How ROKA Dubai Is Revolutionising The ‘Celebration Dinner’…By Moving It To Lunchtime
Delicious Japanese dishes, impeccable hospitality and decor to wow – ROKA is a celebration any time of the day…
Ever felt so busy that you don’t even have time to celebrate your important milestones? That’s where I found myself a few weeks ago as I approached my seven-year anniversary of moving to Dubai. Ok, so it wasn’t the biggest celebration, but it was a date I wanted to mark with my husband (who moved from the UK with me), however other people’s birthday brunches, baby showers and late night work events meant I could be waiting a couple of months until there was free time in my diary.
That’s when an invite to review the premium lunch menu at ROKA dropped in my inbox. Could lunchtime be the new celebration dinner? ROKA Dubai did seem to tick all the boxes: Japanese Robatayaki cuisine (my favourite) from a world-class brand, impeccable service (I’d heard from so many friends) and served in a space of cool, contemporary natural woods and hanging gardens – in the Opus building by Zaha Hadid in Business Bay no less. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to squeeze in a celebration and make my first ever visit to a ROKA establishment, so we booked ourselves in for a Tuesday lunchtime.
Once seated we were handed the premium lunch menu to peruse and my first impression was that it’s a lot of food for just Dhs175 per person – albeit dessert is not included. Before starters arrived, the chef sent over a dish from the regular lunch set menu (Dhs 115pp) with his compliments, it was the signature iceberg salad no wafu (a wedge of iceberg lettuce with caramelised onion dressing). The truth is that iceberg lettuce is pretty high on my list of tasteless foods I never want to see in my salad – closely followed by onions (I’m intolerant) but the combination is surprisingly refreshing and enjoyable.
This was followed by five different starters, the arrival of which is staggered to allow for dramatic effect and also for the generous portions to have enough breathing space on the table. We started with the baby spinach with sesame dressing – which is as delicious as it is simple, then the salmon tartare with yuzu den miso, which is a never-ending platter of tangy and tasty finely-sliced joy.
Super fresh salmon, seabass and tuna sashimi came out next, followed by warm and delectable king crab, black cod and prawn dumplings served with roasted chilli dressing. And just when we though we were done, sushi rolls in the form of Piripiri Maguro maki (spicy tuna, cucumber, asparagus, benitade and tempura flakes) arrived as the sumptuous pièce de résistance.
For the main course, there’s six dishes to choose from: the Hinadori no lemon miso yaki (a cedar roast baby chicken with lemon and chilli), salmon fillet teriyaki with sansho salt, beef fillet with chilli, ginger and red onion and for the vegetarians there’s a selection of robata grilled Japanese vegetables. We opted for the Tai no miso-yaki, a delicately cooked sea bream fillet with a beautiful chargrilled sweetness which was accompanied by ryotei miso and red onion, and the Kankoku fu Kohitsuji lamb cutlets with Korean spices and sesame cucumber that were as packed with taste as they were tender to tear.
Dessert isn’t included with the lunch menu, but if you are still peckish, or like us, celebration means sweets in your world, there is a huge selection to choose from. We opted for, and can highly recommend, the chocolate and passion fruit sundae with cocoa crumble and coconut sorbet and the yoghurt and almond cake with mango toffee sauce and caramel miso ice cream. If you’re going all out, there’s also the ROKA dessert platter which is a selection of their signature sweet dishes, served with seasonal and exotic fruits, ice creams and sorbets.
Did it feel like a special event? Absolutely! And best of all it felt like a day long celebration as we still had a birthday party to attend in the evening.
For more information, visit rokarestaurant.com/restaurant/roka-dubai/
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