Fashion-based link-ups with bars and restaurants are hardly a new idea: Vogue Cafe at The Dubai Mall and the Armani Hotel's wealth of eating options in the Burj Khalifa have already broken such ground within almost walking distance of GQ Bar. But this suave newcomer, which opened on the ground floor of the world's tallest hotel earlier this year, is perhaps the most masculine of these. Our expectations, then, were in line with the famous American magazine formerly known as Gentleman's Quarterly: ineffable sophistication and style, with a side of manly charm.
That title is a slight misnomer, in that GQ Bar is both a bar, on the right as you enter, and a separate restaurant, to the left. We took the latter turn and found ourselves in an almost deserted dining area that’s decorated in shades of black, with various fashion-related terms inscribed on the walls alongside a towering print of two besuited models.
The theme ended rather abruptly once we opened the menu, however. The selection seemed to have no binding concept beyond general fine dining (and a Far Eastern set of starters under the title "Rising Sun"). Although we did note a few Portuguese concoctions, a facet, we were told by our waiter, that's down to the chef's geographical origins. The dinner conversation turned to the idea of a monthly special featuring the current GQ cover star's favourite dish (diners would surely be queuing up for, say, Ryan Gosling's calamari or Daniel Craig's barbecue ribs?); it certainly seemed a waste not to plunder the magazine's wealth of celebrity connections.
While we’re talking disappointments, not one but two of our starter and mains first-picks were unavailable: the stracciatella and the only dish to bear the restaurant’s name, the GQ Bar lasagne. Darn. The alternatives more than compensated, thankfully. The scallops with black truffle and mascarpone gratin were beautiful: the two, weighty, succulent mollusks were perfectly encircled by discs of cheese and fungi. The quinoa salad – my dining partner’s substitute for the stracciatella – was rather more perfunctory in appearance, but no less tremendous on the taste buds.
The dominance of meat and fish on the menu was probably the most noticeably macho element. And while vegetarians are afforded a mere three possibilities of mains, all from the pasta and risotto section, my dining partner hit the jackpot with beetroot risotto with baby vegetables. She asked for its regular helping of ricotta to be held on this occasion, but it was nevertheless a lengthways parade of deep-orange rice-based goodness that equalled its visual effect with its subtle taste. The monkfish, meanwhile, came in a crunchy coconut-and-coriander crust, with a moreish base of shredded vegetables and Thai yellow curry – although for Dh175, it wouldn’t have been ungrateful to expect a slightly larger portion of poisson.
There wasn’t much to pique real interest beyond standard selections in the desserts, aside from one of those aforementioned Portuguese anomalies: sericaia, with caramelised figs and vanilla-bean ice cream. There were no complaints about the egg-based pudding, although the figs were a little hard and not sufficiently caramel-laden for our sweet-tooth tendencies. The 70 per cent Valrhona chocolate fondant, on the other hand, was richer than an oil baron’s bank account. Order it at your peril-slash-pleasure.
GQ Bar is, then, a perfectly passable fine-dining restaurant in suitably swish surrounds, while the affable, European service is some of the best that you could hope for in the UAE. It’s just that with the potential of such iconic branding, you feel that, conceptually, so much more could have been done.
A meal for two at GQ Bar, JW Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai, costs Dh716. For more information, call 04 321 4541. Reviewed meals are paid for by The National and conducted incognito
aworkman@thenational.ae
