Shake Shack (Dubai, UAE) ★★★☆☆

Right before we embarked on our journey to Paris, I was thinking what a smart move it was to do a stopover in Dubai but that turned out to be the worst decision I've ever made. A direct flight which would normally take 12 hour to complete (from Hong Kong to Paris), is now split into two 8+ hour flights (Hong Kong to Dubai, Dubai to Paris). My little one is getting cranky. I'm getting cranky. No one is having fun.

And of course, we have another 3 hours at the Dubai International Airport before we could take the second leg of our flight back home. I guess I really needed a cold drink to calm myself down a bit.



Perhaps a drink from the New York based Shake Shack could do the trick. 



It's 5AM in the morning. Breakfast sounds great too.



But my little one wanted noodle instead so just a hand-spun peanut butter shake for me and off I go to look for a noodle place...






Price: $$$$
Address: Dubai International Airport, Terminal 3, Concourse A, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 4-419-0573
Website: www.shakeshack.com/location/dubai-dxb-airport

Armani/Hashi (Dubai, UAE) ★★☆☆☆

I have been looking forward to a special Christmas Eve dinner with the family but with all the children's policy in Dubai, it had made things a lot harder than I originally thought. Rather than something formal and pretentious, I thought let's do a real quiet and low-key dinner at Armani/Hashi instead.



I'm not sure if this fits the definition of low-key. Sitting on the terrace of Armani Hotel Dubai starring up at the towering architecture that points skyward into the dark with bone chilling wind blowing into our face. But that's how we're spending our Christmas Eve as a family.



Our night at Armani/Hashi started with the Dubai water fountain show with dancing water spraying left and right to the tone of classical, Arabic and modern music (finishing with Adele's Skyfall). We could watch it right from our seats which was quite a remarkable scene all together.



Unfortunately, the food here didn't live up to our lofty expectation. We ordered a noodle soup especially for our little one. It was an off-the-menu item and we had already communicated to our server that it was something for an infant so no pepper, herbs, spices or seafood in there. The broth (made with chicken stock), noodle and seaweed were all fine but it came unexpectedly with pieces of chicken karaage. They should have been a little more carefully when we said it's for an infant. Could have informed us when we were making the order.



Chutoro, or medium fatty tuna was decent with the usual melt-in-your-mouth texture but a little chewy with all these small tendons in the middle.



Assorted sushi - I have had a lot better sushi rolls in Hong Kong. Very average.



Sea urchin sushi - The only dish that I thought made the cut. The sea urchin was very nice and creamy.



Having been spoiled with some really good Japanese food all my life in Vancouver and then Hong Kong, I can't say I was happy with what was offered here, especially with the heavy price tag. The Dubai water fountain view did score a few extra points but it's going to take a lot more than that to lure us back.




Food Rating: 5.4/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Concourse Level, Armani Hotel Dubai, Mohamed bin Rashid Boulevard, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Closest Metro Station: Buji Khalifa / Dubai Mall
Tel: +971 4-888-3666
Website: www.armanihoteldubai.com/en/dine/hashi

Rainforest Cafe (Dubai, UAE) ★★★☆☆

It's been more than a decade since I last visited a Rainforest Cafe. I remembered we used to have one at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong some time ago but it wore out its welcome after a pretty successful start.



I was sure my little nugget would love it but it turned out to be the entire opposite. As a matter of fact, he was always looking over his shoulder when these animals came roaring left and right.



It was a pretty odd hour to be having a meal (Around 4:30pm). I had trouble figuring about whether it's our late lunch or early dinner. But let's figure this one out later. For the time being, I'll just enjoy my old-fashioned vanilla milkshake first.



Deep-fried shrimps with safari fries - The deep-fried shrimps (based on their size, I would probably call them prawns) were in their lovely golden brown colors. Very meaty and tasty at the same time. The portion was seriously generous too. I think I will skip dinner all together tonight.



After our late lunch, we took some time to walk around the Dubai Mall and water fountain. Little nugget looked like he's having a great time in his first-ever visit to Middle East.






Food Rating: 4.7/10
Price: $$
Address: G/F The Dubai Mall (Next to aquarium), Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Closest Metro Station: Buji Khalifa / Dubai Mall
Tel: +971 4-330-8515
Website: www.rainforestcafeuae.com

Angelina Paris (Dubai, UAE) ★★★☆☆

My family thought I was joking when I said we were going to Angelina Paris (Not the one in Paris but one in Dubai Mall) for breakfast on our first morning in Dubai. This can't possibly be true, right? After all, we'll be in Paris in less than 48 hours.



Let me first confess that I am a fan of Angelina. I have been one ever since I got my first taste of their traditional hot chocolate back in 2013. Most recently, I was one of the few who were sadden by the closure of Angelina in IFC Hong Kong. Got the idea? I'm not just a casual fan. I'm a fanatic!



Of course, there was another reason behind this. After we got ourselves waken up by our little one at 7am, we have been looking for a place that opens early for breakfast at the Dubai Mall so we could have a quick one.



It turned out Angelina opens at 9am daily, which is very good news for those looking for an early bird breakfast near the mall. 



Angelina's old-fashioned hot chocolate - This was served with a bit of whipped cream. A little heavy for someone with an empty stomach but very satisfying.



Angelina croissant - I had the croissant with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. This was very eggy and I could barely taste the croissant!



