Food Blog | Tan Cha | JW Marriot Marquis Hotel | Dubai
Tan Cha has been everywhere on my Instagram feeds (more because of advertisements than anything). It really is everywhere talking about how they have received the award for being in the Michelin Guide 2022. Here’s what I thought of the restaurant on my visit there a few weeks ago.
Where it Is
Whatever you do, don’t park at Marriot Marquis. You will still have to pay for the valet service - as Tan Cha has a separate valet service. The Tan Cha valet entrance looks exactly like this:
A few landmarks would be the Dnata building nearby (for orientation’s sake, it’s on the left of the picture). You basically want to get to the cone in the picture - and someone can pickup your car from that point. After that, you will need to walk straight past the right side of the Marriot Marquis sign (don’t take the stairs up) and then you will find a revolving door, and that’s where you will find Tan Cha.
Not going to lie, it is a bit tricky to find and get there. The last step is a flight of steps to get to the seating area. I wouldn’t recommend Tan Cha especially if there are people having difficulty with a flight of steps.
Address: Tan Cha - JW Marriott Marquis Hotel - Dubai
Operating Hours
Sunday - Thursday : 12 - 3pm, 6pm - 2am
Friday, Saturday : 12 - 3pm, 6pm - 3am
What it Costs
Their 2 course business lunch (with tea) is AED120 / person and their 3 course business lunch (with tea) is AED170 / person. One thing to note: it is important to tell them whether you want a 3 course before hand, because if you add-on one dessert, for example, you cannot change from a 2 course to 3 course, and they will give you the a-la-carte price instead (so for example, we paid AED 5 extra (AED 55 for a-la-carte dessert price). Quite frankly, I don’t understand it, because it feels like something there just to infuriate the customer, but I digress.
Their business lunch is the following (note, might have changed since)
Our bill was as per the following:
Three two-course business lunch sets - AED 120 x 3 (AED360)
1 Matcha Lover dessert - AED 55
1 Large Evian - AED 30
Prices inclusive of 10% service charge, 7% municipality fee, and a 5% VAT.
How it Tastes
Starting off with the palette cleanser, their wintermelon palette cleanser is a very clean and fresh dish to awaken your taste buds and prepare you for the lunch ahead.
On a side note, there’s a selection of chillis that they will serve. My parents really liked them and basically had the sauces by itself before any of the starters arrived!
For the starters, we selected the following:
Salmon Prosperity Salad
Truffle Mushroom Bun
Prawn Toast
All 3 are decent starters, the salmon prosperity salad is basically a dish that all Chinese people are accustomed to in the Chinese New Year period, it’s basically a Yee Sang (or however you spell it in whatever dialect you use). Overall, a very nice Yee Sang with lots of flavours.
My personal choice of starter was the truffle mushroom bun. Everytime I order one of these, my dad will be confused as to why I ordered a mushroom before realising it’s a bao with mushroom inside. Personally, I like the aromatic smells and savoury taste of a truffle mushroom bao, but I think my parents aren’t as big fans. You can take a look at how they made it here!
The prawn toast would probably be my pick for the safest starter to order for everyone. Really nice, crunchy exterior with a delicious prawn interior that makes this my pick for the best starter among these 3. Great for kids, and adults will love it regardless.
And now I’ll move onto our mains! We had the following mains:
Sweet and Sour Chicken in Candied Walnuts
Hokkaido Scallops in XO sauce
Tea Smoked Crispy Skin Chicken (Roasted Chicken)
My pick for the favourite main is probably between the two chicken dishes, with the roasted chicken dish edging it out for me. There’s a slight gimmick involved, with it presented in this bird-cage like presentation before they take it away after a round of pictures. But I really like the flavours and the skin on the chicken!
The sweet and sour chicken dish was great too. Savoury goodness! I would say it is not really like most other sweet and sour chicken dishes I’ve had. I’m more accustomed to the type with a lot of sauce on the side, and the sauce is red all over, but this one feels like an almost Western version of the dish, with the focus on the fried elements. I’m not complaining, just bringing it up if you’re looking for sweet and sour chicken that is more sauce heavy.
The scallop dish is so-so. A lot of interesting elements, and not really something I would complain or rave about, so I would say it’s just okay. I think the other two dishes are better tasting.
The Matcha Lover dessert was great too, and I would say it probably is worth getting one to share. This version in particular was a birthday variation - because I visited for my birthday!
Star Rating
5/10. One thing I will say is that I do think that it is overpriced relative to other restaurants. The one that directly comes to my mind as better value is Hutong. For example, Hutong’s business lunch comes in at AED110 for a soup, 2 appetizers and a main - all of which I think are comparable or better than Tan Cha. (Review on Hutong coming up really soon)
Furthermore, the service is a bit lacking at times. A lot of it is targeted at trying to get you to spend more - it feels much stronger here than other places, which is why I’m making a point of it. On Zomato, there are reviews talking about bad service and bad practices with regard to hiding the wine prices, before having a large wine bill. (I didn’t order any wine, so I don’t particularly know about whether this actually happens, or anything has changed since then)
The short summary of my review is this: Go to Hutong, I sincerely think it’s a lot better. (I say Hutong because a lot of things in the business lunch are comparable).