If you were planning a trip to the city that never sleeps this year, but it was put on pause due to the pandemic. There’s a piece of New York City right here in Dubai which you can enjoy.
Enter Indochine. A beloved Manhattan hotspot for 36 years, the French-Vietnamese restaurant is a famed hang out amongst the A-list crowd. Over the years, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, Bella Hadid, Andy Warhol, Kendall Jenner, Diane von Furstenberg, Naomi Campbell and more have become regulars at the NYC restaurant, located in NoHo.
At the end of 2019, over three decades after the flagship restaurant opened in NYC in 1984, Indochine arrived in Dubai. It didn’t take long for the new DIFC haunt to attract its own celebrity crowd and less than a year on Indochine Dubai has played host to tennis ace Roger Federer, Dubai-based influencer entrepreneur Karen Wazen, Italian fashionista Chiara Ferragni and actress Lindsay Lohan.
While the new hotspot may have been on your Dubai culinary wishlist, a mere four months after its opening the entire country (and world) went into lockdown. Now things are returning to normal, we highly recommend adding this to your must-book restaurant list. We recently took a visit to the famed Indochine franchise in DIFC, and to give a preview it’s most definitely approved.
The Vibe
Arriving at 8pm on a Thursday evening, restaurant-goers are greeted to what feels like an exclusive club with the dimmed lighting and bespoke decor – which transcends the flagship New York City eatery.
It’s the ideal decor for the perfect Instagram photo – say hello to palm leaf wallpaper, rattan furniture, a light-up Indochine sign and the perfect mood lighting for an intimate dinner.
With an array of seating arrangements including tables of four, long tables and booths, the establishment is able to cater for both groups and pairs. (Note: there’s full social distancing measures in place, the restaurant also has perspex screens between booths to ensure maximum protection in place for guests.)
For a more casual setting, there’s the chic Indochine lounge which is the perfect meeting place for a pre-dinner drink, or just to keep your Thursday or Friday night outing less formal.
The Food
With so much on the menu to choose from, we left the choice up to the expertise of our waiter Manny, who hails from the USA.
He was a meticulous expert in every aspect of the menu, asking us what we prefer and tailoring it to what we like.
Standout dishes include the fried vegetable spring roles, sea bream carpaccio, crispy eggplant and beef pho rolls.
However, the absolute pièce de résistance of the meal was the wok-tossed rice noodles cooked with asparagus, king oyster mushrooms, chilli, scallion and mushroom sauce – a completely vegan dish. It’s clear, whatever diet requirements customers have, they can be catered to.
While starters and mains well and truly filled us up, Manny was adamant we try dessert. His recommendation the banana beignets and passionfruit tartelette which, again, were both a true delight. We decided to enjoy our dessert in the chic ambience of the lounge to experience both aspects of Indochine.
All in all, the whole evening was faultless. So, if Indochine is on your restaurant wishlist, we suggest booking ASAP.
As we’ve said, this flawless dining experience is something everyone in Dubai needs to try. Whether it be a date night or a night out with friends, Indochine suits every crowd.
