Mooyha burger, can it score?

This is a pretty new opening... Maximum a couple of weeks operating.

The staff welcomed me very enthusiastic... Maybe a bit contrived mirth, but who am I to judge.

The place isn't the Ibn Battuta mall and is clean, features bright colors like red and yellow, which is accompanied by wood textures.

There are two big chalkboards on the wall, but it seems, that is more for the show than for daily specials.

Overall a quite pleasant interior.

I got a pager, to notice, when the order is ready, but it didn't took long and it was my food was served. While this might be not the standard (they we not busy at all), I value the effort; very good.

My order: mooyah burger, sweet potato fries and lemonade. I paid AED 61.00.

By the way: they have coca cola products (nice).

The fries:

Johnnie Rockets: please come here and try! Other than your miserable examples of fries, these sweet potato sticks are awesome! Crispy and spiced outside and creamy inside. Hell yeah!

The burger:

I've ordered the tomato on the side... And it came in a small bowl on the side. Finally someone who understands me.

The burger has a double patty. Nobody asked me for the doneness, but it came medium well. Juicy and nice. While they say on the trayliner that they have different cheeses, mine was by default American (cheese imitation). My own fault, but someone could have told me...

There were also caramelized onions on the burger (great but a bit too wet), salad (didn't hold up against the patties) and pickles (average). Overall a darn tasty burger, which was a bit messy, though.

The lemonade:

This was of the kind: stir powder into water. Not really great... You could even taste the secondary sweeteners (something like aspartame). It was not revolting, but also not good at all. They offer though one free refill!

Lets get to the ratings:

Yay or meh: yay. I will definitely come back. Not driving extra down like this time. But the venue is directly besides the cinema. So coming a bit earlier and munch a good mooya burger is better,Nathan the overpriced cinema snacks.

Restaurant comfort: 6- but only due to noisy Tagalog chatting. Even in a fast food place, I really don't like to hear staff conversation!

Food and Beverages: 7 - the burger is good. Not not as good as JR, ShakeSh., or Elevation Burger

Service: 7 - very friendly and helpful. At times a bit too noisy.

Value for money: 7

Overall: 6.5

I would drive to venues like Shake Shack or even Johnnie Rockets. But Mooyah burger is not such a place. Yes the burger is good, and they had the best fries yet in my reviews. But there is a little bit missing for real greatness. But well... Like mentioned, definitely advisable before a movie...

Döner Kebab... In Dubai... at German Döner Kebab

This was my idea... Really!

A couple of years ago I told a,couple of friends, that German Döner would be an instant hit in the UAE. It's so obvious: people like here comfort food, sloppy food, Middle Eastern cuisine, sandwiches... And a "döner" is everything and more...

My concept was, to team up with a Turkish-German "imbiss" and replicate it here with their help and some of their 'cooks'.

Then, a couple of months ago I have seen the first 'coming soon' ads. When I have seen, that they finally opened, I wanted to be here... I had to come here... And here I am!

The restaurant

Common guys, in Germany this kind of restaurants are more cafeterias... Often little bit more than a white tiled hole in a wall. Here it is like an ultra modern bistro... Very nice, with free wifi... Black, orange, white with ambiance lighting. Wonderful and strange at the same time. This would be in Germany the Döner Kebab for hipsters...

The service

I wanted to have a beef döner... beef and lamb is usually the way to go. Chicken is for whimsies! However beef was sold out, so I had to go for poultry.

Most servers are African (again strange... what is wrong with Turks?). They are confident, but not exactly service oriented. And don't have the appeal of Ali of 'Döner an der Ecke'.

Though.., also no complains here.

Der döner

I have to say... This döner is pretty kick ass. It is that good. 97% from the best Döners in Germany. The bread is a good Turkish fluffy flatbread, nicely toasted. The composition is really great. Tasty - tasty - tasty. Much better than the British-Indian concepts... Take this, UK!

