Far from the eager crowds of tourists clamoring to queue up to enter the Burj Khalifa, sits Hurricane’s Grill. It’s aptly named, as there’s a flurry of activity inside from both staff and diners, with dishes coming out of the kitchen at breakneck speed. During cooler months you can enjoy the outside seating that overlooks the Dubai Fountain, or enjoy a seat indoors in one of the spacious booths or a private corner table. Wherever you’re seated, there’s a constant ring of chatter in the air, as people’s faces are lit up by the iPad menus.
You don’t come to Hurricane’s Grill by yourself – unless of course, you’ve been on a hunger fast for three days. Portion sizes here – from salads to desserts – are all enough to feed a family of three at least. Which is probably why most tables are filled with families or groups of hungry diners. This is a place to come and enjoy some great food to share while catching up with people. The busy atmosphere might not be intimate enough for a date night, but is perfect for a friendly birthday celebration or just a nice meal out.
The menu is something that is going to take you a good fifteen minutes to digest. Pages of dishes offer everything from fried calamari to saucy steaks and massive desserts, so it’s easy to be a bit overwhelmed at first. Thankfully, the staff are more than happy to listen to your tastes and recommend dishes accordingly, so you won’t flounder for long.
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We start off with a quick round of drinks – a mint lemonade and two thick shakes appear within minutes. The mint lemonade is crisp and refreshing – a perfect way to start off the inevitable feast, while the shakes are beautifully thick and a giddy indulgence. The restaurant doesn’t actually add any milk to its shakes, so if you’re keen on ingesting what’s basically a tall, glorious glass of whipped ice cream, then you’re certainly not going to be disappointed.
Starters appear next, in the form of salt and pepper calamari, cheesy garlic bread, and potato skins with spicy beef strips. The calamari is beautifully crisp and fried well, rather than seeping with oil. A quick dunk in the accompanying aioli compliments its creamy texture, and a light squeeze of lemon helps to round off the flavors. The garlic bread is really there out of force of habit – the restaurant prefers to serve popcorn as a light snack rather than complimentary bread rolls, so we tuck into the soft, cheesy bread with abandon. The potato skins are soft and drenched in beef gravy, but despite their name don’t actually have any spice to them. They’re still good and the beef has a very slight chew to it, but we would have liked just a little more heat from this dish.
Our salad is served shortly after; a beautiful mixture of salad greens tossed with pear, beef bacon, blue cheese, and walnuts, before being finished with a balsamic dressing. The combination of flavors and textures is appreciated, but it’s entirely overpowered by the sweetness of the dressing. A suggestion would be to ask for the dressing on the side instead, so you can control the amount of sweetness that’s being added in. Still, we would definitely go back and order this again.
After a short break (and you’ll need it) we are finally ready for main courses. We settle on a half-rack of veal ribs, New Zealand 250g fillet, and a portion of mac and cheese. This is where you’ll quickly realize that sharing is indeed, caring. The half-rack portion of ribs is enough for two people to share comfortably, and when paired with the chunky-cut fries and fried onions, makes for a massive meal. The fillet is cooked to medium and has a very memorable tenderness to it, with the sharp char and simple seasoning being the best way to present the cut. Of course you can go all-out and order the other cuts that are bathed in a variety of sauces, but we decided to keep it simple this time around. The veal ribs are perfectly tender, and slide off the bone with ease. They’re actually a lot more flavorful than their beef cousins, and the meat is much softer and slightly fattier, which makes for a much more rounded taste. The mac and cheese is purely an added treat, so go ahead and indulge in the cheesy pleasures of life.
Dessert may seem like a herculean task to accomplish after all that food, but we encourage you to press onward. We decide to go all-in and order three desserts to try out – the berry brulee, sienna Ferrero Rocher, and malva pudding. Out of all three, the malva pudding is the star winner . A soft, toffee-like cake that’s bathed in custard and caramel sauces, it was the only dessert that we nearly managed to finish, owing only to its massive size. The berry brulee mixes berries with a crème brulee, and for berry lovers it might be a welcome treat of sweet and tart flavors, but for crème brulee snobs it’s a hard pass. The sienna Ferrero Rocher combines layers of nuts and cream into a well-presented chocolate concoction, but its beauty can’t compare to the magnetic pull of the malva pudding.
Pricing might be on the tad higher side, but portion sizes for everything are off the charts, so you 100% are getting value for money here. There’s zero qualms about sharing a main course or a few starters together, and honestly that’s probably the best way to experience your time at Hurricane’s Grill. Rally your friends and head down any day of the week – you’re certainly going to be leaving with a full stomach.
Hurricane’s Grill, The Dubai Mall – https://hurricanesgrill.ae/