Dubai Restaurant Review: The Boardwalk

In a nutshell: extensive menu, good food and reasonably priced.

4/5

The Boardwalk at the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club (in the yacht club) has always been a favourite of mine because you can sit out over the water of the Dubai Creek, watch seagulls strutting their stuff on the balustrades and soak in the view of the water with the greenery of the Creekside Park on the opposite bank. At this time of year, sitting outside at lunchtime is just not an option unless you want to melt into your food and we found that the outside decking area is currently closed for structural repairs in any case. We sat inside where we could still have the great view, but in a nice cool environment. We were surprised that it was so quiet considering that it was a Saturday lunchtime and wondered if they nightmare Deira traffic is what keeps people away. Arriving just before midday, cars were almost at a standstill but when we left just after 1 o'clock there was no traffic at all - no idea why but we certainly weren't complaining.

The menu is themed around different continents (Asian, Far Eastern, European etc) which means that there is a very wide choice to suit all tastes including appetisers, soups, main course salads, curries, noodles, sandwiches, grilled meats and more. We were both in the mood for a substantial lunch and steak & chips was just what we had in mind. Both steaks were cooked just as we'd requested (medium-well done) and the chips were nice and crispy. I realise that in order to expedite things, frozen packeted chips are easier for restaurants but I wish more of them would make their own. Deep fat fried chips are never going to rate as a healthy food, but at least if they were 100% potato they would be a little less bad for you! We were tempted by the mouth-watering desserts but as most of them had dairy in them we decided to resist temptation since we're both off dairy at the moment. Prices at The Boardwalk are similar to other hotel-style restaurants so it's not a cheap lunch but there's nowhere else in Dubai where you have the views you find here so that makes it worth it.