Beach time baby

We are very lucky, living where we do, to have the best beach (and best beach bar) in Dubai directly opposite us, or as Ian says "A nine iron away", whatever that means! The beach itself can, just about, be seen from our apartment and the traffic jams leading to the Barasti Beach Bar every Thursday and Friday evening can definitely be seen as they are the longest I know of for any bar out here.

As it is now our local, or "The Pelican" as Ian refers to it (The Peli being our local pub back home - Get it?!), and seeing as we are sans liqueur license, I tend to get dragged down there at least three times a week so Ian can have a swifty, which is never that swift and only once has it not included eating.  

Before Ian appreciated what a good watering hole it was, and prior to the pool opening, we had visited the beach a couple of times a week.  It opens at 11am and remains open until the bar closes.  Now we tend to visit only in the evenings as Ian says he doesn't like the sand(?!).

The beach itself isn't the biggest, but it has views across the Palm to The Atlantis hotel, and to the left a small harbour.  The water is clear and bath temperature warm.  All along the front of the beach are dark coloured wicker type sun loungers, with cream cushions and umbrellas.  Set just back from those are double sun beds which match.  Even during the week, if you want to get a bed of any description, you have to arrive before 12.30pm.  At the weekend, it is a different story.  You have to get there at opening if you want to secure a bed of any description, otherwise the sand toward the back of the beach is the only option.

The Atlantis is being obscured by the big yacht

It is a great place to people watch.  The bold and the beautiful pack into this beach to show themselves off.  Yes, bodies are fantastically sculpted (note to self, hit the gym harder), but even the best can look damn right stupid.  For instance, there was a beautiful man, with stunning eyes and a body even Alexander Skarsgard would be proud of.  But the tit was wearing speedos, and not just any speedos.  Oh no, he was wearing electric blue Superman speedos with the superman sign emblazoned over his 'you-know-whats'.

Granted, this specimen was bronzed and was able to totally rock the colour, but what ultimately let him down was the size of all things down there...  Superman he was not!  Seriously people, if you are going to parade around the beach, even as banter, this is not a good look.

 

There are five bars in total in the Barasti.  A couple of the bars only open in the evenings during the winter.  This is a bar which comes into it's own in the winter, and from now on, we told to expect it to get busier and busier as the temperature cools.  

During the winter, the beaches and outdoor spaces come alive and the Barasti in no exception.  It hosts weekly beach parties;  the biggest being HedKandi once a month.  Apparently during the summer months, it is just too hot so people do not leave the cool of the air conditioning to be outside.  Now though, it is 35 degrees during the day and 33 degrees at 11pm.  There is still 40% humidity, but this is so much better than it was a month ago - 90%!!!  Lets just say, people out here do not have the best hair so my immitation of Monica from Friends visiting the Carribbean is not too embarrasing...

Of the five bars, one is on the decked area underneath the roof you see above.  It has a lovely covered seating area of lounge beds which isn't shown in the picture below. You will have to forgive my photo's as the heat renders me useless to drinking (and clearly taking photos).  Drinks here however, are not the cheapest - all of Dubai charge London prices.  During the day, there are no promotions and for 4 Bulmers and 4 bottles of Sol we paid just over 400aeds.  This equates to £80.  That said, after being brought, they were carried over in their ice buckets, with attached bottle openers and wedges of lime.  

They do have a 'Happy Hour' here, as with most of the Marina.  This means that you have BOGOF - Buy One Get One Free, on bottles of Sol and some other beers from 6pm to I think 8 or 9pm.  They also have various promotions throughout the year.  Their ladies night starts again this October, so it will be a free couple of glasses of bubbly for me every Tuesday!

One of the bars on the beach itself

Above the downstairs bar, and as you walk in, you are greated with a large swimming pool which is apparently used during the winter, and around which are more dark brown rattan sofas, with two out door bars and one indoor bar.  

They cater for all tastes here and show lots of sport, including all the Premier League Football games (normally on the big screen outside and one inside the main bar), cricket and rugby on the other smaller screens.  Again, whilst seating is plentiful, it is not unusual for it to be standing room only around the pool by the big screen for football.

The main screen where all the big premier league matches are shown

Food here is at a premium due to the location.  All food is home made and a Beef Burger here costs 80aeds, about £15 (Ian's favourite).  The portions are very generous.  It is also worth noting that they have a pork license, something which even many hotels lack.  Therefore, if you have a craving for Ribs, at the moment, this is the only restaurant we have found as yet that is able to give you pork ribs, so I would recommend you eat here as beef ribs just don't make the cut.  

Personally, in this heat, I often opt for the tapas menu.  There are various options, but I like the mini burgers and curly fries.  Each option on the menu is 35aeds (£6) and the two mini burgers have filled me up before I have even begun the fries, but yes, I did finish them.  These are also perfect for children.

Due to the number of people that they serve, service is a little slow but ordinarily it's OK.  Yesterday, for the first time, the service wasn't so good;  One of the meals was dropped and they forgot to serve the sauce we had requested - ironically delivered when we were on our last bite.

I ordered a seafood pizza which was very tasty or as Ian would say "Not too fishy".  The calamari was perfectly cooked and not at all chewy, and the crab meat delicious and plentiful.  I struggled to finish the pizza which was the size of a large dinner plate and cost 78aeds.  

The ambiance here from early evening/Late afternoon is always buzzing.  There are people of all ages, from babies, to grandparents in the upstairs bars with the downstairs mainly reserved for those on a nightout.  The only irritation has been that if you are sat eating on certain areas of the veranda, you have the music from the bars upstairs, playing different genres to the music playing from downstairs.

We stayed the afternoon and into the evening, going downstairs.  Ian wanted to go onto the sand and dance even though there were no old ladies to throw around as you would expect from him.  Luckily both he and Gerry, a friend of ours from Woking, had to leave for work at 7am, so myself and Nuria managed to convince them to leave early enough, and having not drunk enough, for it to impact on their day today.

The view of our apartment (centre) from the beach at night - the bar is somewhere on here...

It is worth noting, although more for a aid-memoire for me, that I do believe that we were  able to use our Emirates Platinum Discount card here and got 15% off the bill, although Ian said that I was dreaming as this hasn't happened and I must have had heat stroke/been under the influence when this was meant to have occurred(?!).  

Luckily, this just means that we have to go back there in order for me to prove myself right!