NAR

Have you visited City Walk yet ? I've driven past it so many times, each time thinking that I should pop in and then not quite managing to. From the road it looks like a strip mall with just one row of shops and restaurants, but it's so much more than that. Next time you are passing pull over and go explore. This deceptive space is much bigger than it first appears, with plenty of parking behind the mall or even valet now it's getting warmer. There's a small children's play area, a water feature with an interactive section for the kids as well as free wifi throughout - something that I have to admit I am beginning to expect as standard wherever I go. Within City Walk you can find a whole raft of eateries to suit all pockets with the well known and loved cafes and restaurants as well as some new eateries or a new concept for a familiar name. For a complete list of what's there then check out RoundMenu here >> CityWalk Here are a few of the places I visited over the past few weeks, more posts to come as I explore more eateries :-) Mo's - for the best honey cake I've tasted in Dubai so far !! Billed as a family casual dining concept that puts the fun into food this is an restaurant serving american recipes with a twist using fresh ingredients. With plenty of outdoor dining which is particularly well shaded from the sun, the restaurant also has a spacious interior with dining booths and a popular bar counter and stools where the kids can sit and enjoy an ice-cream or two. My first visit was for lunch with a friend and then the following day I popped back again to try out the breakfast menu as I had been tempted the day before. Here's what we tried : The Buffalo wings were a perfect start, plenty of rich spicy sauce coating some succulent moist chicken, with vegetable crudités and a blue cheese dip, a hearty starter with enough wings for two to share or for one if you have a big appetite. Choosing to avoid a side of mashed potatoes, my friend was served a lovely side salad of chinese salad (minus the chicken) as well as a succulent piece of salmon which had been cooked perfectly. I choose the Edamame burger which was served with fries and was really tasty, The burger being a mix of edamame, lentils, herbs and spices with a tzatziki sauce - this tasted like a lighter version of a falafel with the edamame raising the burger patty to another level. Chef was kind enough to share the recipe for this with me and I will make it and write about it soon. Desserts gave us plenty of options, choosing not to take on the Sundae Challenge for fear of exploding, we settled for a piece of HoneyCake which in my opinion is the best I've tasted in Dubai. Moist, rich and indulgent and big enough for two to share this was a real treat and is made in house with just the right amount of sticky sweet honey to make the layers of cake moist but not overly sweet. On my second trip I sampled the Carrot Cake which also comes highly recommended as it was rich and slightly spicy and aromatic with a cream cheese topping which was not sweet at all and perfectly offset the sweet richness of the carrot cake. Returning the next day for breakfast, I had been tempted by the menu the day before, I tried the Corned Beef Hash Skillet which was served with beautifully soft poached eggs. Corned beef hash was a meal we had often as kids, though I don't remember it being served anywhere near as refined as it was at Mo's) so the memories associated with eating this dish were just great. The breakfast menu offers some unusual treats and I'm bound to go back - with items such as Lox & Bagel, French Toast stuffed with Nutella, Jam, Banana and Maple Syrup to name a few how could I resist ? A real treat was the bottomless pot of coffee which I enjoyed a few times over, as I worked in the shade of the restaurant enjoying free wifi and the last few outdoor days of the summer before Dubai's relentless heat melts us quicker than ice- lollies. Burger Joint NY This is the first Burger Joint NY outside of New York serving up classic burgers. The location is a little difficult to spot (it's opposite Hummingbird Bakery) but should be easier to spot now that the neon burger sign has been installed outside. The inside of the restaurant is very New York style, high ceilings and industrial feel, and the tables and walls are covered in graffiti from diners, something which is common in the US. Upstairs there is an outdoor terrace offering great views of the Dubai skyline and Burj Khalifa. At first it's a little confusing, you are handed part of a cardboard box as a menu and it was not too clear what was on offer until a waitress explained the menu to us. It's a no frills type of place in terms of the burgers on offer - you simply choose if you want regular or cheese burger, decide how you want it cooked and then if you want the full works - lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, mustard and ketchup - or any combination of these toppings. The quality of burgers is very high with a special blend of meat chosen specifically for it's taste and fat content (yup good tasty burgers have to have fat to add to the taste) so what you are served is a juicy tasty burger where the choice of toppings enhance the experience. The pickles were exceptionally good and tasty and I'd order extra next time. Fries were, well, just fries but they were crispy enough. It's not the prettiest looking burger, and it's served on paper plates, but it was tasty. In NY people queue for their burger, for quite some time at busy times, and eat communally wherever there is space, however this concept doesn't work so well in Dubai - so orders are taken at the table and food is served to you. My guests for the meal were twins, who loved the burgers and milkshakes which were almost a meal in themselves. They lost themselves in doodling on the table and wall and vowed to return with friends for that experience alone, they also loved the chocolate brownie but felt that it needed a scope of ice-cream to elevate it to the next level. Whilst the burger was tasty and it was great to be able to choose how you wanted the burger cooked, I found the experience a little confusing and underwhelming, my burger cooked medium was so juicy that the bread bun was soggy and I didn't rate the buns as highly as the servers did who told me they had been searching for the perfect bun for sometime. The meal when it was served was wrapped in paper or cardboard boxes and squashed into a serving platter which seems at odds with the lovely interior and setting of the restaurant and in my opinion needs refinement so that it matches the feel of the restaurant. I'm sure if they can fix this then the experience would be a bit more in keeping to that which I was expecting. NAR Arabic Restaurant A quick coffee stop at this place was all I had time for. Loved the turkish coffee and the coffee set, loved the outdoor seating area, service was very inattentive and the kunefe looked stunning but didn't deliver on taste, the cheese inside wasn't gooey enough and it wasn't sticky and rich enough for my taste and when I asked the waiter about it, he was not interested at all. Worthy of a second visit to check out the rest of the menu i guess, but not on my 'must go to soon' list for now unless it's just for a Turkish Coffee. Disclaimer : I was a guest at Burger Joint, I was a guest at Mo's for lunch - all other expenses were my own. All opinions are my own.