At.mosphere restaurant, Dubai

Exactly a year ago, I wrote about the opening of the world’s highest restaurant, the absurdly-spelt At.mosphere located on the 122rd floor of the Burj Khalifa – the world’s tallest building, just in case you’re impervious to shameless marketing.

Yes, what was originally to be called the Burj Dubai has featured heavily in recent promotions surrounding the latest Tom Cruise action flick Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol, since some so-called death-defying stunts were filmed with Mr Cruise hanging off the top of the tower for some inexplicable reason.

The production company probably didn’t have any financial incentive whatsoever that influenced their decision to incorporate this building into the plot in some way.

The tower itself cost over £1 billion and had its name changed after Abu Dhabi’s President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan came to the aid of Dubai, when it was hit by the global financial crisis. Naturally, this assistance came with quite a few conditions and one of those was that the world’s tallest building be instead named after the Sheikh who had just bailed it out.

But back to the restaurant. The menu hasn’t changed very much in the 12 months that it’s been open and one of the first things you’ll notice is that the sky-high view is matched only by the equally sky-high prices.

Grill bookings are subject to a minimum spend of AED350 (£60) per person for lunch and AED500 (£87) per person for dinner. But trust us when we say you won’t have any problem with this.

The décor inside is tastefully designed with a glass and mahogany theme in both the lounge and grill and just over 200 covers in total. However, actually getting to the restaurant requires a titanic effort.

Like much of the Dubai, the surrounding area is still something of a construction site. That, coupled with the city’s signature badly-signposted tangled mess of freeways and flyovers that whisk you miles away in the opposite direction should you accidentally take a wrong turn, make actually getting to the Burj Khalifa extremely frustrating.

It doesn’t end there. Once you’ve actually parked – more than likely in one of the many neighbouring hotels – you still have to get to the actual building. One must first walk through the Downtown district to the Dubai Mall, then through the Mall, then you’ll need to work your way through the crowds that have amassed to visit the observation deck…then you need to take a dedicated exit, then walk outside to the Armani Hotel entrance on the ground floor of the Burj Khalifa, then take a lift about two floors up and then you can finally get into an express elevator that will take you up to the 123rd floor, where you walk down a gentle winding stair case to arrive at the 122nd floor and the reception for the restaurant.

Once you’re finally sitting down…you can then pay £22 for a large gin and tonic.

The very best views, ultimately those that face North-West out across the Arabian Gulf, are reserved for private function rooms, otherwise the best view is the North-Eastern corner that overlooks the top end of Sheikh Zayad Road, the Dubai Creek, Port Rashid and Sharjah. Otherwise you’re just facing a lot of mostly empty desert.

The view South-West, looking back down the Sheikh Zayad Road towards Abu Dhabi and incorporating the Burj Al Arab and what’s left of the doomed World project is taken by the other side of the restaurant in the lounge area.

The website also stresses a dress code of “dinner jackets and smart jeans with closed shoes” for men and “semi-formal or cocktail dress” for ladies, but we saw none of this. Which was a shame. It basically translates to no shorts, no sandals. And no children under the age of 10, which one would expect in an establishment of such high reputed esteem.

The service was, for the most part, excellent. The headwaiter was French and the menu itself had undeniable French flavour to it.

The menu we chose from was titled the ‘winter menu’. The one that appeared on the website at this time was apparently the ‘autumn menu’. When we telephoned an official representative they got confused and confounded when we asked why the ‘autumn menu’ was on the website when the ‘winter’ one was actually in use and totally failed to explain this oversight. There is however, not a great of difference, with only about 25% of the selection actually changing.

Before any food was brought to the table we were served with some quite delicious home-made bread that actually tasted as though it was home-made and not some attempt at a substitute. This was accompanied by a small dish of organic, locally produced French butter and one of a garlic sauce of sorts, which was delicious, but quite strong.

To start we opted for the Soft Shell Crab, with Obsiblue prawn ceviche, mangosteen and “Thai flavours” and the Loch Fyne Scallops with white bean and seafood cassoulet and parsley ravioli.

The presentation of both was exceptional, the first bite is after all with the eye, so they say. But the Soft Shell Crab was dry, it looked tired and a little shriveled and it was sadly devoid of any real flavour. Consequently, the Obsiblue prawn ceviche was by far the dominant flavour, and one that not everyone will enjoy having expected something else. A little disappointing when this starter costs £30.

