Lunch ahoy!

There are times when having lunch in a new location can be just the ticket, at times a rather decadent ticket. As this is Dubai we are absolutely spoiled with choices. This lunch saw us down at La Veranda at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. La Veranda has marina side seating with a direct, and very much unobstructed, view of the ever so iconic Burj al Arab. Feeling very much like we were on a wee vacation my friend and I settled in to cruise over the menu. See what I did there?

For our starters we shared a hot/fried and cold antipasti; the Calamari with Lobster Mayo and the Quinoa Salad, respectively. The Calamari arrived hot and crisp with a pancko style coating, the lobster mayo for dipping did not taste too intensely of lobster but it did have a nice kick to it. The flavour of the calamari would easily allow them to be eaten without the mayo. Balancing out the fried calamari was a nicely presented quinoa salad with marinated quinoa, rucola, zucchini, aubergine, feta and beetroot. We found that for the size of the salad it would be best to share or share it with the main course it you prefer more veggies to your main.

Quinoa Salad

Calamari with Lobster Mayo

For the main course we went in a direction befitting of the location we were at: seafood. While my friend went with the King Prawns I ordered a Crab Linguini. The pictures below will show how large the portions were and I did take half of my linguini home.On the menu the prawns were written as being "cinnamon marinated, orange and cardamom" we did not really find any of these flavours to be prevalent though the meat was tender and juicy. The vegetable ragout which accompanied it was also nice and flavourful. My crab linguini was well received and though the cream sauce could have had a wee bit more flavour the crab was excellent and there was a surprising amount of it. Clearly the crab was not just used as decoration.

Crab Linguini

King Prawns with Vegetable Ragout

After a small, and much needed break, we perused the desserts. Though there may not be a large selection it is diverse and there are also mocktails and cocktails which have dessert like attributes. Our chosen desserts were a lime flavoured cheesecake with raspberry coulis and a chocolate almond truffle cake with raspberry compote. The cheesecake did taste delicately of lime and instead of the traditional graham cracker base it had a thin sponge style base and was topped with mandarins. The raspberry coulis was on the side. The chocolate truffle cake was also quite nice but not as indulgent as it sounded and I was missing the almond taste. Both were quite large portions and I would say one dessert would have sufficed.

Chocolate Almond Truffle Cake

Lime flavoured cheesecake

Overall we had a nice experience at La Veranda. The service was friendly, there was soft music playing in the background, we were by the marina with a soft breeze and a view of the Burj al Arab. In a way it was like being on vacation in your own home town. This is a family friendly place as it is on the beach you can watch the littles play in the sand and the dress code is casual.

As is the norm this is not a sponsored post.