Seaview Restaurant – for the love of great seafood.

Once again, the foodbloggers’ community called Fooderati has led me through the right, delicious doors. I held the reviews of Ishita Saha (of Ishitaunblogged) and Debbie Steedman (of The Real Geordie Armani) as my guiding lights while giving driving directions to my husband. I kept in mind their “must-try” advices while reading through the menu. And here I’m, pleased as a punch and still wearing a smile after my dinner last night. Whoever said that too many reviews can spoil the restaurant, clearly had no idea of a happy blogger’s writing urge. So here you go, yet another review of this brand new seafood place in Jumeirah, called Seaview Restaurant.

The Seaview Restaurant

Driving through the usually pricy Jumeirah zone, I could sense the frown on my better half’s face deepen as he probably anticipated a full blown fancy dinner that could make his credit card smirk. So as you can imagine, it was an absolute pleasure to watch that frown transform into a relieved smile within a glance into the menu.

The menu included “To Set Sail” section of starters, “The Clay Oven”, “For The Soup Lovers”, “Salad Course”, “The Culinary Voyage” (main course dishes), “Tow Along’s” (side orders), “Sweet Endings”, “Beverages” and the “Catch Of The Day” featuring a selection of fresh fish that the restaurant’s boats bring in every morning and can be prepared to taste- grilled, Arabic bbq, tandoori or steamed, in the Chef’s recommended flavors of Tangy Tomato, Honey Mustard or Roasted Lemon.

Short but delicious menu

The menu, along with the prices got us pretty excited. We launched into haywire attack and ordered a 1 by 2 portion of Lobster Cappuccino, starters of Crepe Homard and Prawn Caprese and maincourse dishes of Seaview Prawns and Malay Steamed Sea Bream, with a side order of Seafood Roti Canai. Something inside me screamed that this was way too much food for two people- two people supposed to be on diet for that matter. But there was no stopping us at that point. And I strongly feel that the cool breeze from the beautiful sea outside had something to do with it.

While waiting for the LOAD of food to arrive, I decided to explore the place. The lovely seating outside was greatly tempting, but with little Mehr, it was asking for trouble in the chilly weather. I climbed on to the roof top seating area and made a mental note to come around another time during the day to better enjoy the sea, the sky, the seagulls and the skydivers.

The pretty exteriors

Fresh catch was proudly displayed on ice in one corner of the restaurant. Pricing was done per piece and not on weight, with Hammour, Pomfret, Prawns, Sheri, Mullet and more to choose from. While almost every other seafood restaurant had to rely on daily stock to arrive from Deira fish market and the like, Seaview was extremely privileged to have their own couple of fishing boats which set out into the seas everyday and come back with the freshest food for its customers. In restaurant manager Victor’s words- “From Ocean to Platter”.

The Catch Of The Day on ice!

The wait was not long. The lobster cappuccino arrived, and oh in style. This flavorful soup had me wishing we ordered a whole portion per person. My husband gave me no chance to creep my hands into his share. The man slurped it down with a blissful smile.

The Lobster Cappuccino

The story of Crepe Homard was even better. Cheesy lobster was rolled into perfect crepes and drenched in mouthwatering white gravy. The crepes were soft and nearly melted in the mouth. Simply put, the dish was a ten on ten.

The Crepe Homard

Prawn Caprese was layers of cherry tomato, mozzarella and shrimps, drizzled with pesto. While the flavors went escalating as I dug deeper into the glass, I was too much into Mr. Crepe Homard that I forfeited the lion’s share of Caprese to the hubby. After all, I had to maintain my rhythm for the main courses.

The Prawn Caprese

The Seaview prawns arrived, looking absolutely gorgeous. The prawns were juicily spiced and finished with clarified butter. There were about 15 shrimps in the platter that completely justified the Aed 75 charged. They were cooked perfectly and the spices blended well with the buttery dip (the Indian ghee)  provided.

The Seaview Prawns

The showstopper on the table, without a doubt, was the Malay Steamed Sea Bream. Rarely have I enjoyed digging into a fish preparation that hasn’t been fried in oil or baked with at least a touch of Indian spices. This dish, rewrote history for me. The meat fell off the bone into a brilliant soy based gravy, which I couldn’t stop slurping down with my spoon. Don’t believe me? Ask my husband. He was the one feeling embarrassed!

The Malay Steamed Sea Bream

The side order of Seafood Roti Canai (malay flat bread) was a very pleasant dish for the Aed 12 charged. It resembled a stuffed kulcha and tasted good as is, without being dipped into the main dishes. Well, I’d prefer the roti canai any day to the plate of bland veggies and potato that came along with the sea bream and seaview prawns. Thankfully, those are ignorable elements in front of the main delicacies.

Seafood Roti Canai…and a little bit of Mehreen to go with it! 🙂

The sides of Potato & Veggies that come with the maincourses

Even though I was stuffed to capacity by now, being a hardcore sugar addict, I had to explore the sweet endings section. So, up went the order for Crème Brulee and Cheesecake surprise. I was probably wrong to expect perfection in desserts from a seafood restaurant (and a fabulous one at that!), but if they could make the brulee tad crisper and the cheesecake tad sweeter, it would easily make world of a difference.

The Blueberry Cheesecake

The Creme Brulee

The story got better for me. Small talks with the restaurant manager Victor (who is a malayalee and from the same home town as me) revealed that the restaurant is owned by Mr. Prashant Sethumadhavan, a Keralite and owner of Procat Catering Services LLC located in Dubai Investment Park. Imagine my excitement in discovering that one of the much talked about upcoming restaurants in Dubai is owned and managed by a team of guys from God’s Own Country, dear Kerala! Even better was meeting Chef Kannan from the kitchen staff, the man behind the creation of Malay Steamed Sea Bream and Roti Canai, thanks to his cooking experience in Malaysia.

Presenting the Restaurant Manager Victor (middle) and Chef Kannan (right)

Seaview Restaurant in simply put personal opinion, is the finest seafood place in Dubai with good ambience, better prices and the best view. They are planning a bash of a launch ceremony once the wheels are set into motion, and once that’s done, God help us to get a table without a reservation on weekends! By the looks and taste of it, these guys know their fish and are here to stay.

Seaview. Rightly so.

The pricing story:

Prawn Caprese: Aed 45

Crepe Homard- Aed 55

Lobster Cappuccino- Aed 22

Seaview Prawns- Aed 75

Malay Steamed Sea Bream- Aed 55

Seafood Roti Canai- Aed 12

Creme Brulee/ Cheesecake- Aed 22

Location: Umm Suqeim 1 fishing harbor (second right after KFC/Hardees on Jumeirah Beach Road towards Burj Al Arab. Let the road take you to the restaurant on your right side).

Working hours: 12pm to 12am.

Ph: 04 3335552