We had been looking for great new seafood options for a while after a few disappointments, and @castdubai sprung up off Al Manara Road and we were eager to try it. This quaint little restaurant has quite a diverse menu, and they have 4 sections to choose from with starters, mains, and raw/sushi options. There is no order in how it’s brought to your table – whatever is ready arrives at random, no matter where in the menu you’ve ordered it from!
The Spicy Mandarin Ceviche with hamachi, spicy orange & mandarin kochi, dill oil, and jalapeño was a very small serving, but it was delicate and hit all the perfect notes of spicy, sweet and sour with added passion fruit. The Yellowfin Tuna Maki from the sushi section with tuna caught in Fujairah, avocado, and jalapeño sauce were tasty little morsels. We loved the texture added with their deep-fried rolls. The 3 Grilled Scallops were seriously small and underwhelming. If they had been of a sufficient size (double the size minimum) they would have been more pleasing and less overwhelmed in their creamy mustard sauce, with tobiko.
The Saffron Paella in the mains with bomba rice and mixed seafood was perfectly cooked, but it lacked seasoning which we had to add. It’s a good one to share for 2 people when you want to try several dishes on the menu, but we could easily have eaten one each. The Dibba Bay Oysters were a menu special and our very first oysters from @dibbabay. These were exquisite and I ended up doing a little research on the project and I can honestly say, we are hooked on this local produce!
The Prawn Stack with sushi rice, cast sauce, cucumber, avocado, mayonnaise, and sesame seeds is one of the more substantial portions in the starter selection and sized to share as it’s quite rich. We loved the generous portion of prawns in ratio to the rice and creamy layers. This is the one to order if you need filling up. However, despite being a starter, it was the last dish to arrive, which wasn’t ideal!
With room to spare, we ordered the Who Burnt my Cheesecake, a burnt Basque cheesecake with strawberries, miniature meringues, and wheat crumble which we unfortunately cannot recommend. The interior was too dense and dry, and the outside stuck to the teeth like curdled dairy indicating this was not a recent bake. A Basque cheesecake is dense but not tough, it should be light and airy.
Though not every dish hit the mark, this is still a lovely little restaurant we would revisit. However, it’s a little overpriced for the size of the portions. Despite spending over AED600 across seven dishes, we didn’t leave overly stuffed
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