Food Blog | The Maine Land Brasserie | Business Bay | Dubai

This week on the blog, I’m sharing Maine, a popular French restaurant in Business Bay for all you foodies! This is a restaurant serving up delicious French foods at a reasonable business lunch price. This review will cover their lunch offerings - I’m personally not familiar with their dinner/a-la-carte offerings.

Context: Came here for lunch to take advantage of their business lunch offering with my family (4 pax total)

Where It Is

It is located in Business Bay - but more specifically in The Opus by Omniyat. In short, it’s the building that has a cool hole in between the two main buildings - a really cool piece of architecture if you ask me personally. If you’re eating here/Roka, I’d recommend just leaving your car with the valet (both on the front and backside of the building) and giving your valet receipt once you finish your meal.

Address: Level 1, The Opus by Omniyat - Al A'amal St - Business Bay - Dubai

 

Operating Hours:

Daily: 12 pm to 1 am

I would recommend making a reservation ahead of the time so that you can secure a table.

What it Costs

The four of us ate for a grand total of AED 520. This bill is fairly simple in the sense that it is AED130 per person, but EVERYTHING (and I mean everything) you need for a hearty lunch is included.

For AED 130, you’ll get the following:

Appetizer
Main
Dessert
Water
Coffee

For a comparison, Roka’s lunch sets (because they’re literally next door) are AED115 for the normal and AED175 for the premium - but note that this does not include the water and dessert. That’s why my family’s meal at Roka came up to AED712. So, in terms of a business lunch deal, this is a pretty good one for a high-quality business lunch set.

This is one of those places that is good for sharing - because it’s nice to get a taste of everything, as they are all so distinctly different.

How it Tastes

Starting off, they have the starters before the appetizer - bread and tomatoes. Their bread is really good - not the type that is crispy to the point where it is hard/has crumbs everywhere, whilst also being crispy enough to have that nice crackle - so I actually really like their bread.

Their seasoned tomatoes with olive oil are also great palette cleansers for the meal ahead - so I think it’s a nice starter to have.

Next up, the apps. Honestly, really tasty!

I actually loved all of them. Really hard to pick a favorite. Starting off with the fish tacos, really yummy. Love the fish - doesn’t even have that fishy scent to it. So there’s a tasty fish and a really nice combination of flavors coming from the sauces and the garnish - I would say that this is a fish taco that I personally really enjoyed (I personally don’t have great experiences with fish tacos).

Next up, the tuna tartare. Really yummy. To be honest, really hard for me to put it into words because when I had my first bite I really enjoyed it! That soy-ginger dressing knocked my socks off. A really good appetizer to get your meal going.

The char-grilled octopus is really cooked down really well - there’s a really nice cook on it. -such that it doesn’t taste rubbery, and it has some crunchy components as well.

I would say that for the last appetizer - Wagyu Beef Tataki - I would echo the sentiments from the tuna tartare. Really nice wagyu beef with a really appetizing ponzu sauce, accompanied by garlic chips which make the texture of this dish as a whole very interesting.

And now, the mains!

They didn’t have the 48hr short rib on the day - otherwise, we probably would have gotten that on the day.

First up, the shrimp linguini pasta. I would say that it’s a really textbook pasta - and I think one extra thing that I noted is that they don’t stinge on the shrimp. There’s plenty of shrimp for you to indulge on when you order the shrimp linguini. That being said, I would say that when coming here, I would recommend ordering their other main choices (because pasta is a bit more commonly found everywhere else - and whilst it was good, it isn’t extraordinary).

Then, you have the steak frites. I would say that meat-wise, it’s great. Very tender, juicy and basically everything you want from a steak. Really yummy. The fries are also great - have a nice bite to them - which is the style that I personally am a fan of. I would say the only thing that I would be critical of would be the bearnaise sauce. I would say flavor-wise, it falls a bit flat and I’m also not too big of a fan of the texture - personal preference, but I think it’s a bit on the thicker side.

We also had the double-cut lamb chop. I would say that this is probably my favorite main of the ones we had - the lamb is REALLY tasty and the sauce really makes this dish as a whole really delicious. I think one thing I will mention is that this is definitely one of the lamb dishes I’ve had that doesn’t taste gamey - so if that’s something you normally avoid, this could be one of the better places to try the lamb.

Lastly, we had the seabass fillet. Really big fan of how crispy the skin is - I definitely think that the skin, alongside the sauce, is the main point of the dish that really stands out. It’s also the first time I’ve had/heard of haricot vert, so I think this dish as a whole is one of the safer dishes to order if you aren’t sure of what to get.

And now onto the desserts!

I would say that in terms of their sorbet - the mango sorbet really resembles a mango lassi-Esque flavor. But ultimately both the sorbets are really clean tasting - not necessarily light sorbets, but they help you clean your palette really well after a heavy meal.

For the creme-brulee, what I appreciate is that the creme-to-brulee ratio is really good. A lot of the time, I would eat the top layer, enjoy it and think about all that cream I have to eat underneath. For their rendition, you have that tasty burnt upper layer with a small layer of cream underneath - so this isn’t as heavy relative to most other creme brulees.

Lastly, the sticky toffee pudding. Doesn’t stand out that much, but it’s a decent sticky toffee pudding. You’re almost never disappointed by sticky toffee pudding.

Don’t forget your free coffee and water as well! They don’t stinge on this aspect.

Star Rating

8/10. In terms of value for money for a delicious business lunch, it is honestly hard to beat if you consider everything - from the free drinks to the selection of appetizers and mains, complete with a nice dessert. The ambiance here is fantastic and it has great service to match, so I would say that this is definitely one of the better value-for-money options to go for a business lunch.