A Day Time Night Owl at El Noctámbulo
Food trends change quicker in Dubai than a Nissan Patrol does lanes down SZR. Right now, seems that Mexican is the new Peruvian. Recently there’s been a bunch of new places to throw open their doors offering their take on the Cantina. There was Muchachas, then Luchadoor, quickly followed by La Carnita and now El Noctambulo. Other notable Mexican joints that are not licensed also include the outstanding El Mostasho hidden away in JLT as well as the original Dubai Mexican spot - Maria Bonita over in Umm Sequim.
So if Mexican is the hottest thing going in the city, then I’m a happy to be swept up in it all because there’s a few things that I love and Mexican is one of them.
Getting down to business and El Noctambulo which is a clever word play on the term ‘night owl’ - you know, a person who tends to stay up until late at night - is located over in Building 8 at the Dubai Design District, AKA D3. Clearly they are pitching the night time crowd with this joint but given the difficulty in getting to D3 it will be interesting to see how many night owls show up. My date with El Noc, was during the day - at lunch after enduring a looooooong walk from the chockablock visitors parking area. I was so far out I didn’t even get a covered one. Yep, like a zip code away from building 8.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I will say that I kind of liked the graphics and the colourway of the interiors. The hand painted motifs were nicely done and while streetish in nature, it was nice to see a venue that wasn’t graffitied up. There wasn’t even an Edison Bulb to be seen. The horror! Seriously though, the venue looked good during the day with it’s clean lines, tiled floors and wooden tables. It was light and bright and the polar opposite of say La Carnita.
Not sure how this plays out at night though.
Anyway, moving on to the comida and I opted for the Smokey Guacamole (AED 55) which is a tricked up version of their standard chunky variety featuring Chili Ashes and Cotija Cheese. It was pretty small portion portion so I kinda rationed it but once I bit the bullet and took a decent whack of it, the smokiness and a hint of chili did come through. It was nicely balanced and the corn chips were good too but at a 50% premium to the price of the Classic, I’m not convinced it was a good investment.
Let’s talk tacos. As with pizzas and burgers these little pouches of love generate fiery debates, loyal attachments, and come in a multitude of styles. At El Noctambulo they offer ten varieties and with an opening special of three Tacos for 69 Dirhams, I went for the Carne Asada, the Octopus and Choritzo and the Chicken Pastor.
I was excited about the inclusion of pineapple on the Chicken Pastor but taking a bite I was a little disappointed because it was kinda invisible. This was probably the least memorable of the trio. The Octopus and Choritzo was a clear step up with its deep, hearty flavors. There was a small hint of fishiness from to Octopus (in a good way). It was bold, but I was expecting this number to be a little more heavy on the smoke and chili. There was a nice twist of lime to it though. Saving the best to last and what can I say, the Carne Asada was sensational. The marinade on the perfectly cooked meat was dense and smokey offering big, bold flavors with each moreish bite. The melted cheese was spot on and the avocado mousse just right. I could have eaten 10 of these things well into the night with a few pints. Alas, that wasn’t to be but there’s always next time I guess.
Rounding things out, I should note that there’s more than just tacos on the menu. There’s a burger, a quesadilla, a fajita and a burrito, along with a bunch of starters like potato skins, sope, jalapeno poppers and fish flautas. There’s some sides and a few deserts too.
It’s pretty reasonably priced, which means that when I get some of my compadres together this could be a place to check out late at night.
