Does Dubai’s most talked-about supper club live up to the hype?
Come to Satwa, they said. The food’s delicious, they said. Parking my car in an industrial-sized litter box was the first sign that tonight would not be business as usual.
“How did I end up here?” I ask, crunching my way towards Moonrise, the latest tasting menu on people’s lips. Yes, Moonrise sets social media aflame so, like moths, we float towards Eden House, Satwa’s modern skyrise tower, to munch on a “multi-course omakase experience”.
Young Chef Solemann Haddad first caught my attention with the short-lived, much-hyped Warehouse 16. Moonrise is his latest incarnation: an intimate dining space with envious skyline views and high, bar-like seating.
Eight courses with seating for just eight guests encourages just two sittings per night, priced at AED 475 per head. Rescheduling dinner within five days of your booking only costs AED 250. Wait, what was that last bit?!
The ‘Japanese-but-not-really’ omakase menu changes regularly. Moonrise cannot accommodate dietary restrictions. Essentially, you get what you get. Imagine the love-child of Orfali Bros Bistronomy and Reif Japanese Kushiyaki that wants to grow up to be Tresind Studio but still has some way to go.
Certain dishes delight, hinting of a promising future. After three courses, the lacto–fattoush hamachi ceviche – inspired by a fattoush salad’s tangy dressing – is the most balanced dish. It shows Moonrise wields acid without overpowering. Chilled hamachi slabs wallow in verdant pools of fattoush dressing and shisho oils. Aromatic and delicately spiced, a woody, herbaceous warmth rises through judiciously-used za’atar.
Moonrise’s breakfast cereal is a nostalgic return to childhood. A bowl of malty, crispy bits luxuriously sweetened with dulce de leche and white chocolate. A tribute to anyone who knows that cereal-rich milk was always the best bit. A more whimsical version begs to be realised.
Moonrise’s A5 wagyu tsukune playfully shows caviar’s salinity amplifies fatty wagyu steeped in a broth of black truffle ponzu and yuzu kosho oil. Still, an umami-richness is missing.
At this point, you are wondering whether a raw tuna salad, an upmarket meatball and a bowl of cereal justifies a 500 dirham night out.
Moonrise’s tasting menu is a random collection of chefs’ ambitions and dinner is a cat and mouse game of youthful exuberance stifled. Moonrise’s passion to achieve – stoked by a rebellious spirit – means some courses are unfocused. There is a lot going on at Moonrise, some clear technical accomplishments, but it meaders.
A foie gras puri is overpowered by tooth-chatteringly sweet dates and a pineapple chutney overtaken by a gunshot of Sichuan chilli. These sweet starters are followed by a savoury black sesame hummus lawned with crispy za’atar furikake reminiscent of a winter forest. The seared steak tartare over sourdough rides with an extraneous black lime creme fraiche sidecar that feels more third wheel.
Moonrise’s menu flow needs work. Bouncing between sweet to savoury to acidic to savoury to sweet may only offend delicate, haughty restaurant critics (hi, that’s me!). I concede most diners will blithely disregard such pedantry.
However, Moonrise’s lofty aspirations mean how it delivers is as important as what it delivers. At these heights, the details count. Moonrise just needs a little more time.
Who should go to Moonrise? Tasting menu chasers, gastrohunters curious if this is the next big thing.
DSCVR: Moonrise is open daily from 7.30pm to 11.30pm. Eden House, Satwa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, (050 697 2946). @moonrise.xyz
