Urban Bar & Kitchen, aka [u]bk, is designed for epic weekend brunches – and it delivers at gold medal level!
Located in the Movenpick hotel in Jumeirah Lakes Tower, UBK is an enormous cavern, a grotto of pleasures, on several levels – party central!
Very cleverly, also sporting an outside terrace with a retracting roof – and that is the brunching area, complete with a stage for live music.
Our weekend destination, as we’d heard of the great vibes and superlicious food.
Here is the external view, with the roof fuly open!
Inside the patio is roomy, and it ends in floor-to-ceiling windows giving onto a lovely garden.
Never fear, the bar is not far away!
In fact, unlimited drinks is UBK’s trademark call for the epic weekend brunch!
However, the good folk at UBK didn’t stop there…
Incredibly, they’ve added unlimited starters to really kick off the weekend with a blast!
Here is where things get difficult, though – and I’m an old sceptic. You see, it’s quite possible to build a rip-roaring hot bar, with unlimited drinks; but it is a totally different game to set up a top-delicious restaurant – and very rarely can an establishment excel at both.
Well, not only that, but UBK has even tripled the potential by presenting a truly talented vocalist, performing live!
And so, Junior Brown and his guitar, and a unique voice that even angels from above were leaning in to see who was singing – and professionally set up with a sound system that didn’t render us all deaf – performed during the brunch, while we enjoyed superlative food and drinks!
Dubai weekend brunch at its best.
It began to rain starters – and we were impressed at the quality of the flavors.
And with that generous selection – although unlimited – we didn’t even need to go for seconds!
The salads are often where bar-style foods fall, but not at UBK.
See for yourself, those chunks of chicken in the Caesar Salad, with large-cut crispy lettuce, proper anchovies for the deep flavors in the dressing, and crunchy garlic-infused croutons!
The second salad was on equal footing – an interesting choice: palm and artichoke hearts with avocado and cucumbers!
The pulled mini-burgers weren’t mini at all – not in size, and neither in taste!
Irish sausages…
… batter-fried calamari, and delicious chicken wings and legs!
And can you believe that after the unlimited starters comes the main course?
And a main course that could stand alone in its generous portion as well as care in preparation…
See the fall-off-the-bone 12-hour BBQ beef ribs!
A glorious dish for a weekend brunch!
And I dare say above expectations for an “unlimited drinks”, “live music” sort of place – indeed, UBK was batting a very high average, and now in consideration for one of the top Dubai brunches!
And masterfully cooked – look at that glaze: and that’s not a commercial sauce they slathered on! It was phenomenal.
Similarly, the Jerk Chicken was exceptional – with sweet potato fries, corn, and a proper cinnamon-based Caribbean Islands style secret sauce!
And these mains followed that tsunami of delicious starters!
A classy dessert to crown the brunch, still with the melodious voice of Junior Brown caressing our ears and souls, and our weekend was off to a marvelous start, courtesy of [u]bk.
Overall, for a weekend brunch that excelled at combining a party-like atmosphere with unlimited drinks, with a truly delicious dining experience well above expectations, and also a world-class vocal talent performing live, Urban Bar & Grill – [u]bk – has upped the ante in Jumeirah Lakes Tower district re-inventing its brunch and hitting it solidly well out of the ball park – excellent!