There are lots of great places to enjoy a drink in Abu Dhabi and some of those cool venues are found inside restaurants.
Sure, in days gone by the restaurant bar was a meeting place where you waited for someone before heading to the table or the destination you were sent to as you killed time until a table became available.
That may well still be the case in many venues, but over time many have become destinations in their own right, instead of a place to pass some time in comfort.
We’ve dined at Butcher and Still on a number of occasions and it truly is a brilliant restaurant, hitting all the right notes and rarely missing a mark.
All the times we sat there ready to tuck into a top meal we’ve gazed over at the bar and thought to ourselves that it looks like a great place to enjoy a drink at some point in the future. Mental note made.
We always get round the things eventually and at last we’re here for a few drinks instead of a steak.
Gone are the days when we could pull up a stool and enjoy an hour or so at the bar itself, of course, instead drinks must be taken at one of the tables, with orders going in to the waiter rather than the dapper barmen.
The venue itself oozes class, modelled to resemble 1920s Chicago. It’s chic, sleek, art deco and brilliant. We almost feel the need to put on a pin stripe suit and slick back our hair but we resist temptation.
When we arrive the happy hour deal is on so we can enjoy a buy one, get one free deal which is nice as we’ve always thought that one good drink deserves another.
We order a glass of a beverage made famous by Scotland, on the rocks, which we’re sure will incur a shake of the head from purists. It’s wonderful, as elegant and enjoyable as the surroundings and we follow it up with another, also from the Scottish island of Islay. There is a good selection here.
We’re sure there must be someone in the dining room making the same mental notes we did to come back and enjoy a drink or two sometime, and we don’t blame them. The bar is a destination itself and is every bit as good as the restaurant that hosts it, so don’t just think it’s a place for a pre-dinner beverage.
