There’s a lot going on at Armada Avenue - the hotel formally known as Blue Bay in JLT. There’s the award winning Nola and Mythos, there’s also been the Axe House and it’s various incarnations and there’s also another award winning restaurant - Cafe Isan which now has a brilliant roof top terrace to compliment their indoor space and it seems it’s the place to be - especially on weekends.
Cafe Isan’s terrace - Level 1 Armada Avenue Hotel. Photo: Talking Fork
Isan’s terrace bar is classically Thailandesque (that’s a word right?) with its DIY style of recycled 40 gallon drums, scaffolding and crates along with the ubiquitous coke fridge in the back and it’s deep rooted Thai credentials are further underpinned by it probably being the only place in Dubai that you can get yourself a freezing cold bucket of Chang, just like you’d do when dining on the streets of Bangkok. The seating is a rough house mix of scattered reclaimed chairs and tables and as the sun sets it’s not hard to picture yourself in some obscure roadside eatery in the provinces. (Until you look out over the balcony across the tall buildings of JLT!)
With a clear focus on traditional food from the northeastern - Isan region of Thailand it’s the kind of stuff you’ll find at food markets, down side streets and at road side carts. The menu is a tour de force of all that’s good and great about Thai food and features so many things it’s hard to choose. To get things started we opt for some Grilled Fish Balls which is a serve of 3 Sticks (AED 31.50) along with the Grilled Chicken Satay (AED32) and the amazing Grilled Whole Squid (AED 59). When the squid gets to the table the first thing you’ll notice is the amazing char on the outside of it. It also comes with a senesational house made seafood sauce that is lip smacking good. (This needs to be bottled and sold on the side!) The squid itself is so beautifully soft and tender yet slightly…
Read the full review at Talking Fork
Please note that Talking Fork ate at the restaurant anonymously and paid for their meal in full. We received the blog link after they visited.