My husband and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary earlier this month. Before I could blink – boom! Two years. Not sure how quickly these years flew by but maybe its true what they say… time flies when you’re having fun!
As always, we wanted a low-key celebration. Just the both of us, a quiet evening with delicious food and a nice, non-fussy ambience. The Bateaux Dubai has been up on my list of places to go to for the longest time and I’m surprised that I waited this long. Well. Flashback to last year for our first anniversary. We did make a booking but managed to leave home a little later than we should have and – we missed the boat! This time, we knew better. We left as planned, gave ourselves enough time to get there, find parking (its quite crowded at that time of the evening), and strolled down the creek to the beautiful boat.
Located on Al Seef Road opposite the British Embassy, it is a huge glass vessel, unlike any of the other traditional dhows you’ll see on the creek. Modern interiors, mood lighting, dark wooden floors, and 360-degree views of old Dubai set the tone for what was to become the perfect celebration dinner.
Our meal started off with canapés and the most delicious, creamy cauliflower soup.
Beetroot and goat’s cheese, salmon and caviar, and tomato mozzarella
For starters, we had the scallop and prawn with beetroot risotto, and the mezzeh platter.
The squid ink tuille was the crowning glory on this prawn and scallop starter
For mains, I had the corn fed grilled chicken with spinach and scamorza filling, with a mushroom ragout and frike, french beans on the side. Scamorza is an Italian cow’s milk cheese, similar to mozzarella. My husband had the poached salmon with asparagus, lemon potato, and an interesting lemon-raspberry gel (which he dint touch). I’m one of those people who love a bit of sweet in my food (raisins in biryani, apple in salad) but I know a lot of people hate it. What about you?
Grilled chicken on a bed of frike with mushroom ragout and carrot cream and veggies. Sorry about the shadows in this pic, it was truly delicious
Poached salmon. How beautiful is that plating? Had to take a moment to appreciate it before we dug in!
We finished the meal off with a delicious blueberry kunafa cheesecake and a chocolate monte carlo i.e. chocolate steamed cake with chocolate ganache, peanut butter-chocolate ice cream, raspberry coulis, and an Amarula shooter on the side.
Swoon! Perfect end to the meal these desserts..
In between courses, we stepped out onto the deck to take in the stunning views of the creekside, watched abras go by, and pointed out buildings in Deira and Bur Dubai that we wouldn’t normally see when we’re driving.
The food was delicious and the plating, a work of art. There’s also a pianist on the floor, playing beautiful soft tunes. At AED495 a pop, it might be a little bit on the steep side but for 2.5 hours of gliding down the creek for a celebration, Bateaux Dubai is definitely worth it and makes for a special night out on the town.