Shake Shack - Now open in Dalma Mall, Abu Dhabi

Located: Ground floor, Dalma Mall - Mussafah, Abu Dhabi

Tel: +971 26120750

Opening hours: 12pm - 12am daily

Thanks to KCL for pointing out Shake Shack's website, which publishes their simple but elegant menu...

 

Here in the UAE, it is operated along with their partner M.H. Alshaya Co - Seems this unit at Dalma Mall is their 5th one, with the first 4 being in Dubai I believe. On this occassion, I was the first to arrive, it opened at exactly NOON, and the staff were really friendly :-)

After asking for the signature Shack Burger, I had a single patty burger (If you don't ask them specifically, they prepare each burger "medium" - I may try a "medium rare" next time) with no drink and no fries. Gulp ... 25 AED or RM$20 for this. Hmmm, wonder how big it is! Wonder how good it would be?

I did wonder why they issued me with a JTech Wireless Paging system (Not dissimilar to the one they issue at our local Evangelical Community Church), then I realised they cooked each burger fresh (I did not see any burgers "queueing" at the service counter) and it took about 10-20 minutes ....

BUZZZZZZ!!!... Yay .....

It was well worth the wait, and I enjoyed every single bite - Succulent patty, perfectly cooked, delicious cheese and veges, and a wonderful and delicate bun. It was small, but soooo good ;-)

La Beaujolais - Mercure Hotel, Abu Dhabi

We found a gem of an eatery in Abu Dhabi - Here is a quick review of our visit to Le Beaujolais, which has quickly become one of our FAVOURITE places to eat in the UAE!

 

Located: City Centre Hotel Mercure - Al Markaziyah, Hamdan Street

Opening hours: 12:00pm - 12:00am

Tel: +971 2 6333 555

 

 

 

 

Some of our starters, all of which were delightfully french and yummy ...

Escargots à la bourguignon (or snails in garlic and herb sauce) was served steaming hot and bursting in flavour, I wanted to lick the sauce off the cute serving dish! It was served with a hot, crusty baguette which we asked for re-fills ;-)

Baked Onion soup, 28 AED - Pretty good too!

 

One of the signature dishes ... Coq Au Vin, I loved it! At 78 AED, and this being a French brassierie, it really was a steal :-) The duck leg, at 95 AED, was really good too. I didn't try TS's 350g rib-eye steak (102 AED), but he seemed to enjoy it!

 

 

And to end off, another great value dish - Tiramisu, 28 AED. A large portion, and full of flavour, we loved it!

Overall - Delicious food, unpretentious and attentive service, a homely environment, and need I say it again - Great value :-) A wonderful restaurant that deserves to be visited again and again!

Raclette dinner and Comté - Chateauform De-Mareil-Le-Guyon, near Paris

Add: Chateauform De-Mareil-Le-Guyon - 78490 MAREIL-LE-GUYON, France
Tel: +33 1 34 57 08 40
Web: http://www.chateauform.com
GPS:
N 48° 47' 23"
E 1° 51' 5"

We indulged in wonderful french cheese all week - Both at lunch as well as dinner time! I slowly learned over the week that my favourite was Gruyère de Comté :-)

Some facts from Wikipedia ... Comté is a French cheese made from unpasteurized cow's milk in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Comté has the highest production of all French AOC cheeses, around 40,000 tonnes annually.

 

A raclette is both a type of cheese and a Swiss dish based on heating the cheese and scraping off (racler) the melted part.
This was our wonderful dinner on the penultimate night of our seminar :-) A wonderful communal-eating experience!

 

 

A modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, to heat slices of raclette cheese in. Generally the grill is surmounted by a hot plate or griddle. The cheese is brought to the table sliced, accompanied by platters of boiled or steamed potatoes, other vegetables and charcuterie. These are then mixed with potatoes and topped with cheese in the small, wedge-shaped coupelles that are placed under the grill to melt and brown the cheese...

 

Kronenbourg 1664, good ol' french beer!

 

If you are lucky enough to enjoy the hospitality of a Chateauform, you will have the privilege of having an open-bar, free-flow of wines, spirits and all other wonderful beverages!

 

Chateauform Mareil-Le-Guyon - Delicious french cuisine

More photos of my stay at the warm and cosy Chateauform De-Mareil-Le-Guon, in the village of Mareil-Le-Guyon in France. Interesting places nearby include - Palace of Versailles, 20 km away ... and Paris, 37 km away.

