DXB City Expert July/August 2019

dinners with all the trimmings, crispy
battered chips with feather-light fish, and
comforting cottage pie fashioned from
slow cooked beef. Bookend your mains
with a fabulous coronation chicken and
a sweet treat such as the quintessentially
English sticky toffee pudding.
At The Croft (+971 4 319 4000, marriott.
com), modern British cuisine with a twist
is the culinary mantra (try the tongue
and cheek pie, it's a surprisingly delicious
revelation). With a focus on sourcing
homegrown produce and working with
local suppliers where possible, the menu
is packed with the expected and the
intriguing, with dishes such foie grasstuffed
chicken and Chef Sentil's mum's
curry among the highlights.
The Scene (+971 4 422 2328,
thescenedubai.com) by TV chef and
author Simon Rimmer is the frontrunner
at Pier 7, a hugely popular sevenfloor,
seven-restaurant tower set on
a (licensed) pier in Dubai Marina.
British-style comfort food is the gist of
it – think deep-filled pies, veal Scotch
eggs, battered fish and chunky chips
– while veggies and vegans have their
own thoughtfully designed collection of
dishes including curries and burgers.
36
Basta! by David Myers
IN THE KNOW
Perfect pizza
EATALY
The Dubai Mall,
800 328 259, eataly.ae
Eataly’s simple margherita is so
good, the tomato sauce so rich
and flavoursome, you may well
forgo fancy toppings for ever.
BASTA! BY DAVID MYERS
Renaissance Downtown Hotel,
Dubai, +971 4 512 5522,
basta-dubai.com
The celebrity chef adds a sprinkle
of stardust to the simple pizza
here, serving up slices crisp from
the wood-fire oven.
TORNO SUBITO
W Dubai – The Palm
+971 4 245 5555
Massimo Bottura is chef at The
World's Best Restaurant, but when
he opened this seaside spot he
asked a fellow Italian to make the
pizza dough for him, believing him
to make the world's best.
FOODIE DISTRICT
DIFC
Within Dubai International
Financial Centre (DIFC) is
Gate Village, where amid
the high-end galleries and
auction houses are some
of Dubai’s best restaurants.
At Zuma (+971 4 425 5560,
zumarestaurant.com) the
ever outstanding Japanese
food is best ordered to share.
As it is at the always buzzing
La Petite Maison (+971 4
439 0505, lpmlondon.co.uk/
dubai), which uses produce
from local UAE farms in
a number of its fabulous
creations, all of which
have their roots in French-
Mediterranean cooking.
Greek-Mediterranean
restaurant GAIA (+971 4 241
4242, gaia-dubai.com) has
racked up the plaudits since
it opened at the back end
of last year, with the chef's
passion for flavour evident
in every dish. How about
crumbly feta cheese baked
and draped in honey to start
you off?
For something more
casual BOCA (+971 4 323
1833, boca.ae) is a bar/
restaurant concept that does
Mediterranean dishes to
share, preferably with a bottle
drawn from its very wellstocked
cellar.
Zuma