Titanic by Marco Pierre White sets sail in Dubai, plus a new food blog
A peek inside Titanic Bar & Grill by Marco Pierre White
Dubai; A new food blog crossed FooDiva’s path recently all thanks to our 100+ UAE clan of Fooderati Arabia bloggers – by the very appropriate name of Life in the Food Lane. I introduced the fabulous Francine on Twitter as ‘the Larousse of the food blogging world’ – she’s an eating encyclopedia and can pretty much tell you the origin of any dish or ingredient – but she best describes herself here. Francine joined me for a review of Marco Pierre White’s Titanic with my Gourmet hat on, which you’ll be able to read next month, but in the meantime as I know you’re gagging to find out, click here for her take on our dining experience.
When you’re done with that, here are a few of FooDiva’s own photos and musings from our mid-week lunch date.
Starter 1 – a panaché of warm foie gras (in this case duck) with fried egg on toasted brioche. A must-try dish! Perhaps a poached egg or a couple of quails eggs instead for a slightly healthier and neater option.
Starter 2 – a melt-in-your mouth carpaccio of scallops in a perky ginger and coriander dressing. Just a tad too much olive oil spoiling the broth.
Starter 3 (yes we were greedy!) – vibrantly freshly shredded crab encased in lightly fried filo pastry and dipped in fresh mango chutney makes a great alternative to traditional Chinese spring rolls.
Main course 1 – asparagus and parmesan risotto. Al dente yet creamy enough with plenty of crunchy seasonal spears.
Main course 2 – a signature dish of magret of duck Marco Polo with roasted peaches and Sauternes juices. A perfectly crispy on the outside and mushy on the inside potato fondant.
Dessert 1 – hot raspberry souffle. Heavenly – you will never again opt for its dark chocolate sibling.
Eton Mess, with perfectly formed hot raspberry souffle in the background.
FooDiva’s only real quibble with the food was the pretty as a picture ice-cream layered Eton Mess. Whilst I appreciate Titanic has stayed true to a Marco Pierre White recipe, ingredients for an Eton Mess are meringue, fresh cream and fruit (originally strawberries, but other berries or tropical ingredients abound). A bite of that ice-cream ruins an already perfect combo of textures. But oh my, that hot raspberry souffle takes that icy taste away – and worth the journey to Bur Dubai alone.
Sadly atmosphere was lacking in a near-empty restaurant, admittedly over a mid-week lunch in a non-central location – but the Dubai grapevine tells me business picks up in the evenings and weekends. Food is exquisite and at AED 240 per head for three courses and soft beverages, very reasonably priced for a licensed restaurant in a sexy boutique hotel. So FooDiva Friends, Titanic’s definitely worthy of your custom for one journey at least. Let’s not forget that plenty live in that vicinity. But will FooDiva return? If I was docking in Port Rashid, then perhaps I will.
Titanic by Marco Pierre White is located at the new Melia hotel in Bur Dubai’s Port Rashid area just off Kuwait Street. Click here for the menu. Licensed. Open daily for lunch and dinner. T; +971 4 3868111 E; melia.dubai@melia.com Price per head AED 240 without booze.
Have you dined at Titanic? Is Bur Dubai a convenient location for an upscale dining experience?
Enjoy the long weekend et a bientôt!
FooDiva. x
Was icecream mentioned on the menu of the Eton mess? If I ordered this and didn’t expect it I would be furious (not an ice-cream lover)! The risotto looks divine and that souffle…well…
Nope – just ‘Eton Mess’ 🙁 I queried it when it rocked up and they sent the chef out who explained that it’s true to an MPW recipe so they can’t change it. Most bizarre. I too am not an ice cream fan. The Riv’s is the best one I’ve tried here. Yet so easy to make at home…but they did redeem themselves with that souffle!
I am itching to go!!! looks fabulous, don’t like the look of the foie gras though 🙁
You should head to California GA where they’ve just banned foie gras 🙂
[blushing] what an introduction!
