Is it art, is it a street show, is it dinner theatre? How about everything, all at once, with a side of food? Miss Tess, a vibrant new restaurant in Business Bay that officially opens next week, does its best to defy categorisation, with a premium dining concept recreated from the Asia’s night markets.
You read that right. We must be so far removed from real life in this wonderfully shiny bubble that is the crux of first-world life that a set of restaurant impresarios believe we want to recreate the atmosphere of the street from within our carefully arranged lives.
And shockingly, they’re right. After all, elevating street food works for a phalanx of fine dining restaurants and Michelin-brushed chefs, so why shouldn’t it work in the mid-market space? Gulf News tabloid! dives into the experience that is Miss Tess ahead of the official opening next week.
As we take our seats at the Taj Dubai venue, a pair of Super Mario twins ride by on an electric bicycle, stopping suddenly to settle their differences in a slapstick routine. Over the course of the evening, an assortment of acts, all Asian, interrupt our conversation: a breakdancer spinning on his head, a karate champion breaking boards with his hand, a samurai warrior taking on an adversary in a dance battle. In between, a mobile bartender offers to fix us a drink — while our waitress, who introduces herself as Mary Anne, Trainer of Dragons, prods and jokes and spoils us. Around the room, people break out into laughter time and again. “I like the silliness of it,” one diner tells me.
Aleix Garcia, head of operations at Infini Concepts |
In here and right this minute, the Asian-style slapstick send-up appears to be having a mini-revival. Maybe it’s just an escape, for a night, from thoughts of paying school fees, the rent, the economy, the office. “We just want people to come here and have a good time, without a big bill at the end of the night,” says Aleix Garcia, head of operations at Infini Concepts, which created the concept. He and his colleague David Lescarret, have worked on several concepts across Dubai, including Flavio Briatore’s Billionaire Mansion in the same hotel.
SOUL IN THE CITY
Certainly Asian restaurants are trending right now. Miss Tess is among a clutch of new Far Eastern eateries to open in Dubai recently, including Miss Wang, Mr Miyagi’s and Maiden Shanghai. If all appear to be named after personalities, as if they were following a seasonal forecast, Miss Tess goes furthest in attempting to bring the character alive. A real-life Miss Tess — general manager Tomoko Kim, who’s part Japanese and part Korean — runs the front of house, doubling up as maitre d’, overseeing the performances, assessing food quality and most important, schmoozing with diners.
Resplendent in a silk kimono, she joins Gulf News tabloid! at our table, suggesting menu items (see box) and doing her best to put us at ease. “I want to make sure everything is authentic,” she says. “I want to bring a little soul to the city.”
She’s only been here two and a half months, about as long as the restaurant has been in the planning. (Already she’s found out things about Dubai long-time residents don’t know — she lives in a spiritual community in Jumeirah, for instance!)
“We proposed the concept in April and signed the contract in May,” Garcia continues. (At four months, this could be one of the fastest turnarounds in Dubai restaurant history.)
Infini were approached to overhaul the venue earlier this year — but only over dinner. By day, the same space houses Tesoro, the hotel’s staid all-day multi-cuisine restaurant. “Whatever concept we came up with had to allow Tesoro to operate for breakfast and lunch, since the hotel has no other international dining restaurant,” he says.
Clever lighting, sliding panels and some cool props, and they’re able to effect a radical transformation into raucous market-style eatery each evening. “It takes about 25 minutes,” Garcia asserts. Being sited in a double-duty venue partly explains the emphasis on the entertainment.
Though Tesoro regulars will notice several new additions, such as a DJ booth, a PacMan arcade game, and the odd Asian-themed wall mural, the biggest challenge was back of house. Three restaurants operate from the same kitchen, including the Treehouse and pool bars. “We had to find space for staff of all three to operate side by side,” Garcia says. “Plus, Asian food requires special equipment, such as wok burners, so we had to refit the kitchen substantially.”
