What
American eatery, the Firebird Diner, has come up with a lovely way to wind down from a busy working week and start relaxing into your weekend. Their new Thursday Night Blues Brunch offers diners a sharing menu and live music.
The location
Set in the heart of Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) the restaurant is in The Four Seasons Hotel, easily accessible from both Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khail Road.
The atmosphere
Firebird is set up in a loud American diner style, with plenty of check, stainless steel and red vinyl. The outside patio in contrast, where we opted to sit, was breezy and quiet, with a quiet hum of traffic coming from the busy highway below. The evening started off quietly, and remained so outside, but by the time we left inside was hopping. The band was the perfect choice for Blues fans and was neither too loud nor too quiet.
The food
The menu is served as sharing platters, so you decide on three things from every course to share. Even though this makes ordering easier as you don’t feel torn on what to decide, or suffer the threat of getting “food-envy” over your dining partners choice, choosing just three items was hard because this was starter menu to rival any.
We settled on the buffalo-style chicken wings. With a buttered hot sauce and blue cheese, the wings were very soft, but had a nice crunch to the outside.
The blue cheese, although very present, was not overpowering. The wings themselves were small, but it proved to be my first time eating this favourite, that I didn’t have to wash my hands or end up with an embarrassingly stained napkin.
The next, and one of my highlights of the evening was the foie-gras doughnut — diner style eating on steroids! It was a delicious square of foie gras perched neatly atop a genuine little doughnut. It came with a peanut brittle that was delicious, and the interesting honey spiced pouring sauce set the whole dish off beautifully.
Our third choice were the Kansas City BBQ lamb ribs. The barbecue sauce was tangy. I found the ribs a little fatty for my taste though, despite them proving to be a highlight of my dining partner’s meal.
For the mains we opted for the diners’ signature dish, “the Firebird” — fried chicken along with the spicy honey sauce.
The chilli honey sauce cut through the crispiness of the chicken beautifully but the dish was a little bland. If you are on date-night do not order the black truffle and white cheddar whipped potatoes as a side. They were so garlicky they made my eyes water, and if there were any vampires in Dubai that night they would most certainly have packed their bags for a long weekend in Fujairah.
We then moved on to the Creekstone Ranch fillet medallions. These were beautiful and done to perfection, the standard one could expect from a reputed steakhouse, which was nice considering we were in a diner style restaurant, although of course it is a gourmet diner. My dining partner loved the sides of root vegetables which were herby and perfectly al dente. The All-American sliders come with duck fat french fries which were not over oily and had a rich crispness. The buns of the sliders were oddly sticky though, leaving you with messy fingers. Among the desserts, the Smores were a must try. It was an event of itself. A camp fire marshmallow on a stick was presented, along with a small tiny bbq like thing. You toast the marshmallow and when it’s done to your satisfaction you bite in to it and end up with a mouth full of chilled dark chocolate.
Who is it for?
This brunch would be best suited for those who have just left the office, business travellers or those simply looking for good food.
The verdict
I loved this brunch and will definitely be back. The atmosphere was great, service impeccable and food delicious.
Thursday Night Blues Brunch at Firebird Diner (Four Seasons, DIFC) is available from 7pm on Thursday evenings. Prices range from Dh275 to Dh450 (excluding taxes). For reservations call 04 506 0100.
The National was a guest of the restaurant
fcampbell@thenational.ae
