The Frying Pan Diaries: Neos Bar and The Address Downtown

As winter drew in last year my friend Charlie did the most sensible thing one can do, and jumped ship to warmer seas.

His parents live in Dubai and he has been out there working for a the past few months.

Tilly and I decided enough was enough of this weather and booked ourselves a little holiday out to see him.

I am so glad we did. Both of us had never been to Dubai and Charlie and his parents really showed us the best of this interesting city.

I have never been anywhere like it, even the pillars in the airport glittered. Surrounded by desert, Dubai is a sprawling city interjected by huge buildings lined all over with a network of huge, busy roads. We arrived at night, so our first taste of the city was it all lit up like a christmas tree with the Berj Khalifa literally sparkling high above anything else.

This is a food blog so I wont attempt to try and be a tour guide but one thing I will say is that if you ever have a chance to head out to Dubai, take it. I honestly can't pin point a favourite day that I had here.

Back to food. Charlie's mum is a wonderful cook and we were treated to many delicious suppers at home. I'm pretty sure I shall be stealing some of her recipes to share with you, so watch this space!

Our first venture out into the city at night was a spectacular one.

We hopped into a car and headed downtown to Neos, a bar that is in the top of The Address, a hotel in downtown Dubai. It was pretty spectacular due to its incredible view. I think the pictures say it all really.

We were treated to the sun setting over Dubai behind the Berj

We ordered our cocktails and went for a sneak around the bar. It was pure Dubai opulence.

Who doesnt want a gold ceiling?

or a silver throne?

I mean, just look at that view!

We sat down to our cocktails, a fruity rum concoction for Miss Holt...

An expresso martini for Charles and a Cosmopolitan (obviously) for me and a glass of Chablis for Charlie's mum. We sipped our drinks and watched the sun set.

Once we finished we took the lift a llllllll the way down to the bottom to have dinner under the Berj.

Sushi, I was really looking forward to this and it did not disappoint.

We kicked off with a bowl of miso soup

Then in swept the sushi.

Nigiri, Uramaki, and Sashimi

Up first, the Uramaki. We played the guessing game with these, just popping them into our mouths and then consulting the menu afterwards. There honestly wasn't anything I didn't like. Spicy Tuna rolls, California rolls, BBQ eel rolls, Berj rolls and everyone favourite, the dynamite rolls.

Nigiri. We had mackerel, BBQ eel, salmon, tuna and prawn.

The the sashimi, delicate thin slices of raw fish. Divine. I'd never had scallop sashimi before and it was melt in your mouth good. Everyone agreed to have a piece of eel each. I can't say it was the best thing I've ever eaten, the texture was somewhat slimy, but I would probably eat it again.

The tuna was the highlight, it was butter soft and just divine. It vanished pretty quickly.

It wasn't long before we had second round of spicy tuna rolls, dynamite rolls and another platter of tuna sashimi. A little time after that we all felt well and truly stuffed. All washed down with ice cold white wine.