Dubai hotels bring down the cost of eating out
Posted on 30 May 2009 with no comments from readers
Some Dubai hotels are still demanding ambitious rack room rates but there has been a notable trend towards affordable dining, a response to the near emptying of restaurants last autumn as the financial crisis hit the city.
Consider for example the Radisson Blu Hotel in the Dubai Media City and its perhaps unappetizingly named new Running Skewers night on Thursdays. To explain, the concept is an unlimited supply of grilled meat and fish on barbecue skewers with waiters doing the running around, it is not a buffet.
A decent night out
Indeed, this is rather a decent three-course meal for the end of the week. Arabic-style starters served at the table, then the skewers – including prawns, king fish, lamb and chicken – in copious quantity, and a choice of desert.
There is also a choice of house wine or Tiger beer, again with generous refills. The all-in cost for this pretty large feast is AED165 per head or $45.
Chef Hassan perhaps came up with the concept from his previous global experience as far a field as China and St Petersburg in Russia. However, the flavorings hint of a more Indian background.
But this is a far cry from the AED500 or $135 per head visits to local steak houses which become popular at the height of the boom last year. Dubai has had to adjust its offerings to the reduced wallets of its residents and visitors.
Successful formula
It certainly seems to be working. The Running Skewers are a runaway success with the tables full on an evening when the Dubai Media City would normally be empty.
Other hotels have been slower to change their menus, and there are still a lot of empty tables in the fine dining restaurants. But this is not likely to persist for long. Hotels represent a large capital investment that needs a cash flow and can not tolerate voids.
Perhaps then hoteliers should also be taking a night out at the Radisson Blu Hotel to see what the future holds. Chef Hassan might not be the next Gordon Ramsey but he knows how to fill his restaurant with happy diners.
