I first visited Isabel Mayfair on a moody, rainy December night and there was a Richard Curtis-worthy romance to the evening. Sitting at a comfortable lounge table with a group of friends, I delighted in the twinkling Christmas lights on Albemarle Street and watched hurried commuters speed past the rain-dashed windows.
Fast forward a little more than four months, and Isabel Mayfair Abu Dhabi has opened – the first international outpost for the London favourite. It is located in The Galleria Al Maryah Island, with Coya, Zuma and Flamingo Room among its neighbours, and both the Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi and Rosewood Abu Dhabi close by. The restaurant also benefits from use of the Four Seasons valet service for parking.
The interiors
Often dubbed one of London’s most beautiful restaurants, frequenters of the Mayfair staple will know it for its chic lounge feel, low lighting, brass details and memorable red palm-print wallpaper. The Art Deco aesthetic has been carried through in Abu Dhabi, but with its own distinct design language. Red swapped for blue on the silk panelling, palm tree prints eschewed for blooming sequinned flowers, and there will be a spacious terrace in place of the intimate downstairs bar.
That said, Isabel Abu Dhabi is unmistakably an Isabel. There are plenty of aesthetic consistencies: marble and polished oak bars at the heart of both venues, inviting velvet banquette seating, an abundance of fresh flowers and gilded accents. At the bar, BNF Hospitality chief executive Scottie Bhattarai hopes to see people socialising and mingling, a perfect spot for people watching in both venues.
Floral details make up much of the personality of the Abu Dhabi venue, a very deliberate style choice by Mahsa Gholizadeh, founder of DBM Studio, the interior design firm behind the aesthetics.
"The flowers on each part, whether it’s the wall panel, artwork, or hand-painted wallpaper, are inspired by the personality of Isabel, the fictional character that we created the design around. She is bold, feminine, flirtatious but professional, successful, and strong," Gholizadeh tells me.
The food
The kitchen is led by French chef Vincent Visinet, who, after a stint at the London venue, has developed a Mediterranean menu especially for Abu Dhabi. Far from a copy-and-paste of the British menu, several signature dishes have been “reinterpreted,” according to Visinet, and others have been developed especially for the UAE.
Of the starters, the Abu Dhabi menu’s standout dishes include beef croquetas (Dh70) filled with onion and leek béchamel, brightened with lemon paste and pickles, which are also a favourite in London. Developed for Abu Dhabi is the caviar French toast (Dh230), which consists of bouncy sandwich bread filled with a chive cream cheese and topped with a generous helping of Kaviari Kristal caviar.
London highlights include a lobster linguine, a 1kg cote de boeuf and cacio e pepe. In Abu Dhabi, diners will enjoy a lobster rigatoni (Dh450), served in a flavour-packed bisque and served with a generous serving of shellfish, and a T-bone of Wagyu beef (Dh990) to share. Our tender meat arrived cooked to medium-rare perfection with a salt crust and a generous portion of buttery mashed potatoes, topped with fresh black truffle.
Freshly-baked madeleines are a constant on both menus, with the Abu Dhabi offering a supersized and gastronomically on-trend XXL pistachio version. If you want to order it, plan ahead, as it requires a 30-minute bake to order. The rest of the desserts are unique to Abu Dhabi. You won’t go wrong if you order a red berry pavlova (Dh65), chocolate pie souffle (Dh80) and tropezienne (Dh65) to share. The latter is a fluffy orange blossom cream-filled brioche, topped with the zest from the largest lemon I have ever seen.
The verdict
Isabel is an exciting, elegant and welcome addition to the Abu Dhabi fine dining scene. It has all the aesthetic charm of the original, exceptionally attentive butler-style service (something Bhattarai is very proud of), and near-perfect culinary offerings, all of which are familiar enough to patrons of the Mayfair venue but distinctly created for the UAE.
When the terrace is open, it will eventually overlook the Al Maryah Island fountains, which are currently under construction and promise to compete with the Dubai Fountain for size and awe. This will make a terrace reservation one of the hottest seats in town. For now, you cannot go wrong with a seat at the bar, where you’ll be able to people-watch for hours. Bonus points if you visit at lunch, where they are currently offering a Dh100 three-course set menu daily, which is truly exceptional value for money.
