Food Blog | 11 Woodfire | Business Lunch | Dubai
11 Woodfire is a one-michelin-star restaurant near Mandarin Oriental Dubai, and when I heard about their new business lunch menu (or their Lunch set Prix Fixe), I was super excited to head to the restaurant and try it out!
Disclaimer: I haven’t tried their a-la-carte / dinner offering before - this reflects just the lunch offering at 11 Woodfire. I came here as a party of 3.
Where it Is
As mentioned above, 11 Woodfire is located near Mercato Shopping Center / Mandarin Oriental Dubai. There’s a valet parking if you’re dining at 11 Woodfire that I recommend you take up - just to make things easier.
I would describe their interior as really cozy. Not really what I would expect of a Michelin star restaurant where everything is prim and proper - I would say 11 Woodfire is really going for a cozy fireplace vibe - because in essence that is the main attraction of 11 Woodfire - the roaring fire in the middle of their kitchen. On OpenTable, their dress code is described as business casual - I went in ‘casual’ but with long pants - and that was fine for lunch.
Address: Villa 11 75B St - Jumeirah - Jumeirah 1 - Dubai
Operating Hours:
11 Woodfire operates daily from 10am to 12 midnight with the exception of Mondays (6pm - midnight). Their lunch offering starts at 12 noon - although I’m not quite sure when it ends. I highly recommend making a reservation beforehand! You can use this link right over here to make a reservation with 11 Woodfire.
What it Costs
For a business lunch offering, I would say it’s pretty reasonable. They offer 1 starters and a main for AED125. Probably my gripe about the pricing is that the mains are a bit on the smaller side relative to other business lunches I’ve tried at this price bracket, but I think the fact that you have 2 decently sized appetizers makes up for this. Here’s their business set lunch (or Lunch set Prix Fixe) menu:
My party’s total bill came up to AED425 (VAT5% inclusive). The breakdown is like such:
3 Business Lunch Sets AED375 total
Coca-cola AED18
Acqua Panna (Water) AED32
How it Tastes
We basically ordered our dishes to share. We had all the starters except for the meat kebab (which no doubt would have been delicious because I suspect it would have gone in the roaring flames at 11 Woodfire - but because my mum doesn’t eat beef we decided against it since we were sharing.
Beetroot with Feta Cheese Starter
They served all the cold starters first: the red shrimp, seabass carpaccio, beetroot, and the chlorophyll. Really difficult to pick out a favourite among these. I think that the beetroot dish honestly stood out for me. The beetroot was actually sweet and not too hard (I’ve had some that are almost difficult to chew on). It goes really well with the feta cheese as well. I would probably say that if you’re a cheese hater, this is probably a dish you want to stay clear of, but otherwise, I think it probably was my favourite among the cold starters.
Chlorophyll (Edamame and Leafy Greens) Starter
The rest were probably as good as each other for me. In no particular order, I think the Chlorophyll dish (edamame and leafy vegetables) is really tasty - the strength is definitely in the dressing. The dressing really whets your appetite for the dishes to come.
Red Shrimp and Pineapple Gazpacho
The red shrimp was pretty good as well. I thought the star of the dish was the pineapple gazpacho rather than the red shrimp though.
Seabass Carpaccio Starter
The seabass carpaccio dish has that really umami taste attached to it - almost like there’s some form of truffle oil in the dish. It’s also accompanied by black chilli and pickled wakame and overall, I think it’s a really good dish.
I would say that I’m probably more of a fan of the hot appetizers - and I think that it’s no exception over here at 11 Woodfire. Both dishes seem to take advantage of their open-fire cooking, so that’s something to appreciate about their hot dishes here. We had the chicken wings and the calamari.
Calamari Starter
Frankly, I thought the calamari dish would be deep fried - it didn’t really cross my mind that they would cook it the way they did - which in hindsight is a bit silly. But it’s in a sort of skewer form, and it’s accompanied by fennel and a parsley puree. The parsley puree adds an acidity that makes this dish really refreshing - a stark contrast from the flavour you get from the char on the calamari. I think I’m still probably more a fan of the more classic style - deep fried with a dipping sauce haha.
Chicken Wings Starter
The chicken wings are REALLY good though. I really like their marinade and outer coating of the chicken. Lots of flavour. It has sweetness and really is cooked to perfection.
For the mains, we ordered the scallops, wagyu burger, and the Atlantic seabass.
Scallop and Corn Main
First off, I’ll talk about the scallops. I think that the scallops were well cooked and delicious. I really liked the corn kernels accompanying the dish as well! One slight gripe about the dish is that the corn was really salty in some parts and not as salty in others - almost like it wasn’t seasoned evenly. Apart from that, I still think it’s a pretty good dish.
Wagyu Burger
I had more of the Wagyu burger. I would say that this is a REALLY good burger. Lots of flavour, juicy, has that almost tinge of truffle inside and the cheese, mushroom and sriracha really make this a perfect bite coming from a burger. I just almost think it’s a bit of a shame that it doesn’t come with fries. But as I said, it is compensated by the fact that you have 2 appetizers which are pretty large in portion size.
Atlantic Seabass
The Atlantic seabass was honestly really good as well. I don’t even really have complaints about this one. Super delicious, the skin and the fish are beautifully cooked. Nothing really much else to say about it, just a beautiful piece of fish cooked deliciously.
Overall, I think that the burger is probably my recommendation - quite simply because that bite is so darn delicious.
Star Rating
8/10. I think overall, compared to their dinner / a-la-carte menu, this is one of the best oppourtunities to try a michelin starred restaurant at a decent price point in Dubai. I think that all the dishes we tried were good. The place is comfortable and service was pretty good as well.