I tried Row on 45 in Dubai. They were given two stars last month, despite having been opened only last September. I must say I was rather sceptical because of this.
This is a place by Josh Atherton who is already famous from other of his ventures. They explain all the ingredients are selected at the top of the range, mostly from Japan and some from France and other places. Food is heavily Japan inspired and lots of French techniques as well.
The dishes are served by the chef, sous chef, etc. and nicely explained. I like they explain the warm dishes before they come, or as they prepare them, so you can start eating right away without them getting cold. The place is also really nice and very “cool” and totally a Dubai-style place. There is something about the Dubai places that you immediately recognize in this restaurant.
Food was AMAZING and the experience is great too.
First you get three snacks in the sort of living room/lobby area.
* First was a sort of oyster mochi with caviar (so good!). * Second a tuna basket where the basket is made from the bones of the tuna (amazing), and * Third was a Takoyaki with chili crab that was probably my favourite of the whole meal.
Then you are moved to the main room, where
* You start with a sort of chawamushi but not really chawamushi. It was some sort of langostine pate with dashi jelly and amazing uni on top. Really nice dish, rich and salty (they warn you it’s salty). * Next up my other favorite was a dashi jelly with AMAZING scallops and ikura. * Next, I had a beautifully made puff pastry with honey and a butter that had crispy chicken skin. Uff. Beautiful. * Next was a piece of fish with a very nice (Japanese samegarai), french-leaning (butter heavy) sauce that also had some clams. Very nice, rich, french dish. * The next dish was the “potato dish” which was potato cubes in a cream with really nice caviar on top. Felt sort of Russian inspired, I feel. * Final fish dish was a bouillabaise fish that was super rich and salty (again, they warn you it is salty cause bouillabaisse kind of HAS to be). * Finally, I had very nice A5 wagyu (Dubai wagyu craze!) with really nice truffle sauce on top and a burnt onion sauce (the little quenelle on the right). Really enjoyable. The one on the upper left is a small dim sum with beef cheek that was delicious. * Palate cleanser was a blue cheese tartlet that was surprisingly (and nicely) mild in taste. * First dessert was a Miyazaki mango base with popped rice and burnt sugar on top. And then on top of it all the mango sorbet. * Second dessert was a chocolate truffle with ice cream and dark chocolate something. I don’t like chocolate desserts, so I checked out completely out of this one after trying it. The pastry chef came and asked me if something was wrong with it and if I wanted something else. I just said I don’t have a tooth for chocolate, and he was ok with the explanation. Offered some alternatives but I politely declined.
Finally, you are taken to a tearoom where they give you
* Tea (your choice) and madeleines that were sooooo good and buttery and caramel-ey. They give you two creams to dip them on, one based on earl-grey tea, and one based on karak chai (Dubai thing).
* Lastly petit fours, one is a small chocolate tartlet based on L’Ambroisie’s famous chocolate souffle and then * More petit fours that you can choose from a drawer. The jellies were sooooo good.
Overall, it was an amazing meal. Service was and attentive in a way that I think only Dubai places can pull off.
There is HEAVY tweezer activity going on, which some people don’t like, but that’s the style here. There’s no nitrogen or molecular stuff going on, and no “frozen” things, which I appreciate it. I dont know who thought frozen stuff mixed with non-frozen was a good idea. I wouldn’t like to suffer tooth pain on my meal, thank you.
Price was 326 USD for the food, which for Dubai is just about fine. Wine was EXTORTIONATE even for Dubai standards. The cheapest by-the-glass was 55 USD. The wine pairings went from 250 USD to almost 1,000 USD and included sake, red, white, and dessert wines. Mocktails (which were actually pretty good) were about 15-19 USD each and included things like non-alcoholic wine mixes, etc.
Definitely a two-star experience and I think if there is one place in Dubai leaning towards three stars, it’s this one. Tresind Studio also, but this one is pushing harder. Row reminded me of Frantzen in many ways. It would be cool if Row also does the presentation of ingredients before the meal like Frantzen does, but they would have to find a way of doing it without looking like they copied the idea from them.