Chateauform - A unique concept in seminar and chateau living, combined together!
Tel: +33 1 34 57 08 40
Web: http://www.chateauform.com

We spent a lot of time in the kitchen and dining room, and open bar, throughout our week on the seminar :-)

The lovely fireplace in the house - We were treated with wonderful french soups all week, including cream of champignon and chestnut too!

 

 

My colleagues and myself loved the food all week ;-) Burp!

 

One of the chefs in the house - Magnificent cuisine, tastes home-cooked ... because it is!

 

Felt like a kid again ... all the wonderful sweeties!!

Abyan Restaurant - Best Mandi in Abu Dhabi

Found the perfect MANDI in Abu Dhabi ... Its worth hunting down this place!!

Add: Ground Floor, Kulaib Son Building, Al Khalidiya - Abu Dhabi

Located: Behind Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

Tel: +971 2 6655545

GPS: 

N 24° 28.320'

E 54° 20.898'

Yes, they may not speak English ... but who cares when the food is this good!

My take-away parcel this evening ... 20 dirhams or RM$17, for a portion that easily feeds two!

The chilli sauce, not so different from Hainanese chicken rice chilli ... is excellent :-)

Here is my mandi dinner ... Delicious roast chicken, served on a pillow of the fluffiest and most-perfectly cooked basmati rice imaginable!

Divine :-)

Xiao Wei Yang - Mongolian Hotpot, Abu Dhabi

Tel: +971 50 151 7228 , +971 5 460 6578 , +971 50 179 5598
Located: Near AL Wahda Mall, next to Phoenix Plaza Hotel Apartments
Previous review and directions: We like this restaurant a lot! Good service, delicious food :-)

Excellent ... Chicken wings, and mongolian-stir fried spicy chicken on the bone. And this is only for starters!!


bbG and I had both fatty lamb slices, as well as leaner beef slices ...


We chose the Yin Yang hot-pot combo ... herbal garlic-infused and perhaps ginseng-blended white broth on one side, and a spicy mongolian-paste sauce on the other side. Both are excellent!


Excellent ... possibly the best egg tarts in Abu Dhabi!
Warning! Be ready for a 25 minute wait from time of ordering for these beautieus ...


Wong Lo Kat - How convenient ;-) to have refreshing leong-char in a can!


ps. We had a giggle looking at the co-ho-nes spotted on the menu (Thanks to TS for teaching us about the pronunciation of this part of the anatomy!) ...

Xiao Wei Yang Mongolian hotpot - Phoenix Hotel, Abu Dhabi

Inner Mongolian Xiao Wei Yang Little Lamb Hot Pot Restaurant (What a mouth-full!) was our choice of dinner location last night ;-) E, C and myself ended up paying about 200 AED for the meal, or just under 70 AED (Or RM$55) per head. Reasonable value for a nice restaurant.

Tel: +971 50 151 7228 , +971 5 460 6578 , +971 50 179 5598
Located: Near AL Wahda Mall, next to Phoenix Plaza Hotel Apartments
Directions: Airport Road (From Maqta Bridge, on right side / look out for Phoenix Hotel and the big red lanterns outside)
Map: FourSquare

E is busy contemplating if we should have "specialist" or "spare parts" ie. genitals, kidney etc. Uh ... no, we shall stick to thinly sliced lamb and to-fu!


Ah... refreshing. My first taste of Wong Lo Kat! Thanks C for recommending this place, great meal!

Here's how we enjoyed the meal - We had really delicious grilled chicken wings (the one with the perpendicular bamboo skewers), then the Yin-yang Hot Pot arrived. The white broth was a herbal-soup with garlic and tong-kuai, and on the right there was fu-chuk, bamboo shoots and delicious boned chicken pieces.

When you have nearly finished eating the chicken pieces, you can ask the waiter to add in the spicy-paste and soup, which combines to form a powerful tasty spicy soup. You can of course dilute this with the white soup :-) Dip your choice of meats and veges in the soup (The thinly sliced lamb is delicious!), it cooks quite quickly in under 1 minute and dip it into a combination of soya/chilli/garlic/coriander/oil/oyster-sauce/sesame paste. A hearty and enjoyable meal!