DRiFT Seafood Kitchen & Bar - A Sensory Delight of Beach Front Dining

With a sensory delight that serves up the freshest catch-of-the-day and an easy-breezy crafted menu, DRiFT seafood kitchen & bar at the InterContinental Fujairah Resort strives every way to delight your demanding palate. mylifestylenews writes.

Beachfront dining is always on everyone’s wish list as it conveys a sense of being footloose, fancy free and away from the constrictions of dress standards as well as fussy dining. After all, we all do need some good dose of Vitamin Sea sometimes especially when we are on a mini staycation. Nestled along the Gulf of Oman, with blue sky favouring this locale almost everyday throughout the year, DRiFT has the ideal middle ground location – at the beach, while not on the beach and yet you can indulge the nature by hearing the waves, seeing the water with some creature vacation comforts and unwind with the Fujairah crisp winter sea breeze.

DRiFT is a beachfront bar and grill bristromique concept restaurant right next to the resort’s main swimming pool, so it pulses with chill vibes to create a relaxing state of being.

DRiFT’s interior has the feel of a chic bistro, with wood and iron design highlights that creates a modern and chic twist industrial design motif juxtaposed with the big earth tone shade tiles to keep things quite neutral against the bright sun from outside, plus adorned with ceiling wooden fans and metal brass chic dimmable hanging lamps that offer a different mood and cozy ambience during day and night.

The U shape well stocked “Tiki” bar is the center stage of DRiFT’s interior, surrounded by tailor-made stylish high bar stools with a rather narrow slick stainless steel bar marble top where a huge variety of liquors are on display making it an easy access for the bartender to showcase their signature cocktails right in front of you. Chalkboards are seen above the bar with various signature cocktails and an unusual collection of gins being introduced to quench your thirst at your liking. Ask your bartender for some unique concoctions that may possibly surprise and delight you!

Al fresco dining expanded to a well laid out wooden floored terrace, shaded on the elevated area or direct Vitamin Sea of your choice that lets you hear the waves gently lap onto the beach and to enjoy the cool evening air with the spectacular mountain ranges in the background just visible in the twilight.

Outdoor aligned table settings are simpler and friendly and guaranteed all seafront facing. Quart tube pyramid patio gas heaters well allocated in proper distance to warm you up in Fujairah winter evening at the outdoor setting also adds a more romantic mood for dining.

Three sunken round lounges decorated with colorful plush cushions surrounded a real fireplace that offers a relaxing corner for shisha as well as pre or post dinner drinks.

Don’t forget to look up in the dark sky with stars upon you, you may have possibly forgotten when was the last time you gazed at the stars especially for those of us who live in the all time illuminated concrete jungle way too long to appreciate that nature is there for us to embrace. It is simply another blessing to take full advantage of such opportunity arisen by doing so at DRiFT.

Rest and relax with a great menu to indulge is what you can possibly expect at DRiFT. The restaurant serves up specialities cooked on the Charcoal oven Josper grill. The menu has quite a good variety of offerings, the essentials are those selected fine seafood and some prime cuts of meat, so you could say that all tastes are catered for. Minus the fine dining setting, tabletops are simple, as they want the food to do the talking.

DRiFT interior by night

DRiFT al fresco dining

<Langoustine>
While we were deciding what to order, an amuse bouche arrived. The langoustine with green pea puree topped with blacked tapioca and Beluga caviar is simply delicious, mindfully presented and the caviar really piques the taste buds. A pleasant surprise!

 

<Dibba Bay Hammour Fish and Chips>
Superb presentation – a bamboo Dim Sum basket on top of a skillet with the three sizeable fillets arranged standing on end and thick fat chips nestled to the side of the basket, garnished with sliced seaweed. Hammour is a local fish from Dibba Bay, thick and meaty and perfect for this dish. The fish was well battered with carbonated soda to create the fluffy, airy and crispy texture (an old recipe yet not many get it right but DRiFT nailed it). The fish was still firm but light to the bite and came with a creamy tartare sauce dipping, plus fat chips to meet your expectations in every way. Chef has been trying very hard to impress his diners with a very generous portion to share as well as how good fish & chips should taste. This is one of the best fish & chips we have had of late and best accompanied by their signature Passionate Strawberry or Asian Mystery mocktail.

