Foodie Fantasy: It was the weekend…

Last Thursday was a girl's night out, which since having Evie have been rather elusive, so to say I was looking forward to it is an understatement. 

Tr!beca Official Press Photo

We chose Tr!beca, in the Ocean View Hotel JBR Walk.  The concept is fresh, tasty organic food and drink, at a reasonable price.  DJ Fast (one of the founding members of the Fun Loving Criminals) was playing a set later in the evening, and my being a huge FLC fan meant that this was a night not to miss.

The bar itself is modeled on a Manhattan loft space, with lots of exposed brick, leather sofas and tables throughout.  The best thing about the restaurant is that outside is for smokers - which is fine except I was with smokers and it is very cold at the moment.  Throughout the meal, we all would have loved some heaters or pashminas, neither of which was on offer.  That said, with hindsight I should have worn something more appropriate anyway as taxis are so hard to come by at the end of the night.

Dinner was superb.  I had the feta cheese, cherry tomatoes and a pesto sauce for starters.  The dish was presented well on a grill pan, with edemame beans on the side.  As has been proven by chefs globally, simplicity is key.  The food on offer is very simply cooked, but also very delicious.

Steak at Tr!beca

For my main, I decided to go with the pizza.  I had wanted the ravioli, but the portion looked small, and being cold and hungry when I ordered, I went for the pizza, as the size of it was huge.  It was in fact so big I couldn’t eat more than one quarter and I gave away about another third of it as everyone wanted to try some.  I also got to taste steak that one of my girlfriends had ordered.  It was perfectly cooked and very tender arriving in the same dish as the cheese and tomatoes.

I did have complete food envy of my friend who was the only one of us who chose a desert – and it is the one photo that I wanted, yet the one photo that didn’t come out.  She ordered a deconstructed cheesecake, which arrives at your table in a pyramid of glass, rather like a glass tiffin box – One with the base, another with the cheesecake and the final one with mango sauce.  You just pick and choose which part to eat as you go along.

To drink, the five of us had the Chardonnay.  Surprisingly drinkable (I am not a big fan of Chardonnay), it is also an organic wine and generally which costs 180aeds a bottle.

All in all, our dinner came to aed160 per person (four bottles included in this), although there was a 50% off promotion, which was also available.  I will certainly be returning.