Busaba, a new Dubai Thai treasure?

Top Stories

Busaba, a new Dubai Thai treasure?
The regular pad Thai

With Songkran falling on April 13, we get a head start by visiting The Beach's eatery

By David Light

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

Published: Wed 6 Apr 2016, 11:39 AM

Last updated: Thu 7 Apr 2016, 9:45 AM

WE DON'T KNOW if it's something in the water over there, but somehow The Beach in JBR keeps producing culinary hit after culinary hit. Be it Arabic, Greek, Indian cuisine or even burgers, we can't think of another district in Dubai where such quality is packed into a relatively small area. Of course, if you head to Muraqqabat in Deira or the main Satwa road, you may disagree, but those are sprawling regions with their fair share of misses as well as hits.
 
The latest in the long line of The Beach treats is Busaba Eathai, brought to you by the brains behind chains Hakkasan and Wagamama. To be honest, before entering, our hopes were not high. While said previous ventures are perfectly fine, Thai food can become so generic. Customers' demand for green curry can mean a focus is put on the mundane to satisfy the largest number of customers possible. Thankfully, Busaba's menu does not conform to this trend.
Three pages of interesting recipes await the diner with most dishes hitting the Dhs40 to Dhs60 mark. Elements that caught our eye on a blustery Thursday afternoon tended to be hearty. A big pile of noodles and meat was difficult to resist and we didn't when it came to the noodles at least.
To start with, a house speciality: Thai calamari. This generous bowl of crispy squid, deep-fried in batter, ginger and green peppercorns, was a revelation. Calamari can often be a challenging prospect - too often have we been let down when making a rash decision plumping for some bar platter or another. This rendition was light, melt-in-your-mouth fodder with a hint of spice you don't normally find. It is an absolute must.
For the main, an enormous helping of sen chan pad Thai and Mussaman duck curry. Differing from your average pad Thai, sen chan has the addition of crab meat and green mango. These extras make all the difference, turning a delightful conglomeration into a lick-the-plate clean meal. The crab meat, often bland, was flavoursome and pillowy in texture. The green mango added an almost sour element which refused to be ignored and brought the ingredients together perfectly. We'll always be asking for it in future. The duck curry was rich and aromatic and in all honesty probably unnecessary now our eyes had returned to their normal size and were no longer larger than our stomachs.
The only average part of the meal was dessert, but that's because we're not huge fans of Thai puddings at the best of times. It was not bad. In fact at times it was tasty. We just don't have the predilection for the ice/coconut milk/red chestnut melange that is a Red Ruby. The mango sticky rice would have been a better choice.
david@khaleejtimes.com

The meal
The meal
Thai calamari
Thai calamari
Fresh mocktails
Fresh mocktails

More news from