They have also German potato salad which doesn't really make sense... It is a Turkish concept, remember (you would not expect a truly German dish in a Chinese German restaurant, would you? It wouldn't be so far off, if they would also offer other German popular dishes like currywurst. But they don't... So it is weird).

Drinks are pretty standard: coke product (bravo, I don't like Pepsi), but no refill (sad)- Snapple products, which again doesn't really fit... 

But

And this is a big but: they took away the ordering and customizing experience. You can order at the cashier, and gives the order to the kitchen. In Germany it is so different. I guess part of the popularity of this dish and its venues is, that the German Turks implemented long before Cold Stone Creamery or other similar concepts the theater of food preparation.

You come to Ali (or Murat) - most of the time, he knows you and chit chats already some small talk. He knows your order... off course... But even if you are a first timer, you order at the guy with the big knife (or electric round cutter) and he will assist you for our dream döner. Salad, cabbage, onions, yoghurt garlic sauce, tomatoes, spicy chili sauce, chili flakes... Everything is in front of you and is heaped onto the sandwich as soon as he asks, and you confirm. It is like "build your dream döner"- and this is truly wonderful.

Unfortunately this stylish outpost just ripped away this essential experience from us.

Yay or Meh: definitely yay!

Restaurant comfort: 7 (in comparison to German venues it would be a 10- letting their counterparts on a 3 or 4)

Food and beverage: 8.5 

Service: 6

Value for money: 6

Overall: 7

Proper Döner Kebab bonus: 10

Lack of friendly snotty Ali: -10

Verdict: 

Döner alone is superlative to anything here in Dubai. Yes I would even say, it would be quite with the top 10 of Döner sandwiches in Germany. BUT, due to the unique concept in GER, you almost always have your perfect burger there... Like lots of garlic? Your friend at the spit puts more garlic sauce on... Like it spicy? He put some extra spicy sauce on the bottom and/or adds some chili flakes on top. Don't like tomato or like more onions? You get it. And here all German döners are outplaying the Dubai counterpart.

If you don't know it from Germany you won't miss it and you will celebrate the glorious sandwich. If you know it, you will miss it. A lot!

Still, it is a very pleasant place to go... A bit hard to find...

They seem to be on hard work with several franchises, which is a good thing. But they really should consider to put the assembly back to the front, where it should be...

 

 

Dean Fujiya Japanese Cafe and Restaurant

I love to go Dean Fujiya Supermarket near Lamcy Plaza. This minuscule supermarket has a surprisingly great selection of Japanese produce as well as kitchen tools (I fell in love with a classic super heavy, traditionally one sided cut Japanese chef knife, the back thick as someones ring finger) and other Japanese food related stuff. I bought there two authentic Japanese teas for work.

And a  couple of meters besides, they built a restaurant, which they promoted keenly.
So I thought, it cannot be so wrong to give it a try.

The looks are a bit rough. Super bright light, almost clumsy counter which seems not at all sensible, black unrelated furniture, plastic flowers on the table -there was no interior designer at work for this restaurant. The waiting stuff, two Filipinas offered me the menu- a folder with plastic wrapped pages. Seems that the guys didn't put a particular concept in place.

I've ordered agedashi dofu, a sushi selection and cold soba noodles with grated radish. I've also ordered a melon calpis to drink and additional I've informed the waitress that I don't like seafood/shellfish/octopus...

My calpis came after 3 minutes. Very sweet but refreshing (and yes, as I am shopping in their mart, I know, that it is laden with artificial flavors... but sometimes it happens that I don't care - I won't offer it myself, but I don't judge, as long as the offering person don't give me, we are offering only the best speech) it was delicious as refreshing.
The agedashi dofu came hot on the table. The silken tofu was pretty average, the whole dish was slightly undersalted and it wasn't crispy at all. Overall it was though successful, especially, if you haven't previously experienced a better execution.

