dining and drinking at the burj

i am sorry I do not remember the names of all the places.

besides some lobby restaurants, there are basically two famous dining spots at the burj. if you stay there for one day only, make a reservation in advance ... even as a hotel guest it is not guaranteed as the places are always booked.

below the sea
you have sure heard about the under water restaurant of the burj. there is a special elevator to a lounge with a bar (very nice bar, by the way) from which you board a small submarine that takes you to he restaurant. the restaurant is located about 200m outside the burj below sea level. if you are there, you are surrounded by fish everywhere. a beautiful please. you will even have small sharks looking at your food while you are dining. for people like myself who do not eat seafood at all, there are lots of meat and also vegetarian choices. top notch service, great bread selection, and a great ambience. this is a must-do when you are at the burj. prices are pretty normal for a famous restaurant, and the wine-list is very extensive. even some German wines are there
of course, the submarine is not a submarine but a submarine simulator and just delivering you one floor lower to the basement of the house. but still, the "virtual" submarine ride is quite nice. i love the marketing idea. if you are a hotel designer of a hotel that has great views all over, how can you fill a restaurant in the basement that does not offer any view? cool.

in the sky
another restaurant is attached to the top floor of the building. "attached" means that it is not part of the original structure but an extra building "hanging" at the burh. if you look at it from downstairs you will think he architect was crazy.
the restaurant is divided in a bar and in a restaurant. make sure you get a windows table, no matter if in the bar or a the restaurant. food selection is international, everything was superb. the lady selected to drink a bottle of roederer crystal before the meal not knowing what it might cost, but this is sure no place for price considerations

room service
hehe, this is what i like most if i stay in a suite. room service at the burj is outright perfect. everything is available 24 hours, no restrictions, menu list is huge and if you like to eat something else they will make it for your. as you have at least one dining table in your "house", you can eat like in a private restaurant. or if you like, just order a night snack before you go to bed. the service is fast, and never made a mistake.

jumeirah beach hotel
the 600-something room rotel shaped like a huge wave opposite to the burj belongs to the same group. you can reserve tables in restaurants there, and also have the charges transferred to your burj room bill. i also always felt reservations from the burj were handled with prioriy. as we stayed in burh for eight days, we ran out of dinner choices at the burj. the jumeirah beach hotel has about 15 restaurants, Arabic, Italian, even German etc ...

first, we tested the Argentinian restaurant. first time in my life i eat a 500gr tenderloing steak. if you put the knife on it, it went right through it, it was tender like butter. the Italian restaurant there was also really nice. nice brunello to drink there, and food is always a surprise as everything tastes and looks better than you imagined before. tiramisu is prepared freshly right at the moment you order it. very personal service.

emirates towers
this is the tallest building in dubai, also belonging to jumerirah group. you can get there by a rolls-royce and enjoy the VU restaurant on the top floor of the building. besides the great view, the restaurant was not full. food was nice, but no more surprises. nice to go there, but not a must. the most interesting thing is a small machine that they put on your table that delivery the tooth-picks
they do have two nice sauternes there, one is also available by the glass.
the bar, even one floor higher, is great and seems to be a place-to-be also for locals and a meeting place for flight crews.

burj beach
having lunch at the private beach of the burj is a superb experience. you should eat one of their special rosemary-garly-breads that comes with five dips, then something light that matches the beach setting, like tomato with mozzarella and avocado cream or garlic, baby spinach salad etc. everything sounds quite simple but is prepared in a way that will surprise you. this is the first time in the burj that i went right away in the small beach kitchen to congratulate the chef for his skills. he was quite overwhelmed and from that day on we got a free sorbet with our meal each day service at the beach is white-glove service as well but you can sit there in you swimming pants with no problem.
they offer you a wide selection of cigars and different alcohols, including the very nice 95 rose veuve clicquot.

general notes
dining at the burj requires a tie. they will let you in without it, but you will feel a little like to destroy the atmosphere. sneakers are also not the right choice for the restaurants. no kids allowed for dinner in the under-water-restaurant (but you can resreve a private dining room). on the other hand, you can always go to the jumerirah beach hotel (you do not go there, they will drive you with the golf carts) which is more relaxed if you prefer this (I dont ) and a paradise for kids.
the house champaign in the burj (available everywhere plus in the minibar) is ruinart, which is a very good choice. not to pricy but very good!

you will not leave the burj hungry ...