Hard Rock Cafe – Dubai Festival City – 2nd Anniversary

Most of you should easily recognize this one. If you’ve been in Dubai for a very long time then you shouldn’t have missed the Hard Rock Cafe on Sheikh Zayed road which has been an iconic one for many many years until it was demolished recently(last year). Those gigantic black and red guitars in front of the building can never be forgotten. When I was a kid as we would return from Abudhabi, its this Hard Rock Cafe Building on sheikh zayed road that would give me an assurance that we have now reached Dubai. Back then there were very few buildings in that area. There wasn’t any Dubai Marina too :p

So finally Hard Rock cafe is now located at Dubai Festival City next to Marks & Spencer. It was their second anniversary and they had specials this night like free photography as you see above, VIP lounges for their special customers, a special award winning band to entertain all of us, cutting of the cake ..etc. The interiors were young and trendy. You could see collections from different celebrities around the room. Like the Harley Davidson parked inside the cafe was from AeroSmith, a suit worn by James Brown. Guitars from Robbie Williams, Billy Idol, Nsync and many more.

The stage show at Hard Rock cafe was the best part and that’s the specialty of Hard Rock Cafe. Enjoy live band while you enjoy your meal. It’s a great place to eat out with friends. They’ve got all kinds of entertainment for you. Be it a foosball table, billiards, stage show. Also while I was there I would have noticed atleast 3 birthday celebrations happening on different tables. Guess Hard Rock cafe was not the only one celebrating their anniversary 😉 It was joy, excitement and laughter. Since it was Hard Rocks anniversary they had invited some special bands to play for the night. Some songs were played so well that some of the audience wouldn’t just sit and be on top of the chair clapping and cheering. My favourite band for the night with no doubt BOX TONES 🙂

They have some fantastic mocktails. We tried 4 of them. Let me just describe them for you:

• Groupie Grind: Mango puree, pina colada mix and pineapple juice blended with a fresh strawberry swir
• Mango Berry Cooler: A tropical blend of fresh mango puree, strawberries, pineapple juice, orange juice and sweet & sour topped with lemon lime soda.
• Wildberry Smoothie: A frozen delight of fresh bananas, pina colada mix, orange juice and Monin raspberry.
• Berrilicious: Monin Raspberry blended with fresh strawberries and orange juice then garnished with a fresh strawberry and orange.

My favourite out of the 4 was Groupie Grind and Wildberry smoothie. We had them in intervals. First we ordered two of them with our mixed platter. The music band was playing so well that we decided to sit there for some more time and that’s when we tried another two. By the way you can buy these glasses to take home as well. Like for example the drink Groupi Grind is Dhs 26 but if needed you pay for the same Dhs 60 and you can take the margarita glass home after you finish the drink in it. One way of taking back memories home :p It’s not just a restaurant. They have a retail shop too where you can buy t-shirts, cups, pins etc. By the way I got this beautiful limited edition 25th Hard Rock cafe anniversary pin(worth Dhs 55). Anyone interested just e-mail me. The first request get’s it!

I luckily got invited to the VIP lounge on their 2nd anniversary. In the VIP lounge everyone got served with a mixed platter that consisted of burgers, spring rolls, fries, tender chicken. In the platter came 3 different types of burgers. Lamb, Beef and Veggie. Lamb won the competition in this race. Just keep in mind what you see in here is just a sample portion. For the price mentioned above you should be getting triple the size. It’s a decent size that should satisfy you. The fries that came along with it were thin but had a nice flavour to it. A little bit description of the burgers we had:

Original legendary burger – Topped with smoked beef bacon, cheddar cheese, golden fried onion ring, iceberg lettuce and tomato. Served with seasonal fries.

Veggie Burger – Freshly grilled vegetable patty with a blend of mushrooms, peppers, black olives, brown rice, oats, spices and seasonings. Served with choice of cheese and fried onion rings, iceberg, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. Served with seasonal fries and citrus coleslaw.

Lamb sandwich – smoked lamb, hand pulled tender and juicy on a toasted brioche bun with hickory BBQ sauce.

Sante fe spring rolls – stuffed with spinach, black beans, corn, jalapenos and mixed cheese. Served with freshly made Hard Rock Salsa and Guacamole chipotle ranch dressing.
Tupelo chicken tenders – Seasoned then hand breaded, lightly fried golden and crispy, served with honey mustard and hickory BBQ sauce.

I’ve never enjoyed vegetables so much. Thanks to their sante fe spring rolls. These definitely gave me a great start to my dinner. The Tupelo chicken tender was another item that was quickly vanishing from our platter. It could be easily be appreciated. Those golden crispy chicken tenders was a favourite for my guest as well.

More details about Hard Rock Cafe can be found on their website:

http://www.hardrock.com/cafes/dubai/

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