indeed.
Then Leeann had the seared scallop with truffle and parmesan cheese:
Followed by poached Brill on top of english spinach and moules marinieres:
Kevin opted for the langoustine as the starter:
A truffle risotto:
Braised beef with morels and oysters
And a tenderloin of aged beef:
Overall the food was not too bad again. Gary Rhodes has established his name in London as an innovative chef and bringing back some classic British dishes. Rhodes Mezzanine decided to go with a quirky Phillip Starck type of setting but with food which falls slightly short of being quirky and feels a bit uninspired.
But with that said, it was still a hell of a lot better than the Nobu experience and the restaurant has just about enough going on to satisfy the Dubai crowd...
Back in the lobby of the Intercontinental:
Then we went to scope out the evening scene at Festival Walk:
The day we left, we stopped by for a quick look at the traditional gold souk markets in the old part of town:
And finally, the big tall doorman at the Intercontinental:
So we finally ended up going to Dubai and we think that this trip is best left for a 2-3 day stopover trip to somewhere else in Europe or the Middle East. Any longer and you will run out of things to do (unless you have kids). You will definitely get your fair share of big tall buildings, massive mall complexes, kid friendly entertainment and 'luxury items', but at the end of the day, we weren't wowed by anything there - just content that we finally made it out to the desert =).
We highly recommend the Intercontinental for its rooms, but not the location as it is a little outside of town and the taxi fares do add up if you keep going back and forth. We also suggest not going to any of the fine dining establishments unless you really want to try it out like us. We try to do so only to gauge a comparison to what we know and have tried before in a different country.