The sushi took a bit longer. I still got cuttlefish sushi [annoying, why exactly do I state, that I don't like seafood, when I still get some]... but I have to say, the salmon, tuna and hamachi nigiri were excellent, no, it was superlative - I didn't ate better sushi at 5 star hotels - even not at Zuma or Nobu! The quality of the produce was amazing and the still slightly warm rice [it was ever so slightly warm] was to die for! The tamago was very big and very rough looking. The taste reminded me more on traditional scrambled eggs and not the superfine Japanese omelette. It tasted though very good. Overall all the pieces of the dish lacked uniformity and refinement but made it up with flavor and produce freshness.
And, it came with a bowl of two pieces of cooked salmon in a creamy [maybe sesame?] sauce. First of all I thought that this was odd. And then I tried the salmon - cold! But the next impression was mind boggling. The salmon was dense and very meaty - only a very little bit salmony [fishy sounds bad]. I never encountered this dish, but it was absolutely stunning. Horay!

I got then cold soba noodles- unfortunately crowned with two tempura shrimps and slices of fishcake [didn't I mention, that I don't like seafood???]. The sauce was again a bit on the underseasoned side. Overall I think, it could be better, if they presented the soba on a plate not a bowl and have a separate bowl for dipping instead of drowning the noodles in the sauce. The whole dish was ok, but didn't blew me away.

And that wraps it up. If you are going there, make sure, that it is in a group, where everyone, likes something. I was really annoyed, that I especially pointed out, that I don't eat shellfish/seafood, and still got it on the plate - the only thing they replaced was one prawn nigiri - but then forgot my preference, even in the same dish!

The atmosphere? You better like to prefer Filipino soapy songs and staff which is singing with it. The place looks quite clean, but you mustn't be in search for something fancy.

Overall I think, it missed its mark. It is almost there, to be a insiders' tip. The sushi is absolutely great and they have items, which are offbeat and interesting. I can even forgive them the lack of style, the kitschy music and singing waitresses. The only thing, which is not good is the service. Yes, the waitress are nice, but they didn't even reacted, when they've seen, that I put the cuddlefish nigiri and the shrimp tempura demonstrative beside. They didn't asked, if everything is alright. At one time, when I ate the cold soba, the more silent waitress pointed with her finger on my bowl and on the carafe and told me, that 'should' pour the sauce into the bowl [I already did].

Don't get me wrong. I don't look for highclass_blow_my_ass_service. I am realistic here. But I am looking for a kinda sensible service, which looks for feedback and respond to the customers actions.
I also look for service, which knows the menu and can explain their guests, which is the difference, if the guest seem not to fully get the menu.

I paid around AED 130 for the meal, which would have been very good value for money, if I could eat everything! But while I loved nigiris and the drink, and also liked most of the other stuff, I just felt, that there was something elementary missing.

Yay or meh: very mixed.

Restaurant comfort: 3 

Service: 3

Food and beverages: 7 (nigiri alone a 10!!! But the slightly undersalted other dishes brings it down)

Value for money: 8 (mixed bag again - I put 1 out of 5 nigiri down, the tempura shrimps, which seems to be the difference to the next dish which was AED 10 cheaper etc. - my rating is based on the fact, that you eat everything)

Overall: 4

Verdict: They have takeout and delivery - I am prone to order the next time a ton of sushi [by piece, I am not again so naive and ask them to replace something] and pick it up to nibble at home. This would make my home to Dubai's best sushi bar [well I don't have a bar, but you get the drift]!

They are not yet there. Not at all! They really have to up the ante, if they don't want to have an underperforming restaurant with an expensive real Japanese chef [or they might loose him to one hotel].

Elevation Burger Dubai, review

And here we are again... The next heart busting review....

Yes, another burger, yum!

Elevation Burger is the victim today. Located at Sheikh Zayed Road, besides of Crown Plaza it is not hart to find, but I've heard, that they've several other locations as well.

