If ain’t broke, don’t fix it – right? But you have to admit that a few clever tweaks and exciting additions are always a welcome bonus. Well, this is the PLAY mantra when it comes to their award-winning menu, which just got a tasty little facelift.
Keeping the signature favourites firmly in place, PLAY’s new menu, which launched last month welcomes new dishes including Wagyu Truffle Carbonara Barrel, Butter Chicken Gyoza and Blue Fin Tuna Tartar to join best sellers such as the Crispy Duck salad, Mushroom Risotto Barrel and all-time favourite the Pita Surprise. Other newbies include the Popcorn Chicken, an array of classic and custom Nigiri as well as Tiger Prawns in an aromatic Green Curry.
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New sweet offerings like the beautiful white chocolate ‘Mango Coconut’ cake and decadent 64% Manjari ‘Chocolate Bar’ dessert take pride of place next to the irresistible original masterpiece: the ‘Sneaker Bar’ which is still stunningly accompanied by deliciously crunchy caramelised pistachios and soft flavour-filled pistachio ice cream.
About Play
Play Restaurant & Lounge is as famed for it’s stylish and playful atmosphere, as it is for it’s ingenious and inventive culinary creations, and the new additions to the menu are in perfect harmony with that excellence.
Situated on the 36th floor of Dubai’s popular H Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road, PLAY seats 200 guests in it’s restaurant and lounge. The experimental and playful eatery is contemporary both in it’s menu and interior and is a popular destination for a vibrant crowd who are looking for culinary delights and a fun atmosphere. With live entertainment and stunning panoramic views of Downtown Dubai, Play is open Saturday to Wednesday from 6pm to 2am and on Thursday and Friday from 6pm to 3am.
Our visit
Blogliterati.com stopped by at this gorgeous resto lounge at H Hotel and the team enjoyed every bit of the time spent there. Service was impeccable and every single dish served that night had a Wow! Factor. Dishes with a creative twist is how the food at Play could be defined.
What we tried
Sharing menu
Japanese Ceasar Salad – Steamed and smoked salt. Some liquid nitrogen magic turned the regular salad into an extraordinary cold salad with varying levels of taste – a complete feast for the tastebuds and different from anything we tried before.
Tuna Tartar – White Soy, avacado, corn tortilla – lip-smacking starter that had us craving for more
Butter Chicken Gyoza– a dumpling packed with buttery goodness of chicken and greek yoghurt.
Wagyu Bao Cheeseburger – a 60 gram wagyu burger with tantalizing truffle sauce and edam cheese. The dish was delicately light and scrumptious.
We also tried Wagyu fillet, Black cod, mushrooms and popcorn chicken. Though each of these dishes tasted delicious, popcorn chicken was our team’s favourite. In the first look it seemed like popcorn with something powdered over it, but when you taste, its a delightful twist of chicken popcorn. 5/5 for this dish!
In the sushi selection, we tried Orange salmon, Tuna akami, Wagyu temaki, and Soft shell crab maki. We also enjoyed Beef Katsu, Broccolini and Asparagus. Each of them were standout.
In desserts we tried the Play chocolate bar and mango coconut. Play choco bar was pure dark chocolate goodness with a dash of vanilla ice cream – a perfect combination of vanilla to neutralize the strong flavour of dark chocolate.
What the Chef says
“We have continued with the fun ethos of what makes PLAY what it is and built on that by introducing a few new things,” notes Head Chef Santiago. “Rather than a brand new menu, we’ve evolved and enhanced the current one. We’ve moved it forward; keeping the classics that we love and everyone keeps coming back for and added more, so you can fall in love with PLAY all over again.
“One of my favourites is the Chicken Gyoza,” He continues. “We cook a classic butter chicken and then make it into gyoza with butter chicken sauce and a little bit of yoghurt – it’s amazing! We’ve also added Grilled Octopus as there was no octopus on the menu. I’m from Spain, so I love it. It’s served with a warm potato salad, pomegranate, olives and coriander aioli.”
“We’ve introduced a delicious Beef Rice,” shares Chef Santiago Guerrero. “It’s a play on a paella, again inspired by my Spanish heritage. It’s a creamy rice without having to add butter or cream, we just leave it a little wet to give it a similar consistency to risotto without having to add fat. It’s served with slow-stewed Angus beef cheek, cooked for about eight hours; we braise it in the oven and then use that sauce to build the rice on.”