Whether the slightly kitsch concept finds traction remains to be seen. Across the city, the curtain has fallen on other places that tried to feed the mind and the stomach at the same time — although nightclubs in particular appear to be able to make the marriage work. In restaurants, however, a band or a pianist might soothe the tedium of yet another meal, but offer us any more than a little light music and we’ll depart post-haste.
In that respect, Miss Tess is a brave venture. Going by my own experience, it may even work — I walked in weary, angry, out of sorts after an overly taxing day at the office. By the time we left, I was in much better humour, having been diverted away from my frustrations. Either way, Miss Tess certainly has her work cut out for her.
Wok’s the experience at Miss Tess?
We’ve come to expect street food on menus at posh hotels, but to find an entire restaurant dedicated to the concept takes some getting used to. Luckily, Miss Tess has enough room on the third floor of the Taj Dubai to recreate the atmosphere of Asia’s night markets — but in an air-conditioned environment with tableside service, the entire idea takes a little getting used to, as we found out when invited to a preview a few days ago.
As one might expect, the menu features classics from Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Korea, and from Indonesia, Nasi Goreng. Several foods that are truly synonymous with the street are missing — there’s no chilli crab, or pho, or Hainan chicken rice, while the Malay and Singaporean kitchens have seem to have been entirely forgotten (although thankfully for many queasy stomachs, there are no deep-fried beetles either). Given the level of detail that has gone into the floor shows and decor, a little more attention could have been paid to the food — although the restaurant has barely opened, so it needs a little time to find its feet.
Nevertheless, there’s so much on offer, it can be hard to make a choice from the extensive menus, which are printed on fans. A range of satays competes with a wide selection of sushi and sashimi for our attention. Expect to find pad thai and kuay teow among the noodles, tom yum, tom kha and miso soup, as well as go-to choices such as bibimbap, massaman curry and spring rolls.
We ordered a selection of starters and one main course (with all the attention and distractions and recommendations, it was hard to truly focus on the menu — but given the standard of service in Dubai perhaps we shouldn’t complain about that!). The standouts were a selection of sashimi from the chef (beautifully sliced and served rolled up on a bed of ice), and a nicely balanced mild avocado, salmon and crabstick salad — which although advertised as spicy, was thankfully nothing of the sort.
A “Mystic” broccoli and beef with cashews, in the Kung Pao style, was an excellent main course, with the tender beef a pleasant contrast against the roasted nuts, the whole pairing well with the recommended steamed rice. Off the desert menu, several items were off limits for a gluten-free diner, but I’d recommend the creamy coconut ice-cream (sadly there was no teh tarik to round things out).
Our verdict? Wah, as they say in Hong Kong.
Yin Yang Shrimp Tempura recipe
Portions 1
Preparation time 8 mins
INGREDIENTS
Prawn 16/20, 14 grams
White cabbage (optional), 60 grams
Wasabi powder, 20 grams
Mayonnaise, 100 grams
Sakura mix, 1 gram
Tempura batter, 20 grams
Cucumber, 50 grams
Sweet chili sauce, 1 gram
Ground ginger pickle, 20 grams
Chili powder, 2 grams
Fine salt, 2 grams
White pepper powder, 2 grams
Sriracha sauce, 50 grams
Coriander, 1 gram
White sugar, 5 grams
Mango, 30 grams
Method
Yin
• Mango Salsa — Mix sweet chili sauce with mango
• Sauce — Mix wasabi with water, mayonnaise, salt, sugar and ground ginger
pickle
• Marinate half portion of prawn with salt and pepper and tempura batter
• Deep fry until crispy
• Mix prawn with sauce and place spoonsful on a platter, top with mango salsa
Yang
• Sauce — Mix mayonnaise with sriracha sauce, sweet chili sauce, garlic, salt, sugar and chili powder
• Marinate half portion of prawn with salt and pepper and tempura batter
Deep fry until crispy
• Mix prawn with sauce and place spoon full on a platter and top with sakura mix and coriander
• White cabbage can be used as garnish for the dish
Description:
A balance of sweet and spicy, hot and cool, crispy and smooth. This signature dish is a combination of shrimp tempura prepared two ways with sriracha spicy mayo and creamy wasabi, topped with a mango salsa
