Love of food in the air for Valentine’s Day at GQ Bar in Dubai

GQ restaurant at JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai. Courtesy GQ restaurant

With romance in the air last Valentine’s weekend, we headed down to GQ Bar in The Marriot Marquis Hotel to check out their special Valentine’s menu.

I think for a long time I’ve subconsciously avoided Valentine’s nights out. It’s generally overbooked, overpriced, and full of couples who only go out one night a year, and seem to have nothing to say to each other when they do. Since having a child, however, my wife and I are probably on the way to becoming one of those couples, so with baby sitter in place and table booked we took the plunge, and I have to say that, on what can often be one of the most over-rated nights of the year, we went home thoroughly satisified.

The venue’s a pretty plush affir, all polished wood and arty black and white photos paying homage to the style magazine from which it takes its name. And, thanks to its two levels, you can enjoy a tete a tete over dinner in the upstairs restaurant despite the pumping sounds in the downstairs bar.

Our five-course Valentine’s set menu opened with scallops with fresh pomegranate, before moving onto a tasty soup – asparagus with parmesan cheese for me, while the wife opted for an appropriately Valentine-hued, deep red, beetroot number. Next up, a seafood risotto was moist and tasty, and stuffed with juicy prawns, tender calamari and flakey white fish.

The main was a gorgeous Beef Wellington – tender beef fillet, fois gras and mushrooms wrapped in a deliciously light and fluffy French pastry topped in its own juices infused with berries. This was the definite winning course in a very strong field for both of us, and I hope it doesn’t sound too disrespectful to the other excellent ingredients when I say that the ground salt that topped the dish off was some of the nicest I’ve ever tasted. They say little things please little minds...

Finally, desert brought us back to the Valentine colour scheme with a berry pavlova. Juicy strawberries and raspberries surrounded by light, vanilla-tinged meringue, fresh cream and ice cream. The desert would have been fine as a sharer, but we’d enjoyed the rest of the meal so much we opted for one each. It’s only once a year, after all.

The package was great value too, with options starting at just 180 AED including soft drinks, and rising through five package options including the venue’s signature cocktails and fizz to a maximum 700 AED.

The bad news? The package was only available for Valentine’s weekend. The good news is that GQ’s a la carte menu is available all year round, and COO Ghazi Azzabi assured us that some of the most succesful dishes from the Valentine’s package will be making their way onto a soon-to-be revamped menu. If he misses the chance to move that Beef Wellington onto the general menu, I’ll be paying him a visit.