<Lacquered Octopus>

This is the quintessential octopus dish with one very large tentacle that is juicy, tender and very easy to cut, laying on a huge bed of citrus risotto that absorbed most of the octopus dripping sauce, Yummy!. Topped with gremolatta chopped parsley, garlic and grated lemon zest are the best accompaniment to this gigantic octopus tail. Once again, the portion was very generous and the risotto was textbook execution, equally delicious on its own with a delicate citrus flavour. Not to be missed!

 

<Prawns Freekeh>
As we were eating on the coast of Oman, we thought we would spend more time sampling more seafood. Three fresh King prawns were expertly chargrilled, with a firm textured and meaty flesh served with parsley and garlic, mushroom freekeh (a cereal food made from green durum wheat, roasted and rubbed to create its flavour) and Zattar potato. We were expecting extra-large prawns as its name suggested but slightly to our dismay smaller, and yet still sizeable as we were told the local King prawns are not as large as some other regions. Do make good contact with the Chef as you may get an extra prawn on the serving if that is your lucky day!

<Grilled Seabass>
When catch of the day was being recommended, the grilled seabass was ordered and arrived to the table with another pleasant surprise. The jumbo seabass was lightly grilled to perfection – very meaty, juicy, well-seasoned and no sauce is needed to enjoy the taste on its own. Well presented and superb in taste and this is exactly how fish should be handled and prepared, and the kitchen has handled this with full marks.

<Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb>
If seafood is not your thing, a good quality premium cut of meat on DRiFT’s menu would be your next best alternative. On reading the menu, you would have probably thought a normal size portion, but somehow it was quite a meaty rack of lamb served and seemed a lot more than the mentioned 250gram weight. We asked it to be cooked pink and it was spot on (this was the chef’s recommendation too!). The Australia rack of lamb was juicy, tender and simple and beautifully presented, it came along with slow cooked green peas in Maldon salt. It was clear that the quality of the meat was important and really stood out – Perfection!

<DRiFT Forest>

Dessert is always a never miss opportunity, no matter how much we have eaten, as we always want to try the sweet culinary creations to understand the consistency of the whole evening’s culinary journey. Since we are addicted to anything that is cherry and one of the signature desserts on the menu has what we long for – DRiFT Forest. It was a triumph in presentation and a reinterpretation of a black forest cake. Great creativity has been applied to execute this stunning dessert. It was served with vanilla and chocolate crumble – a nod to the ‘cake’ part, but this is an absolute winner and you must make room for this dessert, no matter how full you are feeling after all the wonderful seafood and red meat on offer.

The evening went well and we were very well looked after by the attentive service team, especially Pradip. The food was a standout at least our orders for the evening did not disappoint, with the freshest ingredients used and the know-how from the culinary team to handle with care to not fail to please. We couldn’t have asked for anything more and can only say you cannot go to Fujairah without popping over to DRiFT where they gather the freshest yet ordinary ingredients to create an extraordinary meal. We left with an incredibly memorable evening to bring home.

Tried & Tested:

Location: 4.5/5

Design & Decor: 4/5

Food & Beverage: 4.5/5

Service: 4.5/5

Value For Money: 4.5/5

Experience: 4.5/5

DRiFT Seafood Kitchen & Bar

InterContinental Fujairah Resort

Al Aqah Beach, Dibba Road,

Fujairah, United Arab Emirates

Tel: +971 9 2099 999

 

Reviews are based on actual day of visit and experience. mylifestylenews reserves the right of final decision in case of any disputes. All images are photographed by mylifestylenews team without any photoshop enhancement and are the property owned by mylifestylenews unless otherwise stated.