Angelina omelette - I thought better was the omelette with small pieces of ham, button mushrooms, tomato and cheese in the middle. It wasn't as cheesy as I first feared. It's almost like having a warm slice of crepes with all these wonderful ingredients. Pretty tasty.



Paris-New York - Is it too early for dessert? Absolutely not. The choux pastry could have been a little more pillowy but the silky smooth pecan praline cream and crunchy pecan praline kind of made up for it. 



Now that I have been re-energized, I should have enough energy to explore this shopping mall which is absolutely huge.



We managed to take advantage of the free-of-charge photo kiosk tp snap a couple of photos with little nugget. He was of course a little camera shy in unfamiliar territory.






Food Rating: 5.9/10
Price: $$$$
Address: G/F The Dubai Mall, Fashion Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Closest Metro Station: Buji Khalifa / Dubai Mall
Tel: +971 4-442-8814

Hotel Address Boulevard (Dubai, UAE)

After spending months looking for the perfect hotel for our stay in Dubai, I slowly realized that there's really nothing close to being perfect in the city. But wait, Dubai is a city with more than 130 5-star hotels (according to Tripadvisor) most of which are considered luxury establishments. How can that be possible?



Perfect has a different definition for everyone. For us, time is our biggest enemy. As we are spending a mere 40 hours or so (including a midnight arrival) in Dubai, it pretty much rules out anything on the southern part of the city including Palm Jumeirah (way too much traveling back and forth with my kid).



I thought Hotel Address Boulevard would be the perfect fit for us. It's only a 15 to 20 minute ride from the airport (perfect since we arrived very late). It's directly connected to Dubai Mall so we won't have to worry about where to get food and consumables for my little nugget. Last but not least, the hotel is fully equipped with both indoor and outdoor swimming pools. Now, I could really see my nugget's eyes glowing with anticipation. 



Comparing to the rest of the hotels in the Hotel Address series (by Emaar Group), Hotel Address Boulevard has more of a modern European touch.



I love the service here. It's absolutely world class. The front desk manager really took good care of us, making sure that our check-in was efficient (coz it was getting late for my kid). He even took the trouble to escort us up to our room and showed us around.



Our room checks in at 47m² so there's a lot of space for my little one to run around with.



You can't go wrong with a marble bathroom.



The toilet was hidden behind one of the marbled wall inside the bathroom.



Like most of the new 5-star hotels, everything is within your fingertips, from light control, AC, entertainment system, in-room dining etc etc.



I would really appreciate some in-room dining right about now.



Our room was directly facing a highway but with double glazed window, we didn't hear a thing (Didn't realize there's a highway right underneath us too with the fog).



The city view looked much better without the fog!



Like I said before, there's a bridge directly connecting to Dubai Mall on the mezzanine floor of the hotel. It takes about 10 minutes to get there if you walk really slow like us.



And yes, there are a couple of swimming pools in the hotel, both indoor and outdoor. We only had the chance to check out the outdoor one.



My little one was so happy coz he got the whole pool all by himself!



There's a partial view of the skyscraping Burj Khalifa next to the pool area.





Rating: ❤❤❤❤❤
Price: $$$$
Address: Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashed Boulevard, Downtown Dubai, 21447, Dubai, UAE 
Tel: +971 4561-8888 
Website: www.addresshotels.com/en/hotels/address-boulevard/

Al Muntaha (Dubai, UAE) ★★★★☆

Wrapping up our 10-day Egypt trip was a brief 5-hour stopover in Dubai. After visiting the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, next on the agenda was the famed Burj Al Arab Hotel.
  
We managed to arrive at the Burj Al Arab Hotel just before sunset. Over the years, I have seen hundreds and thousands of photos of this iconic architecture but this was really something else. To be here to witness this colossal "sailing ship" standing solemnly on the man-made island right in front of my eyes, it's really overwhelming. Of course, we did not wait long before getting our cameras rolling from different angles.

The first thing we noticed going through the entrance doors into the hotel, was a gigantic musical water fountain placed in the middle of the lobby. Classical music, water display and special lighting effects combined to provide us with a warm welcome.

After taking the golden-colored elevator up to the 27th floor, we finally arrived at Al Muntaha, which literally means "The Top" or "Ultimate" in Arabic.

The dining room is nicely decorated in white and silver tones. Hundreds of green and blue colored lights on the ceiling provided an atmosphere as glittering and refreshing as the skyline (matching the theme - high on top).




We gave our server a next-to-impossible task of delivering our food in 40 minutes as we were catching our plane back home. Amazingly our server along with the kitchen staff was equal to the task.

The amuse bouche was a lovely spring roll with minced duck meat served with a thick beetroot sauce.



Next up was a seared yellowfin tuna which was very average. That rich tuna flavor was sorely missing. 



Due to the time constraint, we jumped straight to the main courses after just one appetizer starting with a braised oxtail with goose liver terrine that was nicely prepared. The oxtail was quite tender and flavorful (6/10).



Less successful was the seabass with lobster tail. Very light seasoning helped to preserve the natural flavors but we expected a bit more.



It was a unique experience dining on top of the Burj Al Arab Hotel, overlooking the gulf and palm island while enjoying a world-class cuisine. The food itself could use a little improvement here and there but the service and ambiance were definitely second to none. 




Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$$$
Address: 27/F, Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai, UAE
Tel: +971 4 301 7600
Website: www.jumeirah.com/en/hotels-and-resorts/destinations/dubai/burj-al-arab