We’re keen for steak this evening, and a change of scenery, so we drive to Blue Grill at Yas Rotana to see what this meaty restaurant has in store for diners.
The first thing we notice is how much we like the restaurant layout and décor. It isn’t gaudy or old-fashioned, nor does the dining room feel too crowded or sparse. The restaurant is over half full on a Monday evening, making for a good atmosphere. It’s a positive start, and as we find our table we’re keen to delve into the menu.
We start by ordering the scallops served with charred asparagus, and beef tomato and mozzarella salad. Both are brought to the table quickly by the attentive waiting team.
The scallops and asparagus is a bizarre dish. The scallops are cooked well enough but are on the small side and the asparagus is overly charred – almost burnt. But the strangest component is the addition of cold slices of grapefruit that complement neither the scallops nor asparagus. Nothing about the dish could be labelled a success.
The tomato and mozzarella salad is fine, but we’ve had better. A lot of restaurants are now adding a unique touch to this fairly ubiquitous dish, but there was none here – we’re not far off thinking we could make the dish ourselves. Still, it’s tasty.
For mains, we order what we’ve really come here for – the 300g Australian onyx striploin, cooked rare. The dish is served with on-the-vine tomatoes and caramelised shallots, and we order additional sides of peppercorn sauce, gratinated potato, asparagus and onion rings.
The beef comes perfectly cooked and the sides are also extremely good. The onion rings fried in tempura batter are the highlight, but we can’t fault any element of the dish.
We also order the herb pot gnocchi, but unfortunately this is no triumph. The gnocchi is hard and rubbery rather than soft and light, and the luminous orange sauce lacks flavour. We’re bored after just a couple of mouthfuls and fill up sharing the steak sides instead.
We’re still hungry, so we cast our eye over the dessert menu. We order the chocolate soufflé and banoffee pie.
The pie is creamy, crunchy and gooey, everything a banoffee pie should be. We wolf the whole thing quickly before envious eyes ask to have a bite.
The soufflé is less satisfying – we like the flavour and signature vanilla ice cream it’s served with, but the soufflé is overcooked and stodgy.
We leave Blue Grill full of praise for the steaks, but feel the rest our meal could have been better.
The bill (for two)
Tomato and mozzarella Dhs62
Scallops Dhs82
Australian onyx striploin Dhs190
Onion rings Dhs23
Asparagus Dhs23
Gnocchi Dhs98
Banoffee pie Dhs35
Chocolate soufflé Dhs38
Total (excluding service) Dhs551