Alicenchainsfan
Great review thank you, adding this to go in the winter, the plating looks beautiful
2 Comments
I tried Row on 45 in Dubai. They were given two stars last month, despite having been opened only last September. I must say I was rather sceptical because of this.
This is a place by Josh Atherton who is already famous from other of his ventures. They explain all the ingredients are selected at the top of the range, mostly from Japan and some from France and other places. Food is heavily Japan inspired and lots of French techniques as well.
The dishes are served by the chef, sous chef, etc. and nicely explained. I like they explain the warm dishes before they come, or as they prepare them, so you can start eating right away without them getting cold. The place is also really nice and very “cool” and totally a Dubai-style place. There is something about the Dubai places that you immediately recognize in this restaurant.
Food was AMAZING and the experience is great too.
First you get three snacks in the sort of living room/lobby area.
* First was a sort of oyster mochi with caviar (so good!).
* Second a tuna basket where the basket is made from the bones of the tuna (amazing), and
* Third was a Takoyaki with chili crab that was probably my favourite of the whole meal.
Then you are moved to the main room, where
* You start with a sort of chawamushi but not really chawamushi. It was some sort of langostine pate with dashi jelly and amazing uni on top. Really nice dish, rich and salty (they warn you it’s salty).
* Next up my other favorite was a dashi jelly with AMAZING scallops and ikura.
* Next, I had a beautifully made puff pastry with honey and a butter that had crispy chicken skin. Uff. Beautiful.
* Next was a piece of fish with a very nice (Japanese samegarai), french-leaning (butter heavy) sauce that also had some clams. Very nice, rich, french dish.
* The next dish was the “potato dish” which was potato cubes in a cream with really nice caviar on top. Felt sort of Russian inspired, I feel.
* Final fish dish was a bouillabaise fish that was super rich and salty (again, they warn you it is salty cause bouillabaisse kind of HAS to be).
* Finally, I had very nice A5 wagyu (Dubai wagyu craze!) with really nice truffle sauce on top and a burnt onion sauce (the little quenelle on the right). Really enjoyable. The one on the upper left is a small dim sum with beef cheek that was delicious.
* Palate cleanser was a blue cheese tartlet that was surprisingly (and nicely) mild in taste.
* First dessert was a Miyazaki mango base with popped rice and burnt sugar on top. And then on top of it all the mango sorbet.
* Second dessert was a chocolate truffle with ice cream and dark chocolate something. I don’t like chocolate desserts, so I checked out completely out of this one after trying it. The pastry chef came and asked me if something was wrong with it and if I wanted something else. I just said I don’t have a tooth for chocolate, and he was ok with the explanation. Offered some alternatives but I politely declined.
Finally, you are taken to a tearoom where they give you
* Tea (your choice) and madeleines that were sooooo good and buttery and caramel-ey. They give you two creams to dip them on, one based on earl-grey tea, and one based on karak chai (Dubai thing).
* Lastly petit fours, one is a small chocolate tartlet based on L’Ambroisie’s famous chocolate souffle and then
* More petit fours that you can choose from a drawer. The jellies were sooooo good.
Overall, it was an amazing meal. Service was and attentive in a way that I think only Dubai places can pull off.
There is HEAVY tweezer activity going on, which some people don’t like, but that’s the style here. There’s no nitrogen or molecular stuff going on, and no “frozen” things, which I appreciate it. I dont know who thought frozen stuff mixed with non-frozen was a good idea. I wouldn’t like to suffer tooth pain on my meal, thank you.
Price was 326 USD for the food, which for Dubai is just about fine. Wine was EXTORTIONATE even for Dubai standards. The cheapest by-the-glass was 55 USD. The wine pairings went from 250 USD to almost 1,000 USD and included sake, red, white, and dessert wines. Mocktails (which were actually pretty good) were about 15-19 USD each and included things like non-alcoholic wine mixes, etc.
Definitely a two-star experience and I think if there is one place in Dubai leaning towards three stars, it’s this one. Tresind Studio also, but this one is pushing harder. Row reminded me of Frantzen in many ways. It would be cool if Row also does the presentation of ingredients before the meal like Frantzen does, but they would have to find a way of doing it without looking like they copied the idea from them.
Great review thank you, adding this to go in the winter, the plating looks beautiful