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What put us off going to Sumibiya in the first place was the fact that you’ve got to cook your own food.
And in luxury city, where anticipatory service is the norm, that’s a bit naff. But like most new concepts, to use a terrible pun, the proof is in the pudding.
But let’s save the meat till we’ve told you what it’s about. Sumibiya, as you might have guessed, is a Far Eastern concept all right. Designed to look like a cafeteria in an old Singaporean mall, the interior of the restaurant is standard noodle-house, only with chairs instead of benches. And right in the centre of the table is what will be the focus of attention: the grill that allows Daddy to impress the kids with burnt barbecued bits and bobs — veggies, meat, chicken, even fish.
Called Yakiniku, this is a Korean concept that comes to Dubai’s InterContinental Hotel by way of Japan. If you thought all those chaps were good for was raw fish, well, try yakiniku: literally, yaki means grilled, and niku means meat. Everything comes to the table either raw (the vegetables) or marinated (the meats and fish) and it’s up to you to finish it to your own satisfaction (or that of your guests). Clever thinking, this, on the part of the folk over at the InterCon: no more too-rare or not-rare-enough complaints to the chef!
We sat down to a mix of starters: a pod of fried garlic simmered in soy sauce, Iwa Nori (salted dried seaweed) and classic Kimchi or fermented pickled vegetables. The seaweed was interesting all right, crunchy and tasting of that savoury flavour so unique to Japanese food, what they call Umami, which is more often found in aji-no-moto. The garlic was lovely, soft and devoid of its bite, and perfectly spreadable — the only hassle was getting the cloves out of the their skins with our chopsticks. The Kimchi, meanwhile, was quite simply glorious. Nothing more than pickled cabbage, this one was the best we’d come across in ages, no tame, watered-down mash, but rather, with a zesty succulence of vinegar and chilli that excited the palate to want to write poetry. Rarely has this jaded reviewer come across anything quite so perfect. (Besides which, it’s good for your cholesterol!)
All too soon we had to move to our mains: Yaki Taku (octopus tentacles with Japanese chilli powder), Wagyu beef tenderloin, Kalbi (thin sliced ribs with a dipping sauce), a mixed seafood platter, and a Nasi Goreng-type bowl of fried rice, meat, egg and red beans all mixed together at the table (by our server).
This was where we pitted our cooking skills against each other, battling for culinary superiority across the table. The server recommended a minimum of 30 seconds on each side, and turning the pre-marinated meat only once so as to keep the juices within. After horror stories of people ending up with food that was either burnt or underdone, we simply followed instruction (quite rare, we agree, but this was in our own best interest), and turned out delicious, juicy morsels that owed their success more to the marinade than to any wrist-flipping skills. The octopus was what you might expect: rubbery, tasting of tentacles, and not for the faint-hearted (indeed, for those we’d recommend the Octopus Carpaccio at Prego’s, in Abu Dhabi’s Beach Rotana Hotel, but mixed in with this red chilli marinade). However, it did go surprisingly well with vodka. The Wagyu was superlative, as always — what massaged, beer-fed meat wouldn’t be — and the Kalbi was best when dipped into the peppery sauce it came with. From the seafood platter, the salmon took to the flame best. It was the rice that we raved about, though: who’da thunk that beans and eggs and chicken mix together so well?
With no place for dessert, we asked for a sampler — grilled rice cakes (for those that like rice pudding), green tea parfait (mild) and red bean crème brulée (nice twist) — and a platter of fruit to eat grilled with our ice cream (pineapple takes to flame best of all, and grilled strawberry is very intriguing).
Overall, then, this is nothing like Chinese food. If you must fix on a Far Eastern cliché, think Indonesian meets teppanyaki without the peanut sauce. Expect a mix of flavours from sweet to spicy to sour, spectacular aromas, and an insistent desire to return quite quickly.
(Sumibiya at the InterContinental Dubai, call +971-4-2057333; meal for two with drinks Dh350).
· Keith J Fernandez