They say, that they're ingredient savvy ('ingredients matter') and that the meat is organic grass fed, free range. I love it when my food was happy, before it got the bullet...

One personal badge: they offer Coca Cola - free refill! Haha!

Anyway, I had to wait a bit for the food - 8 min after my order the burger arrived, though there might was some confusion as the server asked me of my other order - but my salad arrived only 2 minutes after the reconfirmation.

The order:

Elevation burger - custom toppings (red pepper relish, ketchup, mustard, roasted onion, lettuce)

Elevation salad - ranch dressing.

The staff is super friendly, mostly Asian (Filipino I guess)- the only down is, that they give number tents to wait and then call out the number (even though they directly find you without that you have to wave) - maybe they should learn from Shake Shack!

The burger

It was rather small. I guess the diameter is smaller than a McD hamburger... But two patties make sure, that you still get your carnivore fix. The meat was crumbly, toasted and well roasted. Nobody asked me for the doneness of the burger, but if it is always like that, there is no need for it!

My only complains: the bread roll was cold and untoasted and rather uninspiring. Think supermarket burger rolls. Not convincing. 

The taste though is. The bread obviously is overthrown of glorious meat and condiment taste. Almost very good.

The salad

I got a round transparent plastic box with romaine lettuce with a ring of mandarin segments and pecan nuts on top. They gave two small plastic bowls of ranch dressing.

The dressing tasted, as it was commercial off the shelf ranch. The mandarins, again uninspiring. While I always use to have a can of those in my cupboard in case of forbidden cravings, I don't think, that they should be on any restaurant menu (did you know, that they apply acid to corrode the skin?).

Still the salad tasted nice due to the nuts and fruitiness- just not really convincing). 

I wanted to leave, but seen house made fries on another table... Here we are again... cheese burger, this time and the fries. 

The fries, were almost matchstick thin, looked crispier as they were quite greasy - unfortunately they also underseasoned the fries. Not so good. As I asked for extra salt, they tasted better, but still too greasy (please check in the Internet how to make very crispy fries - Heston Blumenthal and other culinary masterminds share a trick or two openly). The cheese burger was as expected - good meat and toppings, bad roll...

Did I mention the free refill coke?

Lets get to the rating:

Yay or meh: more yay

Restaurant comfort: 7 (soda fountains besides of slightly smelly toilets are taking one point off)

Service: 7

Food and beverages: 7.5 (burger alone a 7.5- also plus for free refill)

Value for money: 6.5

Overall: 7

 Would I come back? Definitely!

Verdict: elevation burger has a lot of potential though disappoints in some areas. For the concept, I would not expect ingredients like industrial produced dressings, rolls. The signature burger is also surprisingly small! and lets not talk about the fries (for all who complain about the fries at Shake Shack: they are definitely better than most fries i had lately in the other joints). But the meat quality elevates it directly underneath Shake Shack and Johnnie Rockets!

And: did I mentioned the free refill?

Your expectations will change, if you cook sous vide

Yeah, I know... My praise of sous vide cooking already gets boring... But trust me (again) it is really really great!

If you are cooking sous vide duck breasts, the fat of the skin is perfectly prepared to render. You never had crispier, yet juicy and medium rare duck in your life!

Speaking of medium rare: I have to admit- I wasn't a big fan of anything below medium. I experienced the taste a bit... oily - it just tasted odd. And the texture is usually kind of unpleasant chewy. This is because, medium rare (or rare) in traditional cooking means really partly uncooked (and yes, you could put the stuff into the oven on a low heat, which decreases stage problem, but it is still there).

This applies for everything you eat medium rare or rare: duck breast, beef, game, lamb - I realize it specially if it comes to beef tenderloin!

However if you sous vide it to the same temperature, it won't have this oily and chewy character. As you really cook the meat (to the perfect temperature) throughout.

Unfortunately this means, that you will be much more picky, if you are eating out.

