Best thing I ate at world's most luxurious hotel

Does a celebrity-created menu beat home cooking? It takes a trip to an extraordinary hotel to find out.

The story goes that back in Victorian times members of England’s ambitious middle class would rent a fresh pineapple to display in their home to show off when guests came to dine, so rare and expensive was the tropical fruit. 

It’s no surprise, then, that as you walk into Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at Dubai’s Atlantis the Royal, a big brass pineapple is displayed at the centre of the restaurant. A chatty waiter tells us that every half-hour, the outer layers of the pineapple open up and turn a mechanism inside the kitchen, which turns the rotisserie that is roasting the pineapples for dessert. Even before we’ve sat down, or looked at a menu, this restaurant impresses.

Dinner by Heston offers a journey through British gastronomic history, from the 1300s to the 1800s. The menu is complemented by a 5000-bottle wine cellar, the biggest in the region, with the most expensive a French red (a Romanée-Conti) going for 370,000 dirhams, or about $150,000. It hasn’t been ordered. Yet.

As you would expect from a Heston menu, the plate names offer a playful suggestion as to what it is. “Meat fruit” is a silky chicken-liver parfait in the shape of a mandarin with a hint of citrus that dates from 1500; “rice and flesh” is a saffron risotto with beef cheek that dates from 1390; and the signature dessert, “tipsy cake”, is a brioche-like treat dating from 1858. It’s doughy-soft on the inside, crackling with burnt sugar on the outside, and served with a thick spit-roasted caramelised pineapple slice.

Dinner by Heston offers a journey through British gastronomic history.

If you can manage it, order the nitrogen ice-cream trolley to your table. As he turns the crank on the custom-made, retro-looking stand mixer to swirl the liquid nitrogen around the creamy custard, the chatty waiter tells the story of Agnes B Marshall, a pioneering chef, much like Heston, who in the late 19th century introduced the novel idea of making ice-cream in seconds using liquid nitrogen. Mine is topped with tangy raspberry and yoghurt meringue that leaves my tongue zinging – in a good way.

Dinner by Heston is one of eight celebrity-chef restaurants at Atlantis the Royal and one of 11 across the Royal and its sister property, Atlantis the Palm, a kilometre down the man-made palm frond-shaped island known as Palm Jumeirah. Even with the opulent interiors, the VIP treatment and the unique location on the frond, it’s the dining experiences that really set the Atlantis properties apart from any other in the world.

The Royal’s breakfast buffet at Gastronomy – a giant indoor food market with separate rooms for cold meats and cheese, baked goods and fresh produce – makes you wonder where all the produce comes from. The hot desert landscape of the United Arab Emirates doesn’t inspire visions of bounty and you’d be forgiven for thinking the bulk of their produce is imported. Until recently, it was – up to 80 per cent of food was imported to the UAE. But innovative agriculture methods, such as vertical farms and the cultivation of resilient crops, are making the Arab nation more self-sufficient. This was evident during the pandemic, when Dubai and Abu Dhabi suffered no food shortages.

Atlantis strives to do its part by sourcing from local farmers – up to 100 locally sourced dishes are now available at its properties – and installing cutting-edge technology to reduce waste at the mammoth buffets. In the first four months after it was installed in May 2022, waste at Saffron buffet at the Palm dropped by 47 per cent.

Nobu by the Beach offers bite-sized portions from the main menu.

Following the magnificent breakfast, a lazy morning by the pool at the Royal is welcome. But soon enough, and despite vowing to never eat again, the Nobu by the Beach menu beckons. It offers bite-sized portions from the main menu at the Japanese-Peruvian Nobu restaurant at Atlantis the Palm. We order a selection: crisp rice squares topped with salmon sashimi and miso dust, umami chicken wings, dashi fries, chicken sliders and Caesar salad.

Time at both Atlantis hotels is marked by meals, and one evening it’s La Mar, the Peruvian restaurant of Peru native Gaston Acurio. As an Aussie-born Peruvian, I’m keen to see how Acurio goes up against my mum, who was renowned for her home cooking.

We arrive at La Mar via an all-glass lift with views of the impressive foyer, where a massive sculpture of splashing droplets takes centre stage. Soon, a Pisco Sour in hand, I await my ceviche starter. I’ve been to eateries that have added mango and other ingredients that don’t belong in the classic citrus-cured fish dish. Acurio’s is authentic – just white fish marinated in lemon-lime, Spanish onion, fresh chilli and coriander, with corn and sweet potato sides. Tick. Other classics also impress: lomo saltado, or stir-fried beef with hot chips, and anticuchos, marinated ox-heart kebabs. Tick. Tick. My verdict: Acurio is very good, but I’ll take a plate of my mum’s Peruvian cooking any day. It was never going to be a fair fight.

Our last full day in Dubai kicks off with breakfast in the Club Lounge (free for guests of the Club category of rooms), which serves what is arguably the best avocado toast I’ve ever tasted (perhaps the secret was in the truffle labneh).

I’m keen to see how Acurio goes up against my mum, who was renowned for her home cooking.

Aquaventure, the world’s largest water park, with 105 slides and set between the two properties, presents a chance to work off some of the past days’ indulgences. The tallest one of all, Odyssey of Terror, is as frightening as it sounds, not least because you have to climb what feels like 100 floors of stairs to get to the top. It’s easier to float down the River Rapids on an inflatable ring, or bob around Raging Rapids wearing a float vest. Like at most water parks, fast-food-type eateries are dotted around where you can stop in while dripping wet, but Wavehouse offers American-style fare, such as burgers and chicken wings and a bar, for something a little more civilised.

Back in my room, I spy a piece of fruit left by housekeeping, with a note that labels it a dekopon orange. I’m full but curious, so I peel what the note tells me is a large Japanese mandarin.

In the past few days, I’ve been wined and dined by some of the best chefs in the world, but that delicious – and free – citrus fruit comes close to being the best thing I’ve tasted at the resort.

The writer was a guest of Atlantis Dubai.

Originally published as Best thing I ate at world's most luxurious hotel