Hell’s Kitchen Dubai: dining hell or not?
I wasn’t looking forward to lunch at Gordon Ramsay’s latest Dubai restaurant opening, Hell’s Kitchen at Caesars Palace Bluewaters island. In my mind I had painted a picture of dining hell – a garish, kitsch Las Vegas concept inspired by Gordon’s award-winning reality TV cooking show, that wasn’t high on style, let alone substance. But in my line of work, one must keep an open mind at all times.
The location in the new Caesars Palace is pleasantly surprising with the hotel’s stylish and minimalist, yet warm and inviting design in typical Meraas fashion. All their developments look sexy, even if usually empty. Walking in to the resort, the first thing I spot is the open sea boasting a little surf, unusual for a man-made beach. Down the stairs sits Hell’s Kitchen, otherwise known as HK (which to me reads Hong Kong) and a 180-cover indoor and outdoor all-day dining restaurant. At least it’s not as mammoth as the 400+ seater Bread Street Kitchen at Atlantis.
I haven’t booked for a Saturday lunch, and you don’t need to either. We are ushered to the terrace, which is busier than inside to pick a table. We sit down, order and decide it’s too hot in the sun, so move indoors – all amiably accommodated by our waiter. Aside from a fiery red and blue open-plan show kitchen straight from the TV set of Hell’s Kitchen, the otherwise pleasing décor that features muted earthy tones with delicate accents of the gold HK logo creates intimacy and a lovely vibe across a large dining room.
A European menu of chilled seafood, appetisers, salads and soups, sandwiches and pizzas, main courses (sadly referred to as Americanised ‘entrées’) and pasta may sound expansive, but is in fact pretty concise. I do think more than five main courses are required for a large all-day dining concept, something that is in progress, we are told. Dietary labelling is also required, not just for the diner but to enable a smoother service. On that note, we have one vegan amongst our trio who does manage to eat well, but the choice is very limited. In his hey day a couple of decades ago, Gordon used to famously state in his publicity “vegetarians aren’t welcome.” Thankfully, he has adapted to the times.
The rolls from our bread basket are freshly baked in-house, and the whipped butters delicately flavoured. Whilst a classic shrimp cocktail’s flavours are on point, the presentation is flat. Literally too. The HK hot chicken wings are sensational, with the spiciness enhanced by a gorgeous blue cheese dressing, which is so deliciously moreish, I leave some aside for my main.
And that’s a beautifully tender filet mignon which is cooked more medium than medium-rare as I request. The plating is simple yet striking with some roasted cherry tomatoes on the vine and a smooth béarnaise, which I alternate with the blue cheese dip. You do need to order sides to beef this up, excuse the pun. A piping hot cauliflower cheese has enough gratinated cheesy béchamel to soak up the al dente cauliflower without drowning the morsels. Mr S enjoys his well-seared and not overcooked salmon fillet with a crisped skin. A bed of puy lentils and shaved fennel salad in a wonderful citrus herb beurre blanc provides enough greens.
Gordon’s famous sticky toffee pudding does not disappoint – warm, gooey, sticky and not too sweet. In this HK version, he drenches it with salted caramel and tops it with an ice cream flavoured with speculoos, the famous Belgian gingerbread biscuit. A pineapple carpaccio with coconut sorbet (the vegan dessert option) is a star dish whose flavours are brought to the fore by a sprinkling of vanilla-infused salt.
The friendly service flows smoothly, however I have three pet peeves. The waiter has to repeat our order (a tedious waste of time on the diner’s part). Twice, two different waiters try to clear my plate before the rest of the table has finished (bad etiquette). The waiter does not know whether the beef is grass or grain fed (he does know it’s American though) and has to check with the kitchen. It’s the latter.
The price point at AED320 per person for three courses including all taxes without alcohol is high though for a casual all-day dining concept, even one from a celebrity chef. However, I can’t downgrade it on price as it does match Hell’s Kitchen Las Vegas, so yet again, like with Hakkasan, Dubai sits on a par with international counterparts.
The overall dining experience is a welcome surprise, and I would return when visiting Bluewaters for a meal with vino. Or even better, for a Caesars Palace staycation, which going by the beautiful pool area and beach is definitely one for the bucket list. Hell’s Kitchen Dubai proved me wrong with style and plenty of substance too, however, given the service glitches, I am dishing out a 3.5 out of 5 FooDiva knife rating.
Are you a Gordon telly and/ or restaurant fan? Any other restaurants that have opened and you have tried on Bluewaters island?
A bientôt.
FooDiva. x
I went a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. My thoughts are much the same as yours, I was however disappointed to see no local water on the menu, and charging 30 Dhs for a 125 ml diet coke was ridiculous. The food we had was good. Will try a staycation too.
Thanks FD
GA x
Great to hear GA 🙂 Agreed on the lack of affordable water options – an issue prevalent at the majority of restaurants in Dubai. See you there for a staycation! x
I feel as if the water revolution is on the horizon… but soft drinks in general are crazily priced. Staycation… maybe we should all go… we need one, for sure!
Foodiva, you should stop visiting restaurants during their soft opening period. The purpose of soft opening is to let a restaurant an adequate amount of time to get up an running smoothly. It is unfair to review them while they are still at an early stage. Particularly given that you rarely give a second opinion at a restaurant so your first review is what stick in the mind of readers and, if negative, set a bad tone to the future of a restaurant.
Professional restaurant reviewers and guide inspectors always wait an adequate amount of time for a restaurant to get their machine well oiled and tested in order to deliver an unbiased and independent opinion.
I suggest you do the same. Unless you want to be just a blog that list “what’s new in Dubai”.
I and my guest reviewers visit restaurants once their PR machine publicly announces that they are open and ready for reviews. In this case, the restaurant invited media two weeks prior to me visiting (in line with my policy I do not accept invites so I did not go). So this means they are ready. There is no such thing as a soft opening, unless they are not charging. The moment a restaurant starts charging and accepts paying guests they should be ready to accept feedback and reviews. Anyhow, in this particular case, the review was mostly positive, so I am at a loss as to why you are aggrieved.
I agree here; as soon as a restaurant sends us huge promises of atmosphere, flavour, and gastronomic experiences with prices often in the thousands with alcohol included then they are fair game. Having been on the other side of the hospitality coin, a soft opening of reduced prices, reduced covers, media invites with genuine feedback, and chances to fix the issues before promising the world would allow restaurants time to get it right. I would love nothing more than to review a restaurant that has had time to develop staff, hone menus, and refine their offerings… but the restaurants want to be reviewed as soon as possible. However, I think it might be the pressure to make money from day 1 that sways this and goes part of the way to explaining why many high-profile restaurants do not survive longer than a year.