La Nina review: Jazzed-up chicken wings meet Iberian fine dining in Dubai

Traditional flavours, hearty cooking and inventive refinement take centre stage at La Nina. With a little help from Michelin-starred Tasca , the restaurant is putting Iberian-Latin cuisine on Dubai’s food map . La Nina opened in ICD Brookfield Place, the DIFC, last year and, with executive chef Tim Newton at the helm, excitable whispers have been bubbling away. And though it's pulling in a dressed-up crowd, the food is supposed to be anything but. After hearing about the “seriously good” chicken wings (“What? At a fine-dining restaurant?”) on the grapevine, I joined the revolving door of diners and paid a visit. La Nina is grand. It has a triple-height indoor space with imposing Iberian finishings, such as the distressed-style mirrors behind the L-shaped bar, baroque chandeliers, intricately carved dark wood details around the bar and restaurant and circular booths with deep scarlet velvet backing. The bar itself has dozens of wax candles burning at one end and a 10-metre wooden ship mast at the other, with sails to match. By day, light pours into the space and the smartly furnished outdoor terrace is simply delightful. By night, the lights are dimmed and the moody nautical theme continues with the royal blue and white tiling, which has been painted with stormy waves and wooden galleons cutting through the high seas. It’s like I’ve taken a wrong turn in the DIFC and ended up in a creaking dining hall in Lisbon's cobbled backstreets. But I’m all on board, so I strap in and set sail across the ocean of flavours chefs are exploring on the menu. La Nina’s menu changes regularly – varying between a business, afternoon and evening menu, as well as a weekend brunch. During our evening visit, our waiter Tommy – charming, chipper and cheery about all things Portugal – rattles off both his and his customers’ favourites. “I love everything on the menu,” he says proudly. Customers, meanwhile, gravitate towards dishes jazzed up with familiar ingredients found in Dubai – for example, the albondigas (meatballs) are made from Wagyu beef ; the coca de trufa, a warm tart with Mahon cheese and fig, is elevated by truffle ; and the braised lamb for mains is, well, self-explanatory. For my dining partner and I, it’s all about rolling with La Nina’s recommendations and in Tommy we trust. He eases us in with freshly baked bread – warm, soft and dripping in chilli butter – and olives as big as melons, before bringing out little baby gem lettuce cups stacked with pops of roasted corn, tomato cubes, pumpkin seeds and cheese. It’s simple, clean and deft cooking. “Oh! You have to try the cod fritters,” Tommy declares while gliding past with a grin from ear to ear. Before I can hurl back an: “Oh! Go on then,” he’s out with the perfectly spherical bites. Cod fritters are about as Portuguese as Cristiano Ronaldo – and I’m ready to smash home a hat-trick. They’re potato croquettes filled with salty white fish, which have been deep-fried and placed on a bed of peri-peri aioli (yes, it’s not just a Nando’s sauce). We’re also given the heralded chicken wings – more on them later – to round off the starters. For mains, on Tommy’s word of course , we’re served seabass with a lobster, fennel and orange sauce, as well as 48-hour braised oxtail . The former has been filleted, deboned and stuffed with a ratatouille-style middle. There are no foams, no smoke and mirrors that are all a bit “cheffy” showboating, just good, honest cooking and some clever culinary wizardry by complementing the lobster with orange. Pretentiousness of gastronomic proportions is not only for cooks, though, with food critics equally guilty of trying too hard. For once, however, my deeply flawed creative writing comes into its own … because the oxtail really does melt in the mouth. It’s like candyfloss, but not for vegans. Or children for that matter, these are big grown-up flavours and tender forkfuls that I’d cross the Mediterranean for another serving of. It’s tough, given the execution of the oxtail, but the wings stuffed with prawn and chorizo are a winner. The middle smacks of Chinese prawn siu mai dumplings, but it’s encased in sticky barbecue-style wings that can be eaten with a knife and fork because there’s no bone. But, even though this is fine dining, I dive straight in with my hands – I'm not here for showy fun, after all. Newton himself, who met Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed at the restaurant in January, has been crossing oceans as part of his kitchen career – leaving his native California for roles in London, Paris and Sydney. Despite his far-reaching worldview, his style is simple. “I'm all about showcasing the beauty of each individual ingredient,” he tells me. “I believe in letting the flavours speak for themselves, without any fancy tricks or manipulation. “Freshness is key for me. I always strive to work with the freshest ingredients I can find, and that's exactly how I've incorporated them into this menu.” With that in mind, he picks four of his favourite dishes – for vegetarians he recommends the aforementioned coca de trufa; the Chuleton steak for carnivores; the radaballo, a 1.2kg turbot, for fans of seafood; and the tarta La Nina, a 10-layer cake, to rounds things off for dessert. On the a la carte menu, starters range from Dh18 to Dh395 ($4.90 to $107), individual mains range from Dh110 to Dh495 and desserts range from Dh40 to Dh295. La Nina is open from noon-1am from Sunday to Thursday, and noon-2am on Friday and Saturday. Reservations can be made at laninarestaurant.com . This review was conducted at the invitation of the restaurant

La Nina review: Jazzed-up chicken wings meet Iberian fine dining in Dubai

There's no 'cheffy' showboating, just proper cooking with slow-braised oxtail worth crossing oceans for