Wow, wow and more wow.

I had done extensive pre-holiday restaurant research and Qbara quickly secured a spot on my ‘must eat here’ list. When I told Mr.N that the restaurant was in the Wafi Mall opposite the Raffles hotel (it looks like a really cool pyramid), he was understandably baffled. In the UK, when you think of a restaurant in a shopping mall, you might think Aunty Betty’s Baked Spuds tucked away in some desolate grim food court on the 5th floor. No? Ok, maybe that’s just Crawley. In Dubai, however, some of its most gastronomic delights are hidden inside malls.

Having just sat in peak Dubai traffic where in 35 minutes we had barely moved a mile, we were both getting frustrated and hangry (hungry+angry=hangry). Finally, we made it in the knick of time for our 7pm reservation and were welcomed to an immediate sense of tranquillity. The beautiful interior and ambience struck me as a sultry fusion between Gilgamesh and Hakkasan- dark, sexy and sleek. It is Tokyo-based interior designer, Noriyoshi Muramatsu whose vision of an enchanted vernacular of traditional Middle Eastern culture juxtaposed with ultra-contemporary design breathes life into Qbara’s breath-taking design. The chic bar is set against the central architectural feature, a 10 metre tall authentic Islamic hand-carved patchwork timber panel wall which through canny projection lighting creates some spectacular visual effects.

Qbara’s culinary concept is exquisite Middle Eastern, Moroccan and Levant inspired dishes with a modern twist and a welcome addition to Dubai’s growing sophisticated dining scene. Mr.N has a preference for tapas style meals rather than big hearty meals so he was right in his element when it came to ordering.

To start, we ordered the traditional fattoush salad laden with avocados, pomegranates and watermelon. From the raw menu we had the yellow fin tuna tartare served with eggplant mutabbal, kimchi and rice chips. In the hot small dishes menu, we couldn’t forego the seared scallops with sumac and sweet pomegranate onions peppered with rose salt, these juicy and meaty scallops were mouthfuls of seafood heaven. We also couldn’t resist the chargrilled octopus garnished with green chili zhug and smoked potato foam. Mr.N had fallen head over heels in love by this point. Do you remember on my last blog where I wrote about having a party in my mouth? Well, this was a hard core 6am, champagne popping, head spinning, non-stop dancing rave!

In upmarket restaurants, general etiquette is to take your time, really savour each and every flavour and do that whole weird and pretentious wine glass circular hand motion thing. Mr.N and I decided to screw protocols and unashamedly hoovered our dishes down in minutes. Our supremely attentive and radiant waiter, Ashraf, seemed shocked yet impressed at the speed of our devouring. We went on to the fat duck “harra” chips topped with red chilli and indigenous spices served with garlic aioli. From the Mashawi grill, the spicy grilled lamb cutlets were insanely tasty, perfectly charred and tender to the bone. Our main course was buttery black cod sat on a bed of fragrant spiced rice. My only and I mean ONLY and very minor criticism of our meal was that the pungent cardamom overpowered what was otherwise a delicious rice dish.

We were both stuffed but happy stuffed, grinning like fat Cheshire cats from ear to ear, we couldn’t stop going on about how amazing our meal had been. If I’m honest I could have stopped there but Mr.N, now utterly besotted with the restaurant, was adamant we try a dessert. We went for the oud pistachio and cherry with manjari chocolate mousse, cherry spiced compote with cherry almond ice cream. Ashraf brought out the beautifully presented dessert with ‘Happy Honeymoon’ decorated on the roof of the plate. Duh, of course I was going to tell them it was our honeymoon, even if it was part 2, and this time I wasn’t even fibbing!

It was a perfect end to a perfect evening. It’s a good job that I don’t live in Dubai because honestly, I would be here all the time which would be bad for my waistline and worse still for my bank account! I had never seen Mr.N so happy after a meal, for him the stylish décor coupled with such fantastic authentic food was bang on the mark.

If you live in or are just visiting Dubai and want to go somewhere glamorous to have a few cocktails and enjoy Middle Eastern cuisine, you must try this place and I promise you will have a true Arabian night to remember.

Food: 10/10 Atmosphere: 10/10 Value: 9/10

If this restaurant were a fictional characte it would be…Princess Jasmine, Aladdin- royally beautiful and sought after but not afraid to break free of expected tradition.