For many years Grills@Chill’O has been a popular bar and restaurant attracting people for a bite or some sundowners with views out to the Arabian Gulf.
Giving the place a spruce up and a new look, the venue recently underwent a renovation and we must say, from first impressions alone they’ve done a great job. Spread over two floors, overlooking the Sofitel Abu Dhabi Corniche’s pool, the venue has been given a new breath of life – and that’s a good thing.
On the top floor the open terrace, with comfortable seating and tables, makes the most of the ocean views and on the bottom, the modern dining room, with its huge open floor-to-ceiling doors, is an inviting spot to grab a bite to eat.
We take a seat indoors because, we’re almost afraid to say it, we’re feeling the chill in the winter months and the cosy interior is perfect for the season.
Suitably warm and settled, while still enjoying the views out to the ocean, we take a look at the menu that features a range of different dishes from fresh seafood and signature grills to soups and mezze.
We start with the seafood soup, looking forward to warming bowl of fresh fish served with freshly baked bread (proper comfort food).
The broth is rich and deep with oceanic flavours and we’re delighted to find mussels, jumbo prawns and grilled white fish sitting pretty in the centre.
It’s all perfect, needing no seasoning and every last drop of the broth is soaked up with torn shreds of Arabic bread.
Arriving shortly after, the grilled sea bass is pretty as a picture, perfectly crispy skin and flaky flesh, served with grilled root vegetables. It’s simple, it’s elegant and it’s a hit.
The grilled rib-eye is wonderfully charred, a little more medium than the rare we requested, but it’s tender and peppery, just the way we like it and we demolish the sliced steak quickly with roasted garlic and béarnaise sauce. We do feel bad about leaving the side salad untouched but there’s only so much one person can eat.
All in all, the food is of good quality, the service impeccable and the setting idyllic, even though it’s quiet at lunch time.
We love the new look and the food is pretty great, too.
