Glasshouse Brasserie
It’s hard not to feel sorry for Glasshouse. A mere lobby’s-width away from Gordon Ramsay’s Verre, this artfully-lit, stylishly modern restaurant has the unenviable task of playing second fiddle to an eatery often considered one of Dubai’s finest 15 Reviews
Glasshouse’s Dhs1 beverage deal
Order any two main courses and enjoy drinks for Dhs1 each. From Dhs150 (two main courses) Timings: 7pm-11pm (Monday)
Lunch deal
Choose between the Arabic or Indian three-course business lunch menu. Dhs75 (three courses) Timings: 12.30pm-3.30pm (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)
Friday brunch
Offering an à la carte menu from the Hilton’s top chefs, including roasts, Yorkshire puddings, eggs, pancakes and unlimited selected mixed bubbly beverages. Dhs295 (unlimited house beverages) Timings: 12.30pm-3.30pm (Friday)
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It’s hard not to feel sorry for Glasshouse. A mere lobby’s-width away from Gordon Ramsay’s Verre, this artfully-lit, stylishly modern restaurant has the unenviable task of playing second fiddle to an eatery often considered one of Dubai’s finest. Nevertheless, that’s really no excuse for the fussy service and at-times lacklustre cuisine of the place, which bills itself somewhat dubiously as a ‘Mediterranean brasserie’.
This tag sits uneasily considering that some of the best dishes on offer really aren’t particularly Mediterranean – for example the hot salad of shallots, fried potatoes and black pudding, which is greasily, spicily indulgent, and comes topped with a glutinous poached egg and feels more like a glammed up version of a traditional English breakfast. Equally worthwhile is a meaty, well-cooked starter of calamari, with its firm rings of squid elegantly flavoured with lemon oil and presented atop a bed of rocket.
However, don’t expect similar quality from the limited selection of main course dishes. The breast of chicken with salsa verde is meanly portioned, unremarkably cooked, and destroyed by an unhappy cocktail of pungent, parmesan-creamed polenta and near-raw pieces of shallot. Don’t bother with the special honey-glazed veal, either; the veal itself is a soft, fatty cut of meat, whilst most of the glaze seems have been applied to the potatoes and chunks of aubergine, rendering the entire dish too cloying for all but the terminally sweet-toothed.
Things stay on a relatively anticlimactic tip with desserts. Neither the lighter-than-light raspberry cheesecake, nor the bland vanilla-bean pannacotta with its sweet sauce of macerated raspberries, are anything approaching memorable. Perhaps it’s the ghostly spectre of its neighbour which makes Glasshouse seem like such a mediocre eating experience, but the restaurant – which remains mysteriously popular with the punters – would benefit immeasurably from a little more care and inventiveness in its cuisine.
- Previous reviews
- 21 March,2012- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
- 24 March,2011- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
- 24 March,2010- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
- 19 March,2009- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
- 26 March,2008- reviewed by Jeremy Lawrence
- 12 March,2007- reviewed by Time Out Dubai Staff
- 09 August,2006- reviewed by Time Out Dubai Staff
- 01 May,2004- reviewed by Rob Orchard
- 01 February,2004- reviewed by Rob Orchard
- 01 June,2003- reviewed by Rob Orchard
- 01 October,2002- reviewed by Rob Orchard
- 01 March,2002- reviewed by Carolyn Robb
- 01 December,2001- reviewed by Time Out Dubai Staff
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