Disclaimer: I was invited to lunch at Café Belge, located at The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai DIFC.
Open daily from 12pm to 1am, Café Belge is the The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai DIFC’s riff on a Belgian brasserie. Think: airy, wooden bar, classic movie posters, and smokers dining al fresco.
As much as I enjoy walking for many miles at a time, eventually I relented and took a break in the hotel lobby from the 46°C (115°F) Dubai heat. Once my reservation time came, I was warmly greeted at the entrance.
I chose to sit at a corner table by the threshold to the patio, which was nice until the (cigar) smoke wafted in.
That was pretty much the only negative to my lunch; well, I suppose if they had ingredients grown in the United Arab Emirates, it would have been neat. Regardless, the service was good, the noise level tolerable, and the food…let’s take a look.
I started off with a cocktail called Bel Gem.
Based on the composition of the cocktail, you could say I should have known it would have been sweet. Yeah, well…what can I say, brown butter and maple syrup stood out. The drink was good, but there wasn’t much variety in the sweetness. Now that I think about it, I should have tried a white russian with Frangelico instead of Kahlúa.
At this point, one of the waiters brought over bread, herbaceous butter, very good olive oil, and vinegar from Modena (Italy). By the way, I recommend trying Modena vinegar with vanilla ice cream.
The Café Belge menu was in part designed to reflect guests coming in upright, and leaving after having a bit to drink.
It’s a sizable menu, too, with too many delicious-sounding choices, with an emphasis on meat and seafood. But there are some pizza, pasta, and vegetarian options as well.
Right, and since it’s a Belgian brasserie, moules-frites and beer are mainstays.
Knowing that steak frites is a staple of brasseries, I was compelled to order it, along with a couple of starters.
These fried wagyu croquettes with black truffle mayonnaise were quite tasty. Quite surprised to see the word cecina on the menu, listed as the topping for each croquette; in this case, the cecina was salted and dried beef.
Artichokes, watercress, and a gorgonzola chip, fun combination.
Having a lot of meat made for an inevitably heavy meal, so the salad helped provide some respite between the two courses. I think mustard greens also could have worked here, bring an entirely new level to the flavors and textures.
At this point, I tried my second cocktail, Off the Fire.
Off the Fire has tequila, mezcal, grilled chili-pineapple shrub, lime, and a rim coated with charcoal salt.
This drink was excellent for a chilihead like myself. Even though it had pineapple juice, the natural sweetness was nicely balanced with the smokiness of the mezcal and charcoal salt. Definitely would order this one again.
The final boss: steak frites. I haven’t had this combo in a long time…possibly because steak in Japan generally isn’t served with fries.
The steak, although good enough on its own merit, warmly welcomed the addition of green peppercorn sauce. However, as condiments are rarely spicy enough outside of a handful of countries, I requested something hot (not pictured).
Both the regular and Belgian fries were crispy, sufficiently salty, and had a buffet of sauces awaiting their destinies. Now that I think about it, horseradish would have been another worthy accompaniment.
After taking a short break from stuffing myself, I aimed right for the tiramisu.
The tiramisu was so-so. It was simply sweet, without any of the rum or espresso.
Now that I look back at the dessert menu, I should have gone with some pistachio gelato. Oh, well.
In all, I had a good meal and a good time at Café Belge. Save for the dessert, the food worked out quite nicely. In hindsight, I would have chosen a seafood dish to try instead of two meats, but at the same time I can’t complain about them lacking flavor.
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