Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant Al Barsha: This is for the seafood lovers out there! Are you one of them? I’m sure is! My husband is from Australia and we definitely love seafood. From different fishes, shells, muscles, and big prawns, yes please! Living in Dubai, UAE Seafood is a big favorite here. Surrounded by beautiful ocean or sea waters, Fresh fishes and all that is available everywhere which I’m sure we are all thankful for while living here in Dubai, UAE.
We are always on the lookout for nice and budget friendly seafood markets that we can always go to and visit for fresh seafood in Dubai. Just the other day, my friend Mai @budgetbiyahera and I got the chance to visit Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant Al Barsha.
ABOUT:
With an ambience of Dubai in the 1960’s, and with the taste of Authentic Emirati Cuisine, AL FANAR RESTAURANT and CAFÉ will revive the memories of Dubai when it was a small town on the shore of the Arabian Gulf at an idyllic spot close to the creek-with rows of wind towers surrounded by Al Badia oasis, with tents and Barasti huts where fishermen, pearl merchants and Bedouins lived.
LOCATION:
Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant Al Barsha has a lot to offer especially locations. They have many branches all over the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. CLICK ME to check their different locations available. We visited the Al Barsha branch right where the Barsha Pond Park is CLICK HERE so if you’re spending sometime at Barsha Pond Park or nearby the Park or Barsha mall or Mall of the emirates, Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant Al Barsha is just a few minutes away. Nearest metro station is either Mall of the Emirates or Sharaf DG. F33 bus is also available if you’d like to take that which stops right in front of the park then you can just walk for a bit.
AMBIANCE + SERVICE:
Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant Al barsha is just a place to enjoy your favorite seafood or selection of meats. If you want to indulge in authentic Emirati food, This is the place to be! Why? The place is exactly like the old houses in the UAE. Looking at the interiors of the Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant, it has this Rustic vibes and homely feel of an emirati, arabic house. I enjoyed looking at the old or vintage collections inside.
They have so many vintage collection displays that they are also selling just in case you’re interested in buying some of them. Those vintage luggage are just amazing and a must! Wish I could buy one myself so watch out for those vintage luggages prices which are around 300aed to 1000aed depending on how big it is. All the vintage collection displays have their own price tags so you can also shop antiques/vintage and enjoy authentic emirati food at the same time.
The Staff are all nice and attentive. Their new contactless menu is also now available as the new normal for all of us. If you want photos of the food in case you’re not familiar, they can also show you the photos upon ordering using their tablet and also contactless.
FOOD:
Food at Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant is definitely something amazing. We tried little bits of their food on the menu. Below are the list of foods we tried:
Dango: is a chickpeas in water. It is kind of a plain dish to look at but it is something you should try as well to jumpstart your appetite. First time I’ve tried it and it is yums!
Seafood Soup: it has bits of pieces of fish, prawns, in tomato soup based. It tasted nice and warm on my belly. Could’ve ordered the creamy version as I like creamy texture soup and taste way better but the creamy choice is not available at that time.
Lentil Soup: I had a bit of taste from Mai’s soup which is lentil soup and totally love it’s perfect creaminess! Recommended to order it =) if you like.
3 TYPES OF SALAD:
-Al Fanar Salad: if you want a different salad with the same ingredients not far from your daily salad, this is your salad served with their special Al Fanar Dressing.
–Mango and Rocket Salad: to be honest I can’t remember tasting or biting that actually mango slices, Although it has that sour taste from the mango, cucumber, rocket leaves and spiciness that is just enough for a kick or if you’re looking for something exciting for a salad for the day.
–Watermelon Feta Salad: Something perfect for the summer or if you just want a salad that is just refreshing and something to serve for your kids and family. The refreshing watermelon, cucumber just burst into a cool fresh taste in your mouth, and the feta cheese just gives the perfect balance with sweetness and a bit of salty taste.
STARTERS:
-Cheesy Crab Poppers: crusty crab poppers filled with melted cheddar cheese. I think that this is the first time that I’ve tried cheesy crab poppers. It was delicious and perfect for a snack or if you’re eating with some kids with you.
–Crispy Calamari: This is a good suggestion to order from them. Indeed it tasted different from what I’ve always had and it was perfectly cooked.
-Samboosa: crispy fried filled with mixed vegetables. Super love this with the sauce that they served with it.
-Koftat Samak: is one of the dishes I will also recommend. Deep fried crumbed fish that is nice and crispy! Eat it while it’s hot!
