When a chef behind a Michelin-starred restaurant announces he is opening a venue in the UAE, food-lovers sit up and take notice.
Based on reputation alone, I had high expectations for British chef Michael Caines’s new restaurant in Abu Dhabi, his first outside the United Kingdom. Gidleigh Park, his restaurant in Devon, England, has held two Michelin stars for 16 years.
Pearls by Michael Caines replaced Scott’s in Jumeirah at Etihad Towers. The location, in a free-standing pod over the water, is the first thing Pearls has going for it. But the best thing is Caines. While he is not the resident chef, he visits frequently – and the attention to detail that is so prevalent in his cooking has clearly rubbed off on the team.
The venue is elegant, inside and out, but not over-the-top; sophisticated, but not stuffy. We sat on the terrace – over the water, under the glow of the city. The orange bird of paradise flower on each of the tables is a nod to the restaurant’s logo, an orange inspired by Caines’s decadent chocolate-orange confit mousse, a dessert he came up with 21 years ago and has been serving ever since.
We were quickly given a complimentary amuse-bouche of goat-cheese mousse and beetroot purée. It’s delicate and creamy, and the strong cheese perfectly balances the earthy beetroot. It was a promising start.
The menu is packed with familiar ingredients that won’t intimidate less-adventurous diners, but this food is far from simple. Caines’s team excels at layering flavours and extracting maximum taste from each ingredient.
Case in point, the few pieces of slivered ginger that topped our crab ravioli appetiser were blanched three times, a laborious process that draws out the strength of the ginger, something that could be considered an unimportant garnish.
But that’s the thing here – it’s all important. That dish also comes with small pieces of grapefruit on each ravioli. You might think they are unnecessary – but try it with and without and you will notice how the acidity of the grapefruit enhances the sweet, rich crab.
The cold lobster salad comes generously portioned with a meaty, tender lobster claw and a half-lobster tail, artfully arranged on the plate with some caviar, mango and cardamom vinaigrette, a few full-flavoured jellied cubes, and a mound of curried mayonnaise that’s so delectable it should be bottled and sold.
The food continued to surprise and impress, though not without a few hiccups. The salt cod, which comes with a delicate courgette flower packed with crab mousse, has flavours of lemon, smoked paprika, samphire and smoked red pepper. The fish was perfectly cooked but overpowered by that smoky paprika – I wanted less of that and more of everything else.
The beef fillet with braised beef cheeks was slightly overdone – but we quickly forgave that as we lost ourselves in the other tastes that came on the plate: a horseradish and shallot confit, celeriac purée, roasted shallots and wild mushrooms. The flavours exploded and our mouths thanked us.
But this restaurant is about more than just food on a plate. Caines and his team quietly serve up a lot more than many diners might fully appreciate.
None of the staff stands at the table waxing poetic about what went into each dish – they probably won’t tell you anything at all unless you ask.
But if you’re looking for a meal worth talking about, Pearls delivers. It’s exactly what Abu Dhabi needs.
• A meal for two at Pearls by Michael Caines costs Dh800. Reviewed meals are paid for by The National and conducted incognito
sjohnson@thenational.ae
