WhEAT depicts itself as more than just a café, but as a ‘state of mind’. And our state of mind is blissful from the moment we pick up our forks and make our way through the fresh, natural food that symbolises the healthy, happy lifestyle the bakery and bistro tries to induce.
Before we arrive, we have high hopes for a café housed by Le Royal Méridien, a hotel with a knack for producing plaudits for its unique and affordable ‘foodie’ enterprises.
The airy, colourful nook is bookended by the acclaimed Market Kitchen and the lemon groves of Amalfi. Several flights up sits Stratos, the restaurant of choice for Lewis Hamilton after he won the Formula 1 Grand Prix last year.
We salivate over the Dhs45 Scottish salmon rillettes on brown bread with watercress, pickled onion, dill pickle and crème fraiche leaping out of the glass.
We also consider the grass-fed Angus beef (grass-fed beef being a signature theme started upstairs by Stratos’ executive chef Justin Galea) served with ‘the lot’ – a heap of truffle cheese fries and date mustard that looks mouth-watering.
But we tear ourselves away to focus on the appetisers, a selection of salads characterised by huge Dhs35 bowls of bright goodness. The crispy fried squid arrives as soft golden rings sitting on a fresh bed of greens with halos of red chilli.
We almost regret ordering such a simple dish, but the beauty of whEAT lies in its simplicity – the simplest dishes are so often the hardest to get right – and the coriander and lime lifts the salad to delicious heights.
All salads can also be shared for Dhs65 and we pair ours with the vivid-hued broccoli soup with warm, crusty hunks of bread. We note the blue cheese, endive, and walnut and pear salad with chive crème fraiche for the next time we inevitably visit.
If we had one criticism of whEAT, we’d say the service lets its fantastic product down. After discovering that the chimichurri chicken quesadilla with avocado and jalapenos is not available, we order the minute steak (rare) with watercress salad, fried, tomato chili jam and Béarnaise sauce.
Unfortunately, the order is read back to us as ‘well done’. And after several insistent attempts that we would like the meat cooked rare, we are finally listened to and it is indeed delivered rare.
It is worth the trouble; melt in the mouth with a large tousled salad and crisp fries. We also opt for the mini Wagyu beef pies, which arrive perched on an island of buttery mash potato and gravy. The pies certainly are mini and we would have preferred less potato, but all-in-all whEAT is a giant success.
The bill (for two):
Broccoli soup Dhs18
Calamari salad Dhs24
Minute steak Dhs70
Wagyu beef pie Dhs40
Total (excl. service) Dhs152
