Hotel Review: Ritz-Carlton DIFC offers value as well as great style

Normally staying at the Ritz-Carlton in any financial district would be prohibitively expensive. But these days you can weekend in the Dubai International Financial Centre from ADE950 per room and weekday lunch menus in the hotel’s three fine restaurants are only AED85.

There is absolute no compromise on style, food or service. The DIFC is a typical Ritz-Carlton with first-rate staff with a genuine desire to make your stay memorable, and oodles of classic style, albeit of the minimalist contemporary variety in this new hotel which opened in January.

Swanky new hotel

You’re swathed in marble and deep-pile carpets without being overwhelmed by them. This modernity is carried over into the rooms with subdued tones and clean lines. ArabianMoney tried out a corner suite on the club floor which has the benefit of a lounge featuring complementary drinks and food presentations throughout the day.

Not a trick is missed in the suite itself from electric-powered blinds and curtains to the Nespresso machine, Bose stereo and complementary Wi-Fi. You also have an out-size grey-marble bathroom with a TV in the mirror and a splendid independent bathtub, and a huge rainfall shower across one wall.

We also visited the first-rate spa for a Swedish massage in the very spacious treatment rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, not claustrophobic enclosed rooms like some spas. The quality of the treatments is well worth a separate indulgence.

The gym is also top-knotch with a very wide range of the latest equipment. However, the indoor pool is rather small and currently closed for maintenance. Alternatively you have access to the swimming pool on the roof through the associated residency wing.

You might find the exercise facilities useful to keep some space spare to try the restaurants which are rather special. We particularly liked the Can Can french brasserie that is well known in the DIFC for its inexpensive lunchtime buffet, but a la carte is highly recommended.

Perfect fois gras

Restaurant manager Denis Magaton introduced us to the resident French chef whose perfect fois gras should be experienced. Other lunchtime favorites include Norwegian salmon on a bed of mashed cauliflower, duck confit, steak and frites and a very honest mushroom and chicken quiche. And to finish what about a fine tarte tatin with vanilla ice-cream?

There is also a great selection of wine options from the modest to impressively priced kept in the longest glass-fronted wine cellar in Dubai. Or if you fancy a top steak house then The Center Cut is well up with the very best on offer in the city as we discovered on an earlier occasion, and if anything it had got better (click here). The Blue Rain Thai is also very good (click here).

Could this hotel be improved? Well, it will be nice when the weather allows the roof terraces to open, especially in the evening. The first all-new menus since the hotel opened are also coming up this autumn and are worth looking out for!