Restaurant review: Ruth’s Chris Steak House’s lunchtime bargain in the Monarch Dubai
Posted on 29 September 2011 with 1 comment from readers
Pop along to the Monarch Hotel opposite the Dubai World Trade Centre and its exhibition halls and you will be pleasantly surprised by the Ruth’s Chris Steak House’s new lunchtime set menu at AED119 with a glass of wine and AED99 without.
Of course you can still venture a la carte for some of Dubai’s choicest aged American steaks at equally mouthwatering prices, but in these cash-strapped times for even the most generous business expense accounts the set lunch is a clear winner on price.
Upmarket ambiance
The ambiance is the same: over-sized leather seats and cosy corner units make this a great place for a private business meeting or to celebrate a successful business deal without disturbing your neighbors. It’s laid-back luxury with unobtrusive five-star service.
ArabianMoney liked the wide choice of dishes on the set menu. Starters ranged from onion soup to seafood gumbo to steak salad, and the portions are generous. We tried the aged beef carpaccio, usually a main, which was particularly delicious.
The specialty of the house is obviously steak so it made sense to stick with the tasty burger and fries for the main course as the burger is 100 per cent pure beef. The house wine is also pleasant with a choice of three alternative reds.
Quick service
Being lunchtime in a busy city the aim is to get you fed in 45 minutes. Just time then for a chocolate dessert or creme brulee, nicely presented and a lightening coffee before the next appointment.
Ruth’ Chris has been tucked away on the first floor of the Monarch for almost three years. But apparently there are grand plans to roll the famous brand out around the Gulf region, probably starting in the Dubai Marina then Abu Dhabi and Doha and onto Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The 100 per cent aged American beef is already so popular that one Saudi client calls into pick up 40 steaks a week.
This is clearly a restaurant with a mission in the steak house market, and to get a foot-in-the-door for a fracton of the cost of an a la carte dinner is an opportunity that will likely not last forever. But be forewarned this lunchtime offer clearly works on the principle that you will not be able to resist coming back for dinner.
For a video about this lunch click here!
1 Comment posted by readers:
Like jazz, Ruth’s Chris started in New Orleans, Louisiana. They moved their corporate HQ out after Katrina flooded much of New Orleans in 2005. The flooding was caused, not by the storm, but by defective levees designed and constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, that failed. In 1965 after Hurricane Betsy flooded a far smaller part of New Orleans, the US Congress instructed the COE to prevent it from happening again. They failed in their mission, helping to drown 1,600 people during Hurricane Katrina. Now they are finally doing it right. By the next hurricane season, New Orleans will be better protected from flooding than any city subjected to tropical cyclones, including New York City.
I mover to the second block of Clearwood Drive in Slidell which is nearly 7 meters above sea level, just in case they screwed up again. Even here, people are paranoid about flooding. If you visit on Google Earth, those two big pits near me are to store rainfall until it can drain under the Interstate – 12 embankment to the south of here. They are over 100 meters on a side and 4 meters deep. The Parish keeps them pumped nearly dry so that rain can drain into them during freak rains, like in 1996 when 2/3 METER of rain fell in 24 hours. No water got into this house. Two feet of rainfall in one day is a lot. It was caused by a break in the jet stream that stayed right over the New Orleans area for two days. Even heavier rains have hit the Gulf Coast. That is why the Parish is digging pit # 3 as I write. The dirt is going to widen Interstate – 12 to 6 lanes.