Villa Beach Restaurant

Villa Beach Restaurant is one of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel restaurants. Fantastic place to just have a casual lunch and enjoy the awesome views of the Burj Al Arab and the beachfront. Word of advise though...In this summer weather, please use the services of the buggy from the hotel to the restaurant. It is too hot and too far to walk.

When we got there we chose to seat indoors. I was definitely not brave enough to seat in 45degree weather...no matter how good the view is. We were shown to a table by the terrace doors...so all was not lost.

Our very attentive and friendly waiter gave us the menus. The food served is mostly Mediterranean but you can still have your steak and lamb chops if that's what you prefer. My date opted for the King prawn with French fries and I ordered the Angus beef tenderloin(medium done), with French fries and a bucks fizz while I waited for my meal.

 

 

 

 

 

Food was good, however, my steak was more medium rare than medium. Prawns were delicious..more queen than king though if I have to say so. We were too full to eat dessert and the conversation was so good that we lost track of time and they were already closing, so maybe next time I will give it a try.

Prices range from about AED 100 - 170 for the main course.

Would definitely try again. A romantic dinner this perhaps, where I can enjoy the outdoors and a meal on the beach.

Forty Thieves

While at the South Coast...check out this place by the beach. Nice chilled out place to have some sea food or whatever you fancy and take it down with a yummy cocktail.

 

Coast vacation!!! Leopard Beach Resort and Spa

 Hi guys,

I have been away on leave. Went to Ukunda, South Coast, Kenya. I had a blast. Have loads of pics to share with you as well as my comments.

Enjoy!

LEOPARD BEACH RESORT AND SPA

This is a beautiful hotel. I cannot fault it there. But, their staff leaves a lot to be desired.
 Getting a reservation at this hotel doesn't seem like a hard task until you realize that it is. Tried calling their Nairobi numbers...no one picks up the phone. Eventually decide to call the hotel itself. I had a hard time getting through. I choose to believe that they were not just hanging up on me. So I then decided to email them. This finally got a response.
 On their website, they have special offers depending on the day you book. The staff don't seem to be aware of it, as I had to resend an email asking for the revised rates with the special offers in mind. That took ages to get a reply. I had to personally call a number of times just to get the information. Let's just say that the reservation experience I got was quite frustrating. Quite!!!

Anyway, we eventually get to the hotel. Beautiful!!

The rooms are nice and spacious. Asked for sea facing.....had to look for the sea lol!! Beautiful gardens just outside. Amazing.

There's quite a number of restaurants, but two of them were not open. Apparently because its the low season. Shame!! would have liked to experience them all. The food in the main restaurant was nothing to write home about. However, there are the prawns served at the Pool Bistro that were divine. Had them with jacket potato and veggies. Yum!

As I said before, I did not find a majority of the staff to be friendly or helpful. There was this one occasion where my son and I were having dinner in the main restaurant. My son needed to go to the bathroom so I enquired if there was a bathroom close by. I had seen what I thought was the bathroom, but I wasn't sure so I asked the waiter and he said no. So when the waiter led me away from the restaurant, down some stairs to another bathroom I didn't think much of it. That was until while going to get some dessert, I noticed that the suspected  bathrooms were just that. I was furious. I asked him why he would have me walk all the way to the other side, when there were bathrooms just next to me?" OH madam, I didn't realize that they were open!"....yeah right...didn't I just ask him if those were the bathrooms and he said NO.

Another case. I was in the room and needed some ice urgently because my son had hurt himself. I call room service and explain that I need ice for my son who is hurt. He quickly interrupts me and tells me he will charge me for the ice. I ask why? he says because he has to come all that way, but that alternatively I can go and get the ice myself. Absolutely no empathy. I was disgusted. Yup had to walk all the way to the bar.

So was everything bad? To be fair no...infact the one time I was impressed with the service was when I went to the spa. They are so friendly..compared to the others in the main hotel, it was a breath of fresh air. A plus was the wonderful massage I got while I was there. Fantastic.

Suffice to say, I would not go back to this hotel again. I strongly believe that staff make a big impact on someone's stay. No matter how beautiful the hotel....the staff, the service goes a long way.

Check out the pics......

 

 

 

Beach Bar and Grill -One and Only Royal Mirage

Today my sweetie Sharon took me out on a birthday lunch. We went to the Beach Grill, which is at the One and Only Royal Mirage in Dubai.
Beautiful hotel....very plush and serene, good for a time out and relaxing holiday. Beautiful green gardens as you walk around the hotel and at this time of the year,you would not believe you were in a desert country.
The Beach Grill restaurant is a perfect place for lunch and a romantic setting for a sunset view and lovely dinner. The service is impeccable. From the minute we walked in and were escorted to a table outside, to the waiters attentiveness and politeness.
We were not too hungry so we settled for two starters each. I had the deep fried calamari and tiger prawns, and Sha had the ceaser salad and tiger prawns as well.
Delicious.....especially the tiger prawns. This was accompanied ofcourse by a glass or two of some Rose wine. Good conversation, perfect ambience and one of the best birthday lunches ever.....

Radisson blu Fujairah

My friends and I had the opportunity to drive down to one of the Emirates, Fujairah. This was one of the best holidays I have had and wanted to share with you.
The drive from Dubai to Fujairah took us about 1h45m, if you use the Emirates road and turn off at truck road and it leads directly to Dibba.

On arrival at Radisson, we were given a welcome drink and our room keys. Our bags were taken from the car by the bell boys and they informed us that we would have the bags delivered to our room. We had the deluxe rooms which were well suited for us. The rooms are spacious with all ammenities available and breathtaking views of the sea and swimming pools depending on the angle of your room. I have to say early on that the balcony was probably my favourite part of the room. Nothing like seating with a glass of wine and good conversation and enjoying the serenity of the place.

Anyway, we were exhausted from the travelling and after a quick nap went down to have dinner. There are some arabic style tents complete with cushions and rugs to sit on. We chose to have our dinner there as the weather was perfect and it felt good to be outdoors. I ordered the lasagne (yes very typical of me), accompanied by a rose wine and my friend ordered the sea food platter which was divine...yes i eat from other peoples plates :-)....It was a lovely dinner.

Next morning we had the buffet breakfast. Plenty of choice. There was the fruit and fresh juice section, the cheese and cold cuts section, the cereal and yogurt section, the pancakes and waffles section, the hot food(arabic and western) and the section where the chef does your eggs to your liking. So as you can see.....plenty of choice for whatever you want. We chose to have this on the terrace and enjoy once more, the beautiful views.

Once breakfast was done we got changed and went exploring. The Radisson is a beautiful hotel. It boasts three amazing swimming pools and a wide variety of water sports. It is a must try but not for the faint hearted, if you like the thrill of speed like me then you will love it. The poolside was more relaxed....had a bit of a swim and some cocktails at the pool bar.....yummy pina colada:-)

In the evening we decided to have dinner by the beach. They had a cabana for us with our own butler and waiter. Each drink and course was introduced by the butler and he stood a few metres away the whole night incase we needed him. He even had his ipod on play for us to have some music as we ate. Talk about ambience. We were thoroughly impressed. I have to say, I have travelled far and wide, but the service we got here was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

We really did enjoy our time there. We stayed there 2 nights before we moved on to the next hotel.
Plenty of pics below for you to enjoy.