There may well have been a proliferation of high-end restaurant openings over the past couple of years, but there is still space in the market for anything decent by the water. And just to make sure we all knew where this seafood joint is located, they cleverly named it… well, you can see what they did with the title.
A nice view from the terrace isn’t everything of course. In a town where everything is flown in from somewhere, it’s sometimes hard for a seafood restaurant to really stand out above the rest. The supply lines into the Emirates have already been established and there is plenty of marine life that is swimming in some distant waters one day and on the plate in some five-star Dubai restaurant the next.
So how to stand out? Atmosphere, service and a few culinary twists are obviously the way to go. On the first score, anything located at the new Four Seasons is off to a head start. It’s a beautiful property, with open views of the Skeikh Zayed Road skyline on one side and the Gulf waters on the other. It is also relatively easy to get to, compared with many locations in town. (We’re talking about you, Dubai Marina). The service at Sea Fu, as you’d expect from a hotel of this standard, is top notch.
Which leaves us with the culinary twists. Let’s start with the drinks menu. We strongly urge you to commence the evening with a wasabi martini. It tastes exactly how you imagine you would, and in a very good way.
We started the meal with Maki rolls that felt like they’d not been long out of the ocean. But it was the chargrilled octopus that offered a subtle counterpoint to the raw fish. The mains were as simple as it gets, but in a good way: a market caught seabass with asparagus and a citrus salad.
The standout desert, meanwhile, was the ice cream trio of matcha green tea, sesame, raspberry and beetroot. The effect was subtle but still surprising and by the looks of the menu, there are plenty more dishes that could offer the same level of interest. We’ll be back to work our way through more of the dishes – and if our first meal was anything to go by, we suggest you do the same.