Growing up on a farm in rural Kansas, I was accustomed to the freshest steak on offer – that which came out of my family’s cow lot behind the house. Steak wasn’t a luxury growing up, but a weekly family meal. As an adult who’s gone onto live in large cities around the world, I’ve stopped ordering steak at restaurants as what’s put in front of me just never measures up to my expectations.
This was not the case at The Selfish Bull, however. The restaurant that overlooks Dubai’s iconic Marina waterway is nestled among other dining establishments in the trendy Bluewaters Island. Stepping into the restaurant with its open-faced wood-fire grill, there is immediately a feel of warmth. It’s a small, intimate space, which adds to the feeling that you’ve stepped into one of those well-established off-the-beaten-path places that everybody in town can’t stop talking about.
The restaurant’s re-vamp offers The Selfish Bull that Dubai’s diners have loved for years, but they’ve turned up the heat. To start, we had baked camembert with truffles that was served with bread. Being the cheese lover I am, I was ready to fill up on cheese and call it a day, but I knew there was more in store. The starter was a simple classic, yet it set the right tone for the rest of the meal.
Next up was the salad, half a head of iceberg lettuce with pistachio dressing, cherry tomatoes, and topped with corn to share. For our mains, we had the NY Strip and the veal chop, where again, simplicity was name of the game. Served with a choice of sauce – the mushroom and peppercorn were both solid pairings – and French fries, the no-frills plating was just what I want from a steak place.
The flavour and tenderness of the beef spoke for itself. And the first bite sent me back to the Sunday afternoon on the farm, but I quickly remembered that I was in Dubai when I glanced up from our table to look out at the Dubai Marina skyline.
If beef isn’t your favourite, they have fresh seafood on the menu as well, and we watched a couple pick out the lobsters they wanted from the tank behind us. For our part, my friend and I found ourselves watching the crabs walk around their tanks as we chatted over our dessert and sipped our glasses. Dessert followed the same trend of simplicity with a moist brownie served in a small cast iron skillet with a scoop of vanilla ice cream – a true classic. We also tried the strawberry cheesecake, which also sent me back to mom’s table in Kansas. Cheesecake, I’ve found, is a hard thing to get right in this part of the world, but The Selfish Bull did it well.
The food is reason enough alone to make a trip back to The Selfish Bull, but the staff were the proverbial cherry on the top. Our waiter was attentive and happy to make some light chit chat but wasn’t overbearing, and always appeared at the right moment to guide us through our meal or top of our glasses.
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