You can haunt any house by yourself/

Be a man or a mouse by yourself/

You can act like a king on a throne/

There are lots of things that you can do alone/

But it takes two to tango, two to tango/

Two to really get the feeling of romance/

Two to tango two to tango/

Do the dance of love

Louis Armstrong’s gravelly voice echoed in my mind as I admired a chalk-and-cheese duo in the gigantic floor-to-ceiling aquarium facing my table. The odd couple in question was a shark (a far cry from the menacing variety in Jaws ) and a stingray, slicing through the dim blue waters in poetic motion. It seemed the hundreds, perhaps thousands of fellow tank inhabitants had rehearsed their moves to keep out of the couple’s way.

I had least expected an aquatic romance when I walked into Ossiano for dinner that night. The underwater restaurant — arguably the best for seafood in Dubai — is one of the main attractions of Atlantis, The Palm. I settled down with some fresh-off-the-oven olive brioche and sundried tomato bread before I picked up the menu card. Though most of the offerings were off my list — having inherited crustacean allergy from my father — I was happy. This was one menu card that didn’t remind me of the dreaded Chaucerian tomes from my college days. It was easy to choose: a foie gras terrine as starter, followed by Norwegian salmon poached in olive oil.

The aquarium and its cross-species lovers kept me engaged as I waited for the terrine. It arrived just when a kettle of clownfish had started a group dance at one end of the tank. A little under room temperature, it brought back the happy memories of the first foie gras terrine I had — at a French country house in Grande Champagne. It had the perfect balance of sweet and salt, with a hint of the bitter. And it was creamy enough to take my mind and eyes off the rich marine life on display. Another brioche later, which was consumed with generous lashings of fresh unsalted butter, I was ready to slice through the roundel of pink, flaky salmon. I ate in near silence — not that I didn’t have company that night. I refused a lemon and basil sorbet for the fear of losing the mild flavour of the fish in my mouth

The dinner at Ossiano was like the crescendo in Bach’s symphonies I had grown up listening to. The seven-star Atlantis, The Palm – spread over acres in Dubai’s upscale Palm Jumeirah — certainly knows what it takes to keep a gourmet (or even an aspiring one) happy. My first meal at the busy hotel was at Saffron. When your target is juicy beef pot roast, noisy families crowding the live counters can do little to fray your nerves. I waited for a well-done sirloin with piles of roasted carrots, potatoes and a gravy boat on my dinner plate. Returning for seconds in exactly 12 minutes, I drew smiles from the chefs. The meal ended with Arabic milk custard; it was a throwback to my late-night Milkmaid-and-bread food adventures.

My allegiance to the bovine reigned over lunch at Chef Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen & Bar the next day. For starters I chose potted salt beef brisket with grain mustard and crackers. The chilled raspberry and tomato soup — a friendly recommendation from my Goan attendant — scored equally well. For mains, it was beef Wellington with truffle mash all the way, with an impressive sideshow by the traditional fish and chips, served with minted pea purée.

The ground-floor restaurant looked too calm to be a Ramsay brainchild. I missed his bombastic TV presence as I waited for desserts. The staff took it upon themselves to make us taste everything sweet on the menu. Apart from a variety of homemade ice-creams, the Eton mess (a traditional English dessert of meringues, strawberries and cream), the sticky toffee pudding and the bread-and-butter pudding were the clear winners. It made me late for my pedicure, but all’s fair in gluttony, love and war.

Later that evening, a sumptuous spread awaited my overworked taste buds at Ayamna, the Lebanese restaurant at Atlantis. Ayamna was being re-launched that night and the dinner, which ran into more courses than I could count, had sensuous belly dancing and live Arabic music as accompaniments. The unusually pleasant March evening began with house cocktails, with fennel, aniseed and cumin as unlikely stars. The 90-minute dinner demolished the notion of Lebanese food I’d acquired in Delhi. The hummus was creamy beyond description; the moutabal (eggplant dip) had a smoky flavour; the flatbreads were soft; and the lamb cigar rolls, melt-in-the-mouth. Chunks of char-grilled fish and vegetables, as well as air-cured beef basterma ,were the other constants. The sticky date pudding, served with chilled grapes and apricots, pushed me into what I think was food coma.

Chicken wings with tamarind sauce

Recipe: Cesar Bartolini, chef de cuisine, Bread Street Kitchen & Bar Serves 25

Ingredients :

Marinade for 5 kg chicken wings

Chilli powder 20g

Cumin powder 20g

Coriander powder 10g

Turmeric 5g

Paprika 50g

Garam masala 10g

Onion powder 100g

Garlic salt 50g

Juice of one lemon

Flour 100g

Cornflour 30g

Eggs 4

Salt

Dijon mustard 10g

Oil 50 ml

Method

1 Rub the wings with the dry spices until evenly coated. Add the wet ingredients and mix again. Let it rest a while.

2 Coat with equal parts of flour and cornflour before frying the wings.

Tamarind sauce

Ingredients:

Tamarind 650g (soaked in two litres water)

Dry chilli 50g

Fennel seeds 200g

Cumin seeds 200g

Black peppercorns 20g

Tomato paste 250g

Ketchup 500g

Onions 10, chopped

Garlic pods 3, crushed

Bay leaves 6

Worcestershire sauce 1.5l

Brown sugar 500g

Honey 600g

Chicken stock 15l

White wine vinegar 300 ml

Coriander seeds 50g

Oil 500 ml

Coriander stems 2 bunches

Salt

Method

1 Roast all spices in a pan and coarsely grind them.

2 Heat oil, add garlic, chopped onions and bay leaves. Mix well.

3 Add spices, vinegar, sugar and honey.

4 Add tomato paste, tamarind, Worcestershire sauce and cook.

5 Add chicken stock and reduce to a glaze.

6 Pass and adjust seasoning.

7 Garnish with coriander.

(The author was in Dubai on the invitation of Atlantis, The Palm)

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