Living the Life at Beefbar
Beefbar - international import from exotic locales like Monaco, Paris and Hong Kong brings their carnivorous cuts to DIFC’s Al Fattan Currency House with panache and elegance. In what seems to be part steak house, part gentleman’s club this spacious and sleekly styled venue has all the trappings of wealth and absolutely looks the part but can it produce a decent steak? In short yes but not all steaks are equal or winners.
The menu is cleverly broken down in to three main areas, Street Food - which features various serving styles of their different beef grades, then there’s the Steaks and finally the Extras. Offering the street food section works well by introducing the high end beef grades in an approachable way that isn’t as big a financial commitment when compared to the actual steaks themselves which - point blank are expensive.
The Beef is set out by cut and grade. For instance - Japanese’s Kobe, Australian Wagyu, Black Market Angus and Dubai Exclusive, all of which can now be purchased online from their gourmet butcher shop. Back to the menu and in the street food section there’s also a Raw Bar and a Leaf Bar covering offerings from tataki to salad.
While we waited for the starters to arrive we were offered an amuse bush, which consists of a ginger snap base with ever so thinly sliced raw beef on top that is ‘blow torched’ at your table. It’s a great gesture that’s full of theater but also delivers taste wise with its lovely combination of sweet and earthiness.
To kick things off, we opted for the Kobe beef tataki from the raw bar which was exquisite with its raw elements perfectly marinated.
Of the street food, the Kobe beef tacos with soft shells, guacamole and habanero (AED75) come as a serving of three and are somehow cheaper than La Carnita’s tacos but admittedly not quite as good. Still, they’re very nice and with a great little zing from the chili that doesn’t over power the hero of the dish from Kobe.
Moving on to the rather expensive Beef Gyoza (AED 120) - also stuffed with some of Kobe’s finest is another set of three nicely prepared pouches. This trio comes with a spicy jalapeno-soy dressing that turned out to be quite sweet but thankfully not to the point of wrecking the dish as it contrasted quite well with the very earthy, deeply marinated beef filling that definitely needed some acid to cut through it.
Service, service, service.
From the outset, I have to say that the service was absolutely on point.
The exceptionally well dressed and seemingly well trained wait staff were always attentive without being overbearing. They were also fun and engaging and really added a lot to the overall dining experience. When you’re charging a premium, the service simply has to be immaculate, and thankfully it was. There are a lot of venues in Dubai that could learn a lot about service from Beefbar.
Getting back to the food and having polished off the starters amoungst good conversation and company, we moved our attention to the mains - finally deciding on the Black Market Australian Fillet Mignon and the Rib Eye. Both choices were at the entry level end of the spectrum - there’s 1000+ Dirham steaks on the menu for those that wish to truly indulge the good life.
Just as a heads up, the steaks do not come with anything. The idea is to order some sides which include a vast array of flavored mash potato but strangely no sauces. For the record, the Black Truffle Mash was devine - it would want to be at an astounding 180 Dirhams, while the gravy and lemon herb versions were kind of bland at 35 AED a piece.
The Filet Mignon (AED 215) was cooked perfectly medium rare and had a beautiful little crust on top and was melt in the mouth sensational. To be honest it just couldn’t be faulted, it was as good as any steak anywhere in the world. The same regrettably, couldn’t be said for the medium cooked Rib Eye (AED 275) which looked great but upon eating was actually quite fatty and a big let down. Being totally honest, there were a few pockets of goodness to it but overall the taste of butter and animal fat just kept on coming through the steak - over powering any of the redeeming qualities that this piece of Black Angus had to offer which was an immense shame.
Without wanting to be too harsh, when you do one thing and in this case being a five star steakhouse, there’s just no room to maneuver when it comes to getting things right. The steaks have to be perfect.
Having gotten over the misfortune of fatty the steak, we decided to close proceedings with a Chocolate Souffle, which was big enough to feed a small army. It was rich and chocolatey and warm and gooey and all those things you want in a souffle except weirdly, the outer crust just wasn’t there. Oh well it still amazing all the same.
Bottom Line:
Contrasting the food with the elegant backdrop, a crooning songstress and impeccable service, the meal and ambience was thoroughly enjoyable with the rogue rib eye being the only blemish of the night.
Unfortunately, when the stakes are this high it was a pretty major foible for a billionaire’s steakhouse, pun intended. If the same thing somehow happened with a 500+ Dirham steak, well that would have been a disaster of a story. Thankfully it didn’t - so I still say this is a place that is definitely worth checking out. It’s not easy on the wallet but if you’re looking for high end service or somewhere to entertain and wow business clients, this should be on your go to list.
It’s headline dining at it’s almost finest.
