Restaurant Review: Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, Abu Dhabi
Posted on 27 December 2010 with no comments from readers
The second outlet for Frankies, the Italian restaurant jointly owned by the famous Dubai jockey Frankie Dettori and British celebrity chef Marco Pierre White has grabbed the headlines for The Fairmont, Abu Dhabi, and was opened by HRH the Duke of York. But actually the signature restaurant for this super-modern hotel is the smaller Marco Pierre White Steakhouse and Grill next door.
Cloning the fine dining of great cities is a growing trend and the UK is exporting its chefs. Marco Pierre was formerly the enfant terrible of the British kitchen and once reduced Gordon Ramsay to tears when he was a trainee in his restaurant.
International reputation
The apprentice may now be a major rival but MPW still has a formidable reputation to protect and indeed promote through successful new eateries like his latest in Abu Dhabi. ArabianMoney found the menu a little limited but the quality of the food is what you go for and that is what you get.
Seared pan-fried fois gras was a delicious starter and the attentive sommelier insisted that reisling is a better pair than sauternes for this dish. Alaine Ducasse in Paris might disagree but this is true fine dining either way. The exquisite three types of bread baked in one loaf also screamed quality with the cheddar slices a particularly tasty joy.
Moving on to the perhaps inevitable steak, the wagyu fillet is an excellent choice. We tried a couple of sauces. The truffle was as good as it sounds and the mushroom sauce flavorsome. Plump asparagus just right, creamed spinach perfect and a jacket potato with sour cream top-top. The somellier returned with a bottle of the house Pomerol, a nice claret to go with a beautiful steak.
Where we would have liked more choice was in the desserts. For a steakhouse not to have apple pie and ice-cream on the menu is unusual. It could have been a first-rate tarte-tatin.
British puddings
Instead the maestro has brought his favorite English desserts to the desert. Sticky toffee pudding and Eton mess are heavy weights to close a substantial meal and something lighter might have been welcome, or just an apple pie.
That said it was not many years ago that you struggled to find much more than a downmarket steakhouse or good Lebanese restaurant in Abu Dhabi. And here we are splitting hairs over the kitchen of one of the finest chefs of his generation. Certainly if you are serious about dining out in Abu Dhabi then you should not miss this place.
