Ten Street Brunch – Have they got it right?

Ten Street Kitchen was in the JBR walk and by what I read of it, a spacious, chilled out dining spot. We made our way to try the relatively new Canadian restaurant/bar and to experience the launch of their Friday Brunch in specific.

The first look bowled us over. High roof, lots of natural light and ultra cool décor. A minimalistic ambience touched by intermittent splashes of color. The beer parlor is close to the entrance, with the cocktail bar stationed close to the DJ booth. Three full sized 10 ball American pool tables occupy the spacious inside hall with large windows all around, pooling in abundant sunlight along with views of the beach. The tables together with all that light is any food photographer’s dream, I’d say. Ambience wise, this place is a knock out hit.

Now to rope in the nasty business of fair judgment. We were welcomed in rather warmly, but the staff was kind of unclear about what the brunch entailed. Ten Street had a sort of set menu for their brunch, with UNLIMITED choices from the Starters menu, ONE choice from the mains and ONE from the desserts menu. If you opt for the 8 ball alcoholic package, you get a choice of 3 cocktails and some from the selection of their house beverages and wines. 10 Ball packages included all of this + the prosecco. It took 3 different staff’s explanations to help me understand this much. That is something requiring an urgent fix.

As per the server, our cocktail choices for the day were Apricot Bellini, Bloody Mary, and something else Apricot based, which I can’t seem to remember now! A word with the Manager later made me understand that other standard cocktails involving house beverages were included as well – like the cosmopolitan, long island etc. The selection is supposed to vary every week, and maybe there will come more clarity over the weeks the brunch progresses. Anyhow, all the cocktails brought around painted a pretty picture with their vibrant colors and attractive presentation styles.

There were about 8 options to choose from the Starters menu. Our order was for the Hot Buffalo Wings, the Cod Goujons, the Market Salad and the Bagel Benedict. In the regular menu, each of these items are priced Aed 40-45 on an average, which makes their presentation and taste reasonable for the price. I’d have liked the accompaniment of the wings, the blue cheese to taste more of blue cheese and less of mayo. The Cod and Benedict were complaint-free though it didn’t get us to wow over either. We shared these platters amongst the two of us, and decided to go ahead with the mains.

The mains menu seemed to be dominated by Ten Street’s many burger options. Which is why it was a shame that neither the mister nor myself was quite in a mood to munch on burgers. I had my mind fixed on a 6oz fillet steak, while he was rounding in on the certified short rib.

Our dishes honestly looked gorgeous in the mid-day light. The glaze off the meat(s) was extremely appealing, to put it mildly.

My steak was a tad disappointing in that it was a medium rare, while I had asked for a medium well done. The red in the center put me off a bit, even with the rest of the steak well seasoned and tasting quite very good. The short rib was supposed to be smoked, slow braised and flame grilled, served with a Yokon glaze. And it was all of that and quite delicious, especially for the rate it shows on the regular menu, which is Aed 65. Quite a deal in that case.

If there is anything edible that had my absolute, undivided attention, it would be the desserts. We ordered the Sticky Toffee Pudding and the Cookies & Cream Cocktail – two brilliant decisions of the day. The sticky toffee pudding was served beautifully warm and was possibly one of the best desserts I’ve had lately. Salivating as I type. The date sponge cake was out of the world. A completely ravishing dessert in my humble opinion.

Then there was the Cookies and cream cocktail which is a mixologist’s special created with Bacardi white, crème de cacao brun, vanilla gomme, whipped cream and crushed Oreo. Lovely to see, even better to sip.

By now we were dreaming of crawling back onto our trusted couch in front of the idiot box. The staff informed us about the Karaoke room attached to the restaurant and invited us to the pool tables nearby- but lethargy crept upon us and we were just too lazy to fight it. Thanks to the DJ playing some amazing music all the while we were there, we were entertained and in great vibes throughout the meal.

Ten Street has serious potential. They have a good space, great concept and the advantage of a fab location. My two pence would be to rethink the brunch menu plan – mainly the drinks selection. For an AED 295 brunch menu package, it didn’t feel like I had the best options when it came to house beverages. Especially in a place like Dubai, where lack of options is the least of a customer’s worry, they might need to offer better options to drive the crowd and keep it coming – what with the amazing ambience & entertainment they have managed to pull in. A restaurant/bar you can head to with your bunch of friends, if you fancy some fun with karaoke, a game of pool, interesting cocktails, a superb DJ and of course, some decently priced food.

Ten Street – The Brunch Packages:
No Alcohol – AED 195
8 Baller – AED 295
10 Baller – AED 375

Ten Street Location: Level 1, Oasis Beach Tower, Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR), Dubai. Ph: 04 3998993.

FoodKissed was invited to the brunch launch of Ten Street. All opinions and feedback given in this review are honest and unprompted.