Finding a good restaurant is a little like a trusty pair of comfy shoes. Once you find it – you stick with it. And that often includes what you order from the menu. Determined to showcase the chef’s talents at 18 oz, the popular steakhouse is mixing up the food choices with a monthly menu change. Abu Dhabi Week dines just in time to sample the duck special.
As steakhouses go, 18 oz has an odd ambiance. The furnishings are too elegant to justify the cowboy-sized, rawhide menus and while the softly-lit room is arranged to accommodate plenty of intimate romantic nooks, the atmosphere is just shy of cosy. Perhaps it’s because the tables are too close together or the clang from the kitchen reaches even the furthest corners.
However, the off-kilter ambience doesn’t affect the food. The Caesar salad – with its long-cut, no-fuss crab legs and bite-y parmesan cheese – is one of the best in town and the scallops, though incongruously paired with other flavours, were cooked well and a great way to start the meal. Portions are particularly ranch-sized too.
The monthly special is certainly the star of the show. Different dishes pair the meat with a variety of vegetables, but the duck itself is prepared in essentially the same way every time. Duck is a temperamental meat that can be difficult to cook to perfection, but the chefs at One to One seem to have found a feasible formula – and slightly undercooked beats overcooked by a long shot.
So it looks like a good start for 18 oz and its monthly specials. Next on the list is foie gras: butter fried, pan fried or seared and accompanied by the fragrant flavours of rosemary, caramelised apples and pomegranate; we think it would be worth your while to strap on your spurs and check it out.
What? 18 oz
Where? One to One hotel
Cost: AED 125 or less
Why? The special menus aren’t the only option – but it livens up the taste buds and reworks a popular dining spot
Why not? You may not know whether to bring a date or a lasso
We say: An interesting change of pace - mix things up a little and give the menus a try
Contact: 02 495 2000
Laura Fulton
