Wednesday, Nov 17, 2010
Gulf News
It would be a tragedy to miss out on Elia, the prettiest restaurant in town, serving modern Hellenic fare
Eating out should be fun and delicious, but occasionally can be a learning experience. For me on Monday night, it was all three, as I headed down to Elia, a Greek restaurant in the Majestic Hotel in Bur Dubai which was celebrating its third anniversary. The lesson came because I’ve held certain assumptions about Bur Dubai hotels — and their food — for a while now. If I was looking for great Asian food, a raucous night out (rarely, I assure you, dear reader) or a cheap and cheerful meal, that’s where I’d head. What I didn’t expect was top-notch cuisine in a beautiful setting. After a lovely night at Elia, I now see I was mistaken.
Located on the pool deck of the hotel, Elia is among the loveliest spots I’ve eaten in the city: whitewashed walls and chairs, pretty white furniture and wood decking are a study in cosy elegance, while the open terrace, a cool and breezy spot enclosed by greenery, transports you from the noisy neighbourhood to the Greek islands. It’s a great spot to unwind with a classic Greek drink and wait for the staff to bring you some of Greek celebrity chef Yiannis Baxevanis’ light-handed takes on Hellenic favourites. However, “wait” is the operative word, as the only downside to the evening was the service, which was rather slow off the mark for much of the night, leaving us bereft of drinks and food for over half an hour after our arrival.
Welcome sourness
Put in the time though, and you will be rewarded. The first dish to arrive was a chickpea soup, although that’s quite a misnomer — it was more of a chunky puree, but it, like all the other dishes we tried, was full of flavour, with a delicate hint of cumin in the accompanying fried bread that is clearly a cousin of Indian puris (Dh25).
The calamari that followed is a do-not-miss: the dainty pieces are toothsome but tender, encased in a thin, crisp batter and topped with similarly battered shoestring onion rings. On the side, you’ll find a tangy aubergine salad, which gets its welcome sourness from pickled watercress.
Vegetarians too, will be in seventh heaven, with zucchini kofta, small deep-fried balls of courgette served atop a tart that reunites the elements of a Greek salad — tomato, cucumber and feta cheese — in crisp pastry, (both Dh30).
Fish, of course, is a major element of Greek cookery, and here you’ll find it teamed with another classic of Greek cookery, avgolemono, or egg-lemon, the chunky cuts of the rich fish resting on a risotto of sauteed greens and bathed in plenty of the creamy, tangy sauce (Dh60).
Hearty dish
The cooking is consistently spot-on — even chicken, which I usually find dry. Here it’s rolled, roasted to golden, crisp-skinned perfection, served with tagliatelle-style pasta and a creamy sauce (Dh60). For those looking to fill up with a hearty dish, beef tenderloin souvlaki — the Greek equivalent of a kebab — finds the tender meat stuffed with herbs, grilled on skewers and plated atop some chunky mashed potato (Dh80).
Dessert was the one time where Baxevanis’ modern Greek cookery took a strange turn, teaming candied aubergine with crisp rolls of phyllo pastry and a spiced cream in his rendition of galaktoboureko (Dh30). While it was sweet and tasty, I never realised what a distinct flavour aubergine has until that moment, and it was slightly disconcerting. But don’t let that put you off from discovering this well-priced, healthy, varied and unique cuisine — to miss it would be a tragedy.
ELIA?Where: Majestic Hotel, Mankhool Road, Bur Dubai
Call: 04-3598888
Décor: The prettiest restaurant in Dubai.
Atmosphere: It’s all Greek to me.
Must-have: Calamari with aubergine salad, sea bass with avgolemono sauce, zucchini kefta.
Price: Meal for two, Dh255, excluding beverages.
Elia does sea bass with a creamy, tangy egg-lemon sauce.
Zucchini Kefta.
Candied aubergine showcases the distinct flavour of this vegetable.
photos by atiq-ur-rehman
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By Natalie Long ?tabloid! Editor
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