Walking out of Blue Flame, the steak and seafood restaurant at the Jumeirah Creekside hotel the other night, my overriding feeling was that the staff were trying very hard.
From the extremely polite, but just ever so slightly overattentive service, to the food, with its many references to an almost outmoded style of molecular gastronomy – yes, we’re talking foams, jellies and spherification caviar – real effort has gone into Blue Flame.
Neither my friend nor I were particularly taken with the interior of the restaurant, but perhaps that’s just us. Faux aquariums, red leather chairs and vibrant blue, red, orange-and-white flooring did not impress us. That said, the glass-walled “cooking pod” in the middle of the room (which offers nightly classes) is an interesting touch and the small but cosy outdoor terrace – the area where we sat – is very pleasant.
The menu certainly makes for interesting reading, with appetisers such as beef carpaccio and steak tartare being given an experimental twist, a grill section featuring quality steaks and seafood and a few rather more avant-garde offerings. Call me conservative, but I can’t imagine how “impressed foie gras” served with port gelatin, pistachio cream, raspberries, chocolate and brioche or espresso-glazed prawns with celeriac mousseline, crispy root beer fennel, roasted hazelnuts and aioli would work together.
Soon after we ordered, a cute little wooden tray containing two different types of warm savoury muffins – pesto and tomato and Provolone cheese – arrived. While they were an interesting alternative to bread, I think the lobster butter they were served with was a slightly odd combination – I can’t say the flavours complemented each other.
Steak tartare featured a hefty mound of raw beef which, instead of being finely chopped, had almost certainly been minced meaning that the texture was mushy. Four perfect rectangles of gherkin weren’t a suitable replacement for the chopped shallots, capers, cornichons, parsley, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco that traditionally come bound up in this dish. As a result, it lacked both punch and crunch. An artfully placed slick of what tasted like mustard cream, along with a line of sea salt, ran down opposite edges of the serving plate. This may have looked good presentation-wise, but made it difficult to mix into the meat. I’m also not convinced that the richness of the poached, breaded, fried egg was a suitable replacement for the traditional raw one, which helps to bring out the flavour of the beef rather than fight with it.
We couldn’t quite decide whether the grilled octopus starter looked pretty or just messy. Either way, I’m not sure that the individual components worked together to create a properly rounded dish: thickly sliced squid was rather overpowered by the slivers of red pepper, pieces of garlic sponge tasted of very little at all and a lone chorizo crisp was quickly devoured, so didn’t really add anything.
For her main course, my friend opted for the 250g Wagyu rib-eye, which was cooked medium, as she'd asked. It was very tasty – and so it should be for Dh350. It wasn't, however, the best Wagyu beef steak that I've tasted in the UAE. A spoonful or two of shallot and chervil mustard made for a nice, sharp accompaniment and simple side orders of grilled asparagus and roasted wild mushrooms were well-cooked and seasoned. Lobster potato croquettes were disappointing, though: the round balls of mashed potato were bland and heavy while the chunks of lobster were chewy.
My “brick baby chicken”, chosen from the list of chef’s specials, was inconsistent: the meat itself was juicy with crisp, gleaming skin, but the accompanying green pea mash wasn’t a mash at all, but a smear of slightly sweet purée that didn’t taste of peas. It was, like the four squares of polenta cake that also came with the dish, nowhere near hot enough.
Under the guidance of a really quite charming waiter, we chose the “pliable cheesecake” and “chocolate inspirations” for dessert. Unfortunately the desserts exemplified exactly what is going wrong at Blue Flame. The chefs in this kitchen are obviously working hard and enjoy experimenting, but it is simply not enough to expect customers to be wowed by technique and -presentation.
An old-fashioned cheesecake, with its buttery biscuit base and thick, creamy topping, might not look particularly exciting but, made properly, it will more than likely taste delicious. Blue Flame's deconstructed gelatinous version was a sorry mishmash: buttermilk ice cream was sticky with setting agent and had a watery aftertaste, a filo biscuit didn't feel fresh and brought nothing to the plate in terms of flavour while the slightly spongy, set cream centrepiece was disappointingly bland. There was nowhere near enough of the biscuit base, sprinkled in a line down one side as it was.
The chocolate inspirations platter was a little better, although it did still speak of disparate items painstakingly arranged on a plate. Cacao ice cream was pleasingly rich and bitter, chocolate sponge cake with ganache icing was tasty as chocolate cake tends to be and “dehydrated chocolate mousse” was reminiscent of a particularly dry brownie. Cappuccino foam was a pointless addition, though: there wasn’t a hint of coffee about it and the bubbles quickly burst, leaving a little pool of water in the middle.
I really think this restaurant has potential, but at the moment there is just too much going on. When the prices are as high as this, I expect to be wowed rather than confused by the food.
A meal for two at Blue Flame costs Dh870, including service charge. For reservations, call 04 230 8580. Reviewed meals are paid for by The National and all reviews are conducted incognito
eshardlow@thenational.ae
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
DAY%20ONE%20RESULT
%3Cp%3E%3Cbr%3E1.%20Charlotte%20Kool%20(NED)%20%E2%80%93%20Team%20DSM%3A%202hrs%2C%2047min%2C%2014sec%3Cbr%3E2.%20Lorena%20Wiebes%20(NED)%20%E2%80%93%20Team%20SD%20Worx%3A%20%2B4%20secs%3Cbr%3E3.%20Chiara%20Consonni%20(ITA)%20%E2%80%93%20UAE%20Team%20ADQ%3A%20%2B5%20secs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Naga
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EMeshal%20Al%20Jaser%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EAdwa%20Bader%2C%20Yazeed%20Almajyul%2C%20Khalid%20Bin%20Shaddad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHakbah%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENaif%20AbuSaida%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESaudi%20Arabia%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E22%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24200%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Epre-Series%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGlobal%20Ventures%20and%20Aditum%20Investment%20Management%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The specs: 2018 Maserati GranTurismo/GranCabrio
Price, base Dh485,000 (GranTurismo) and Dh575,000 (GranCabrio)
Engine 4.7L V8
Transmission Six-speed automatic
Power 460hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque 520Nm @ 4,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.3L (GranTurismo) and 14.5L (GranCabrio) / 100km
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
More from Aya Iskandarani
Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Grubtech
Founders: Mohamed Al Fayed and Mohammed Hammedi
Launched: October 2019
Employees: 50
Financing stage: Seed round (raised $2 million)
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
