(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) LOVE IS IN the air at Fume, Downtown Dubai, which is quite a bit different from their usual scents of smoked salmon, liver pates and smoked chuck ribs. The neighbourhood eatery, notorious for not taking bookings, is even opening their phone lines for couples wanting to dig into a bit of sharing fun. With their stellar no-fuss ambience, quirky one-liners and food descriptions, and a great menu for two to gorge on with Downtown Dubai's promenade springing to life below, we'd imagine those bookings coming in quickly, putting Fume on our list of top spots for Valentine's Day this year.
So what's on the menu? We begin, aptly, with the Saucy Starters, featuring some of Fume's signature appetisers. There's a house-smoked salmon tart, served with caramelised onions and capers - one small portion for each at the table - a fantastic steak tartare with a distinctive red chilli punch, a creamy fresh Burrata and Fume's Foie Gras Terrine, smoked, of course, in-house. The burrata was one of the highlights for us with its luxurious, fresh creaminess, perfectly matched with the strawberries - yes, strawberries! - and cherry tomatoes drizzled in balsamic. The terrine, as always, was perfect, paired with a fresh berry jam, but the steak tartare is just money. It's one of the best steak tartares in town, hands down.
On to the Naughty Mains, which have some pretty electro-pink portions to share, starting with the Beetroot crusted Salmon. The perfectly cooked fleshy salmon topped with a beetroot puree and breadcrumb mixture was good, but we felt the fish itself lacked seasoning. The other pink thing on the menu is the buns that hold slider patties together, smothered with avocadoes and more caramelised onions. The secret, we're told, is beetroot juice instead of water in the dough. There's also King Shrimp served with a spinach gratin, but our pick of this course are the Korean Lamb Cutlets served with Bok Choy. Finger-licking good with just the right amount of spicy heat to leave that tingling sensation on your lips after you've gone caveman on the bones. There was a point when everyone ditched the cutlery with these cutlets/chops, to give you an idea of how good they were. The only downside? There's just one chop per person!
Decadent Desserts start with the foot long pink éclair stuffed to the gills with a light vanilla cream and strawberries. If you've paced yourself, you might be able to make a dent in it, but we barely managed a couple of inches before we were all-consumed by the Black Forest Pudding with cherry ice-cream. Almost like a Black Forest gateaux - cherries and all - until you get to the molten, dark chocolate centre, this is an amalgamation of several dessert favourites in one generous pot. It's a cake, a fondant and a pudding with ice-cream. We almost forgot there was a third dessert on the table, a White Chocolate Mousse with fresh strawberries. The texture of the mousse was a tad off - not creamy smooth - but we can't blame the dessert for underperforming in the chocolaty limelight of the pudding.
The entire menu is Dh222 per person and includes a welcome drink, which is relatively affordable compared to some of the other places in Dubai during Valentine's Day. For a night out, great food and something a little less sappy and lot more sassy, Fume's a very good deal.
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