The Loch Fyne Scallops on the other hand were more enjoyable, although the name is slightly misleading, it should read “Scallop”. But the parsley ravioli was a pleasant taste sensation and the creamy white beans were also delicious. All the favours seemed to work well here in equal amounts, complementing each other, unlike the Soft Shell Crab.

We were dining at lunchtime, which for obvious reasons offers a slightly view than if you are eating at dinnertime. Depending on your preference, the view is equally breathtaking at night, as the sea of lights gently extends beneath you. But of course, it’s dark, so you have refection off the restaurant windows and it’s slightly trickier to make out some objects. But, the menu is exactly the same for both lunch and dinner. Again, we’d like to see more variety in the selection; especially for an establishment in the league that At.mosphere is attempting to place itself.

To accompany the prominent choice of seafood, we opted for champagne to drink, as one does. The wine list is quite respectable, with a good choice of European red and white wines. However, it is very expensive. The regular-sized bottles of champagne (one litre) are categorised into vintage and non-vintage, the cheapest being the Laurent Perrier Brut at £150 and the most expensive is a Krut vintage 1996 at £1,024. Magnums (1.5 litres) of selected brands are also available as are 3 litre bottles, which the menu calls “Double-Magnums”, since no one in the UAE probably knows what a Jeroboam is.

For main course, we opted for the Moroccan Spiced New Zealand Lamb, with couscous, mint yoghurt and harissa and the 850g Maine Lobster, with sautéed la ratte potato, frisee salad and black truffle.

Again, both were presented perfectly, the former was a little dry and seemed to lack any fall-off-the-bone, melt-in-you-mouth substance that one might have hoped for. The harissa should also come with a health warning. It’s very hot. So hot, that it will burn off your taste buds for the rest of the meal, which would be an awful waste of money. This dish was quite delicious, but one couldn’t help but feel robbed since you would hope for the prefect culinary creation to warrant such an extremely high price.

The lobster on the other hand, was pretty much faultless. The meat, from both the body and claws, was cooked perfectly, beautifully presented in the shell and full of flavour. A tiny jug of hot, melted butter also arrived with this dish, should you require it, but to be honest, the flavour of the lobster was just fine without.

However, the road to perfection continued to hit pot-holes as both main courses were served with a slither of potatoes that were slightly overcooked.

The quantities of each dish were well judged and one is left with a feeling of being pleasantly full at the end. So as the last of the champagne was enjoyed over idle conversation, the only thing left to be done was to order two espressos to finish off every flavour as delicately as possible.

This is probably one of the most expensive meals I’ve had, but it wasn’t the best. The exclusivity that this venue attempts to project is not matched by the quality. The attention to detail sadly lacks. To be brutally honest, I’ve enjoyed better food and a more polished service at establishments like Gary Rhodes’ flagship London restaurant Rhodes 24, the frankly awesome J. Sheekey’s, also in London and The Capital Grille in New York, with it’s monumental wine list.

The champagne refill was a little slow at times since the bottle wasn’t kept at the table and the waiter wasn’t awfully knowledgeable in where things were in terms of the view.

It’s also not a very big restaurant, which is actually rather nice since this adds an intimate feel to the venue. However, this reduction in size continues to the restroom; on the grill side there is only one, yes one, gentleman’s toilet cubicle and on the lounge side there are two. Nice and clean thought they were, this is a little shocking.

The grill area is non-smoking, but you can smoke at the bar in the lounge area. Another important note is that alcohol is not served between 4pm and 6pm, instead you can gently sup tea in the lounge area and enjoy a selection of sandwiches and sweets.

Would I eat there again, no. Once is enough and now it can be crossed off the Things To Do List. But then, that’s possibly the primary target audience of this restaurant. Another interesting little note is that the observation deck is only two floors above the restaurant. Granted you can get a complete 360° view from there, but if you don’t fancy jostling with the crowds and would prefer a more genteel experience, this is it. You don’t need to do both.

bottle of sparkling water…AED25
bottle of Laurent Perrier Brut champagne…AED860
Soft Shell Crab…AED180
Loch Fyne Scallops…AED180
Moroccan Spiced New Zealand Lamb…AED300
850g Maine lobster…AED495
espresso…AED30
double espresso…AED35
TOTAL…AED2105 (£365)

This article originally appeared on Travel Snitch