Beautiful restaurant, SO wish I had been there. Will go soon, but take your advice on the Eton Mess, why reinvent the perfect wheel (even if it does look very pretty) . Looking for inspiration for afternoon tea in a lovely location…. Any ideas FooDiva? Have looked over previous posts but can’t find a category dedicated to the slice of time between lunch and dinner…
There’s a tea category, but the only ‘afternoon tea’ I have reviewed on FooDiva is One & Only The Palm, and there are better. Gary Rhodes’ at Grosvenor House Tower 2 is so fab have been twice! http://www.ahlanlive.com/gourmet-may-trends-184756.html – in fact am going on the 23rd for Eve’s goodbye if you would like to join. Otherwise you could try Atmosphere, or my long-time fave the Royal Mirage Palace hotel. I also hear Raffles is good.
The Fois gras with egg looks divine, as does the risotto and the soufflé… Resonable prices too!
As noted, atmosphere was lacking in near empty restaurant.
Location is somewhat inconvenient, but as a destination special occasion restaurant, it is fine.
I had the foie gras and duck also, both excellent dishes as was the scallop carpaccio.
Diners beware, all main plates come with sides as noted in the review, do not fall for the question about what side dishes would you like, you don’t need any, plates are full and the dishes a more than enough to satisfy your appetite.
Service was sadly lacking, and when asking the servers if the restaurant design was a recreation of a titanic, they couldn’t tell me and had to get the manager.
Thanks for sharing Jonathan. They didn’t try to upsell us any sides with the duck, but worth noting for other diners so am glad you pointed it out. However, this exact thing happened in another high-profile and newly opened restaurant – review coming soon!
‘But will FooDiva return? If I was docking in Port Rashid, then perhaps I will.” – is hilarious:)
An empty restaurant can really be a spoiler – so maybe you should dock at Port Rashid sometimes and visit it even if it is for the Raspberry Soufflé.
Well, again the scope of the debate of the restaurant’s location and an upscale dining experience opens up!!!
Francine’s introduction is mind-blowing:)
Bringing in big names like MPW and SK is a smart move for a new hotel and a new brand (for Dubai) in a non-central location, but is it a big enough draw given such heated competition in this town? People will go once for sure, but will they return and become regulars? The classic comparison is Gordon Ramsay’s Verre at Hilton Dubai Creek which always struggled. Time will tell. In the meantime the hot raspberry souffle (and the foie gras with egg) are worth the drive!
Would have to drive then!
Went for Friday brunch yesterday to celebrate my daughters birthday. Food was absolutely dreadful, wouldn’t even expect that quality from a third rate pub! Starter was laughable, cold baked beans,cold hotdog type sausages sitting on mashed potato surrounded by gravy, egg florentine type dish with uncooked egg white and cheese on toast with a few mushrooms . The expressions on the other diners faces kept us very entertained as we were first to be served and were able to watch the food arriving at the other tables. The main course was just as bad – shepherds pie which left the dish coated in grease, fish and 5 chips which looked as though it had come from a weather spoons pub and roast beef and Yorkshire pudding which was so thick, pasty and undercooked that it was Inedible. Know what you mean about the ice cream eton mess, very strange! Every table in the restaurant were complaining about the food and sending plate after plate back to the kitchen, hope they had very large rubbish bins! So all in all a very disappointing day with food that should never have been served under the name of Marco Pierre White. Hopefully an iceberg will find its way into the melia hotel and put everyone out of their misery!
Hi Jacqueline – gosh that’s truly disastrous and unacceptable. How did they react when you complained? Let me know if you would like me to forward your comment to the hotel. Thanks for sharing.
Have to say the maitre’d was very apologetic, and after having dealt with one complaint after another he said that maybe they should think about changing the menu. My response was that they needed to change the Chef!! Think the front of house also needs to know what’s in the food and drink they are serving. After asking what the ingredients were in three different cocktails the response was the same for each one ” yes, they are very refreshing” ! Plumped for the mojito which was put in front of me with the comment ” your refreshing mojito”!! Good job we have a sense of humour. 🙂
It’s very sad when the service staff have not been trained on the menu, and one of Dubai’s biggest service flaws. Sounds like some serious retraining is required both front and back of house…They should have comped your lunch and everyone elses for that matter!