MAINS:
-For the mains we had a really huge seafood platter! I wish I took my time taking photos and videos of it and with myself as well so you can see and compare how big the seafood platter is. We had a seafood platter for 4! But please note that we are 6 people eating it. That’s how huge it is. Although please keep in mind that we had some soups and starters already before we had this seafood platter so we were a bit full by then. But sure we did manage and almost finish the seafood platter! Guess someone’s hungry =D
The Seafood platter has some grilled tiger prawns, 2 big grilled sea bream fishes, squids, onion slices, tomato slices, lemon slices, some fish flakes that are on top of your white rice. The platter is both available for 2 persons and 4 persons. If you order some extra foods on the side the seafood platter for 4 persons can definitely fit 6 people! It was a feast! The sea bream grilled fish was nicely grilled and I loved the taste of it. There is also special sauce that comes with it if you think it is a bit dry or you’re just up for a challenge to try something new like this sauce.
I thought that the prawns and squid need something else, maybe a different kind of sauce or something I can’t explain. Also note that you can do advance booking so they can maybe marinade your seafood or meat for that extra deep flavour which is always a good idea. Otherwise, just go and visit them and choose your fresh seafood for your platter and ask them to prepare some different sauces to serve with it. Overall that seafood platter is just amazing to have and share with your family and friends when you’re visiting Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant Al barsha.
We also had garlic butter shrimp that I can only imagine from looking at my photos as I only had one piece. I tried to get 2 more pieces and eat it with lots of garlic butter sauce that comes with it but to my surprise, nothing is left for my second attempt to taste it. As I said above, Guess someone’s hungry =D
DESSERT:
-For the dessert 6 people shared 1 slice of Cheesecake which was nice and Also how can we not have Luqaimat! This is a must if you’re trying emirati food! The best dessert to finish up your whole meal, perfect with a cup of tea or coffee that I wish we also had to just relax a bit as we didn’t feel like going home yet that time as we were still enjoying the restaurant’s ambiance but sad that we just had to eat it all and just be done.
Overall, my whole experience visiting the Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant Al Barsha was pretty incredible. The rustic vibes and homely feel of the place brings me back in time. The vintage items they are selling at the restaurant is just enjoyable to see and how it has a double purpose and definitely gives the restaurant a unique feel. The sumptuous food they served us from starters to salads, mains and desserts were amazing. Seafood platter can be tweaked to your liking which is good. I suggest booking in advance too to tell them exactly how you want your food to be cooked or what spices to put and that you work on and think about your special sauces to mix with your seafood platter as it really adds a unique extra taste on your palate.
I would also have enjoyed a bit if I had more freedom to choose some other foods from the menu that I already prepared myself before coming in, You know bloggers always come prepared. Usually food reviews are open for us to order whatever special or different food we like that we think is unique from the restaurant that we haven’t had before as that is their main strength and highlights to allow people to actually discover unique food that they have and that other restaurants don’t have. For example, I would have preferred ordering Khameer bel khabisah for the dessert instead of cheesecake or Ice cream with karak because it sounds interesting as an emirati version of the western affogato and because it is different, Just my two cents and my blogger point of view. Next time would be perfect for sure. But…
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To be honest it is also hard to do a food review when you’re with a different company of people who are not bloggers or don’t need photos/videos to take. I was hesitant, kind of panicking, worried even to take more photos and videos for my content as I’m stressing over thinking that the other people are waiting for us to finish taking tons of pictures and videos and ended up that the foods are already cold which is normal for us. But it is a must for us to take as many photos and videos as we can, so we can have so many choices to post different pictures and videos for different social media channels that we have so it is not repetitive to see and count as a proper content. PS: anything I’ve said above doesn’t reflect anything on the restaurant, The restaurant itself is Amazing! Just need to share my feelings here that’s all.
Blogger point of view aside, I would definitely recommend Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant Al Barsha. So many locations to choose from. Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant Al Barsha is an amazing place to gather large groups of people whether you’re celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, or any occasions you might think of! Events and parties even are welcome. They also have catering services, preparing and delivering food at the comfort of your own home. Just name it! And sure they have it! They would also be offering a budget-friendly boodle fight and some other filipino dishes in the near future so please stay tune for more information! I’m also excited to be trying that one as you know how I love boodle-fight! You coming with me?
Thank you so much Al Fanar Seafood Restaurant Al Barsha for having us and for the wonderful seafood platter and a very unique experience. Definitely a place to remember. Hope to come and visit again very soon with my family, friends and @ladieswhoonline community.
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Please also visit their Zomato Profile to see other reviews and their menu.
CLICK ME to visit their UAE website. CLICK ME to visit their seafood market menu.
Who wants to go with me and visit them? Let me join you! I would definitely want to come again! Or you can join my Ladies Community here in Dubai UAE and we can all meetup and come together and enjoy the food. And Let me know if you need anything else or if you have any questions Please don’t hesitate to CLICK ME and send me a DM or Comment on my instagram Account as I can answer there quicker would love if you stop by and say Hello =)
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