Food Blog | Nine Squares Chinese Steamboat Restaurant | Jumeirah | Dubai

I’m not going to lie, on entry to Nine Squares, I actually didn’t particularly think : Chinese Steamboat Restaurant. I think my thoughts went more in the direction of “Rustic Western Restaurant” simply because of the interior design.

But here it is, with their selection of sauces in the middle! (The sauce range goes the whole way around)

So this is one of the more interesting choices for those craving for some Chinese food in Dubai, as I think that conceptually, they are going for something in the mold of a Haidilao (more popular in other parts of the world if you guys are familiar with) - just without the extravagant service. No pork - this being Dubai and all - being the other thing you miss as compared with a hotpot in Singapore/Malaysia.

Where it Is

There are 2 branches - the one I’m sharing here is the one in Jumeirah (more specifically Umm Suqeim) - the other branch is located in the France section of International City.

The Jumeirah branch is located relatively close to Kite Beach (just to give you a rough landmark) and opposite of Wooden Bakery. You can access their free parking by getting to the back of the Nine Squares building itself (double story).

Address (and Map): (Jumeirah branch) 598 Jumeirah St - Umm SuqeimJumeirah 3 - Dubai - United Arab Emirates

 

Address: (International City branch) France R14 - International CityFrance Cluster - Dubai - United Arab Emirates

What it Costs:

I went with my parents and the meal came up to AED308 total (although there are things that in hindsight can be cut in order to maximise your value that we weren’t aware of).

What you basically will start with is your choice of soups. Overall, I think that unless your heart is set on one particular soup base, it is much better to go with two different soup bases. Value-wise, you’re getting basically the same value for money, coupled with the bigger variety in flavours you get when you have two soups.

We went with the twins hotpot (2 soup flavour hotpot combination) - for AED68. That being said, we went for cheaper flavours - we went with a Herbal Soup + Tomyam soup combination. The Original Sichuan Hotpot with Beef/Rapeseed Oil is almost double the price.

If you haven’t had hotpot before, I honestly recommend you just get a herbal soup/tomato soup base. My experience with Sichuan Hotpot is that it is really spicy and your tongue can’t taste anything for the next 12 hours, and the toilet experience that follows the day after is, let’s say, unpleasant.

We got their signature beef (AED38), fish fillet (AED40), mixed balls (AED58), special homemade black tofu (AED30), beancurd sheet (AED15), snow mushroom (AED16) and 2 seasonings (AED6 each). The seasonings refer to their sauce selection in the middle of the restaurant where you can mix and match to get your perfect flavour combination to dip your hotpot ‘liao’ with.

My personal combination of sauces - next step would be to mix it up!

We also got a water (AED6) and a iced tea with ice cream (AED25). They also offered us a free lemonade (AED28 usually) if we downloaded their app (only for first time users). In hindsight, the lemonade would have been enough for the 3 of us because it came in a jug. So that’s just something you can keep in mind.

Lastly, there’s a 5% VAT fee, but no other charges on top.

How it Tastes

Starting off with the sauces. They have a pretty decent sauce selection that they keep really clean and tidy. You will have your usual combination of soy bean pastes, garlic chilli, thai chilli, peanuts et al. I would say their combination of sauces lie a bit more to the sweet side - not that I’m complaining - but they have a decent spread that I think is definitely worth the AED6 to elevate your meal. It’s pretty much a must have.

The Mixed Balls and Black Tofu

Next up, the soups. I would say that in terms of the soup base alone, neither the tom yam nor the herbal soup necessarily blew me away. I mean that in the sense that it doesn’t leave me craving for drinking the soup alone without any toppings. One thing to note is that their tom yam is actually quite coconut-y due to the use of coconut milk - even relative to my other experiences.

I would say that one thing that was a bit to the underwhelming side is that a lot of the stuff they serve here is frozen. I’m not talking about thawed and you can taste that it is frozen, it is actually rock hard on the plate kind of frozen. The fish and mixed ball combinations in particular are basically rock hard - which for me are rare because normally they are at least thawed before hand.

All neatly laid out

I don’t take issue with it too much because it doesn’t bother me too much personally, but these are just FYI kind of details.

I think that when you look at AED58 for mixed balls, you would be forgiven for thinking that it doesn’t sound value for money - but I think that’s one of the best things to add to this particular steamboat. The combination is actually pretty big, the variation is quite vast and the taste of the mixed balls go great in the steamboat - so that’s another one that I recommend you adding.

Nine Squares Restaurant’s Signature Beef

For me, the beef and the fish come off as a bit underwhelming. However, I do think that their more expensive cuts of meat on their menu could be worth a try - as what I saw from other patrons of the restaurant - is that the other cuts of meat like the Wagyu actually look like they have decent marbling.

The black tofu is the other thing I want to mention because I think that it’s an interesting addition. A strong beancurd taste and an interesting texture to boot. I don’t really have the word to put on top of it, but it’s a very traditional topping to add to your steamboat - I think whether I would recommend it depends on whether you like beancurd itself. I can see people who don’t like beancurd not liking this, but I’m personally a fan.

Mushroom, Beancurd Sheet & Fish at the Back

Star Rating

7/10. I was personally quite torn over whether to give this a 7 or a 7.5 out of 10, but I settled on a 7 in the end. You still get pretty good value for a Chinese steamboat in Dubai. They have nailed their sauce selection and what makes a good hotpot, their soup bases are decent as well.

The other thing to note is that I feel this is a pretty clean place - to the point where I would happily admit that the hotpot smell doesn’t linger on my clothes after - so compliments to them on a very clean hotpot experience!