A couple of days ago I had a Wagyu strip loin, and while the taste was great, it was (in my world now) far too dry, almost overcooked. I could do it better. And (this is another advantage of sous vide): guaranteed and consistent!

Johnny Rockets review

I visited Johnny Rockets several times, but I guess that I didn't really reviewed my visits.

So here we are...

I had a meal at the Jjumeirah branch...quite hidden in a small shopping mall with a Choitram.

I tried a rather standard burger, sweet potato fries and a peanut shake.

Service was ok. Like often the stuff was almost entirely Filipino. It was very slow in the restaurant and they rather entertained themselves in their mother tongue as taking care of their guest (which was me).

To the food.

The server asked me, how I would like the burger- I opted for medium well (he asked me actually, if I would like to have the burger well done). The burger arrived after quite some time. It was overcooked but overall great! The patty was thin, well roasted and crumbly... Extremely tasteful, the bread W's good and the toppings adequate. 9 points out of ten in the burger department.

The sweet potato fries were a different subject. Long orangey fries, served with ranch dressing. Unfortunately they were quite tasteless and the ranch only added confusion. A 3.5 at most.

The peanut shake? Not from this world. Very sweet, though everything fitted. Amazing (the only drawback is the guilt, which you feel, when you have one... you can just imagine that one shake has a quadrillion calories). Definitely 10 out of 10 (with a plus).

Now the real negatives: you pay everything separate without meal bundle. Three items for around AED 90? Outrageous. I feel that JR out prices themselves. I have the feeling, that I even pay less, if I go to Shake Shack, which has a better overall quality (burgers fare pretty much the same). And Shake Shack has a much better, conte,portray feel - mad lets face it, the 60's theme is no more really fresh (at least it doesn't attract me)

Meh or Yay? Definitely yay!

Restaurant comfort / design: 6.5

Service: a meager 6

Food & beverage: 8 (only due to the disappointing sweet potato fries)

Value for money: 4 

Overall: 7.5

Verdict: if you stick with burgers and shakes, Johnny Rockets has a convincing quality. Unfortunately they are also very expensive and the atmosphere and service doesn't justify the high prices. 

Costa

It is surprising, what are doing in those days without wifi at home. As I was anyway shopping and hungry, I went (searched... MOE mall direction are not updated) to Costa... Having free wifi, it was an understandable move.

It was not easy: Shakeshack was lure'ing me... But I was withstanding my cravings and went to the more café'like environment.

My order:

Double espresso

Aged cheddar and apple sandwich

Chocolate-brownie

The sandwich

Hm... cheesy. The cheddar was great (even if I am not so sure to call it vintage), the apples were a bit refreshing on the palate... were not pronounced but still worked great with the cheese. There were also cranberries,which worked well with their sweet tartness (huh), in favor to the whole composition. Overall a great sandwich - however it falls a bit behind if you are considering the price (and that it is prepacked).

The espresso was good. Nice blend I would say- not too strong but strong enough with some great chocolate notes. Unfortunately it was far too cold!

The brownie

It looked just gorgeous! A dense chocolate brownie with a chocolate cream on top with white chocolate nuggets! Well... it was rather disappointing! It was too dense and the chocolate fondant didn't had the typical (dairy) creaminess - tasted more like cheap cake topping. It was just unnatural in your mouth and heavy... No great choco aromas...

Service

The Tagalog issue. Staff was genuine friendly but were talking loudly without a pause in their language (guess which) and while I am ok with casual and occasional chatter, this was clearly too much. Felt like in little Manila. Otherwise wired self service (staff wanted to take the order, but without English menu it was not possible).

Meh or Wow: so-so

Service: 6 (due to their friendliness)

Ambiance: 4 (due to the backyard Manila sound-environment)

F & B: 5.5 (the sandwich would fare a, 7 the coffee an 8, but the brownie a 4)

Wifi: 6 (complimentary and they gave me two 1hour tickets, but it was slow)

Verdict: American café style with filipino flavor...