We are what we eat. So, it doesn’t take Einesteinien wisdom to understand that anything we ingest into our bodies can have positive, as well as negative impact on the body. In our super fast paced metro life in Dubai, we hardly find time to stand and stare, leave alone take time to cook healthy and nutritious meals at home, everyday. Most of the time we rely on fast food (read junk food) or food on the go, and this is resulting in a lot of gluten and carbohydrate intake, which is slowly leading us to illnesses related to the heart and stomach.
Perhaps, this is why health conscious people world over are taking the organic route and consuming more organic food now, than any other time in history. Going organic is not a temporary fix, but rather a complete change of lifestyle, so saying it is not that easy. And the paucity of restaurants that serve organic food add to the challenge.
Willingness to eat healthy food must be supported by easy availability of such dietary options when / where people need it. On that end, I’m really happy to note that a few restaurateurs here in Dubai are steering their boats in the right direction. The promoters of Wolf & Friends Lounge are one of them. They started this restaurant with the main aim of serving tasty, but nutritious & healthy food. From what we saw, they are already going slow, but steadily on the road to achieving their dream – the dream of making Wolf & Friends the healthiest restaurant in Dubai and the World.
The Restaurant
Wolf & Friends is an restaurant that serves gluten-free food, prepared with fresh ingredients from their own garden and served with love, straight out of their brick oven. They don’t believe in artificial ingredients or processed canned food, and even the water that goes into the preparation of dishes is in its purest form, purified by their own filtration systems.
This quirky restaurant in Jumairah Lake Towers is full of surprises. For, where else in Dubai can you find Escargot (Snail meat) served as a delicacy?! That’s not all, W&FL prepares most (if not all) of its dishes using fresh herbs and veggies produced in their own little kitchen garden. Even their sauces and breads are home made. We managed to spot basil, capsicum, aloe vera, mint, cherry tomatoes, and a host of other herbs and vegetables in their mini gardenette just outside the restaurant.
Wolf & Friends has a very interesting menu with loads of choice for vegetarians, non-vegetarians and vegans. Just flipping through the menu brought a twinkle on my dining partners eyes, who is a pure vegetarian, by choice. The W&FL menu was exhaustive and well-thought out, serving all tastes and dining preferences.
Here’s what we had
For starters we had Tom Yum Salmon Soup and Lentil Soup.
The Tom Yum soup was creamy, rich in color, flavor and tasty. It contained big chunks of perfectly cooked and seasoned salmon in it. Lentil soup was quite good too.
For appetizers we tried two of their signature dishes – Mayla Shrimps and Baked Snails. Peppered with a dash of turmeric and flavorful garlic, the shrimps were crunchy and delicious.
The Snail dish came on a platter with 6 French snails baked in home grown herbs and butter. I was trying escargot for the first time so I neither loved it nor hated it. It probably takes a while to acquire the taste, I suppose!
For the Main Course we tried Espetada Grill and Veggie burger.
The Espetada grill included grilled salmon, chicken, beef and shrimps served piping hot on a metal skewer. The meat was grilled to perfection and was served along lip-smacking W&FL home made dips and French fries. Shrimps were jumbo size, fresh, luscious and extremely tasty. The salmon and chicken cubes were well-cooked too, and tasted good.
For the veggie burger, my dining partner went with homemade Beetroot bun with vegetable patty. The bun was deep red in colour and had a character of its own. It was really unique and over all the burger tasted great.
For Desserts we tried Banana Nutella Pistachio Pizza and Home-made mini Apple Pie Bites.
Banana Nutella Pizza came topped with finely cut banana pieces placed over a bed of nutella and peppered with finely powdered pistachios. It tasted very good.
But we personally loved the home-made Apple Pie Bites. It was as good as mama made it.
The Ambiance
The seating is good and the restaurant has both indoor and al fresco dining options. Since space outside is limited to three or four tables, it helps to do advanced booking if you’d like to enjoy the beautiful weather and be seated outside amidst all the greenery in their organic garden.
The Service
The waiters were very friendly, attentive and served with a smile.
The Verdict
If you want to savor healthy and delicious food, as pure and fresh as made at home, this place is highly recommended.
Footnote
Unlike in other restaurants, preparation of dishes here could take a good 45 minutes as they prepare everything fresh and from the scratch using their own home made ingredients.
Ratings
Food: 4/5
Value: 4/5
Ambiance: 3/5
Décor: 2/5
Service: 4/5
Overall Rating: 7
IF YOU’RE GOING…
Where: Shop 8, Gold Crest Tower, JLT Cluster C, Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT), Dubai
Hours: 11 AM to 11:30 PM all week
Atmosphere: Green kitchen garden, simple decor, interesting artifacts & souvenirs
Parking:
Prices: AED 180 for two people (approx.)
Credit cards: All major credit cards accepted
Sound level:
Wheelchair access:
Beverage service: No alcohol available
Service: Good
Recommended: Mayla shrimps, Espetada grill, Veggie burger
Reservations: 04 5540840
Website: http://wfl.ae/
Facebook :https://www.facebook.com/WF.LOUNGE/
Email: info@wfl.ae