Al Dawaar – Revolving Restaurant – Hyatt, Deira

Living in Dubai for more than 30 years and I’ve been seeing this building for a long time now. Since childhood I’ve been hearing that restaurant on top of Hyatt rotates but I could never see it moving from ground below so I used to think maybe it rotates carefully and slowly that it takes a day to complete a full rotation but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

website: http://www.restaurants.dubai.hyatt.com/restaurants/al-dawaar/

You can’t miss this building if you’ve been in Dubai for a long time. You either come this side to buy some fresh fish from the Fish market or to buy gold from the Gold Souq. Either ways you will notice this legendary building which has been a landmark in this corner of Deira for a long time.

So here I am now inside this restaurant. The first thing I wanted to figure was how this restaurant calls it revolving. Finally i realized it’s not the building and it’s we who rotate around the building. The side walls are stationary. We move clock wise. I’ve taken the next 2 photos specifically for you to understand the motion of the floor.

Scene1: Notice the pepper and pillar on the right side.
Scene2: Notice the same pepper and pillar now on the left of the table. The table and chairs have now moved to the right side. This happened in a minute. so you now you know the speed at which we are revolving.

The whole restaurant is covered by glass windows on its side so you can definitely find a seat to enjoy the wide beauty of Dubai and gobble your food. When u are in this restaurant for lunch, it would be funny if you spend too much time looking for a table without sunlight cause you are revolving and surely you will have to meet the sun in the next turn.

It would be a joke if somebody ate this entire bread and filled his stomach. He’ll regret as soon as he enters the buffet zone. Even though i’ve got a healthy appetite, it would look impossible for me to complete the buffet even if i took only one of each item.

The buffet for lunch is priced at Dhs 175 per head and kids between age 6 and 12 pay half the price. 5 and below go in for free. By the way, this is without any drink. So you will need to pay extra for the drinks you order. A small bottle of water should cost you around Dhs 18.

I opted to go for lunch so I could see Dubai landscape rather than just lights in the night. My seat was facing the ocean when I just got seated. While i was having my lunch my view covered the densely populated Deira city, Sheikh Zayed road buildings, Fish Market. By the time I ended my dinner and packed to go, I was back in my first view which is the ocean again.

I really enjoyed the experience in here. Felt rejuvenated. Maybe it’s the ever moving views, sunlight, excellent collection of food and great service. I noticed whenever i finished a plate, it would be picked up by the time I come back with my next filled plate 🙂 You would also find them at the buffet who would serve and explain you if needed.

We started our lunch with Mocktails.

Mocktails

• Amigo – water melon syrup, lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice and peach nector with peach syrup.
• Tropical breeze – grandine, passion fruit syrup, lime, orange juice, pineapple juice & cranberry juice.
• Carabbean fruit punch – blue caracoa, almond syrup, lemon juice, grape fruit juice and orange juice.

Amigo Mocktail was a clear winner to me out of the three. I just couldn’t stop enjoying it.

Fresh garden greens

• Mix leaves, carrots, cucumber, cherry tomato, sweet corn, beetroot
• Tomato salsa, avocado, Thai salsa, Chiltomate sauce, roasted almond and sunflower seeds
• Dressing
• Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, italian vinaigrette, french dressing.

Appetizer

• Smoked salmon
• Marinated sardine
• Roasted chicken
• Roasted beef

Mezzah

• Humus, stuffed vine leaves
• Peanut chat, sprouted moong salad
• Salad shirazi, cuscus vegetable salad
• Tomato pistachio salad
• Spicy eggplant walnut salad
• Cucumber yogurt tzatziki, spicy potato salad

So when I stepped into their buffet section I just go lost. Didn’t know where to start from, what to take and how to end it. There were too many options to eat and quality items. I mean it wasn’t like those buffet where you see a lot of items for the heck of it and you couldn’t really enjoy any of them. These were really made, positioned beautifully and it would entice you from a distance. Most importantly you had a wide range of selection so if you were not totally satisfied with one, there were plenty of other items that can keep you happy.

Salads

• Spicy seafood salad
• Thai chili beef salad
• Grilled tuna loin salad
• Sundry tomato chicken salad
• Som tam-green papaya salad
• Roasted pumpkin salad

They had lot of add-ons to super charge your meal. What I most liked about this restaurant was that it was clean, neat, and you felt like the buffet was happening at your place with a few private guests. You never even had to wait in queue for the buffet. It was a healthy atmosphere.

Arabic

• Shish kebab-Lebanese grilled beef kebab coriander tomato garlic
• Lebanese chicken kebab with smoked paprika and garlic
• Samkeh harrah traboulseyeh
• Sheikh el mahshi-batinjaan-eggplant stuffed with meat

It’s difficult to mention all that was available but here’s a little of the main dishes:

Iranian

• Esfenaj sorkh kardeh- fried spinach with crispy onions
• Bamiah bil lahm
• Kabab-e- kubideh – minced lamb kabab

I must stop here to say that there kabab-e-kubideh is very good. My wife loved it too.

Indian

• Jhiga biryani
• Kadai mix sabzi
• Dal saag tadka

Asian

• Stir fried beef
• Stir fried shrimps with cashnuts
• Teriyaki salmon steak with pak choi
• Rad nar -rice noodle

Continental

• Crispy duck confit with glazed apple sauce
• Ossobuco, veal shank stew
• Braised stuffed squid

Carving

• Brine rib-eye roll herb crust, mushroom spinach
• Sea bass, sun dry tomato salsa

The fish was really nice. I had quite bit of this one and the prawns were fresh as ever. Couldn’t complain.

Seafood bar

• Lunch – Fresh marinated green lip mussel, court bouillon boiled prawns
• Three kind of sushi, California and assorted roll, soya sauce, ginger pickle and wasabi

 I tried their complete collection of sushi but one mistake i made was, I thought the green dipper as equivalent to chutney but actually you are supposed to have only a pint of it, so in my first dip my mouth was on fire and i finished my mocktail completely in that one sip.

You see that Pecan nut chocolate brownie(left) on my plate that’s what i admired the most from the desserts. I just couldn’t stop eating it. Love pecans and ate them like crazy. Surely others were a joy to my mouth but somehow the pecan nut chocolate brownie got me excited.

From above you can select your ice cream, mix and match your toppings and make the best out of it. It’s been interesting eating here and its worth Dhs 175 they charge for that good experience especially the ever changing views and tons of quality selections you are offered at their buffet. To see the full collections of photos in full screen view, please click on the photos below.