Food Blog | CÉ LA VI | The Address Skyview | Dubai
Today, I’m sharing with you guys the business lunch offering from Ce La Vi, The Address Skyview! This is actually the winner of the Favourite Business Lunch on the What’s On Awards Dubai and the place where I brought my girlfriend for her recent birthday here in Dubai, so definitely check this business lunch out!
Context: Came here in April ‘22 with my girlfriend.
I booked via online reservation (and realized I made a typo on my reservation for my e-mail, silly me!) but they helped me rectify it quickly. They called me the day before and I requested a small birthday candle for the dessert.
Where It Is
One thing you want to be very careful of is which The Address you go to - because there are four (or maybe even more that I’m not aware of) including The Address Downtown, The Address Dubai Mall, The Address Fountain View and more - so MAKE SURE you enter the right The Address into your GPS. You will have your standard valet parking option here.
The entrance to Ce La Vi is on the right of the hotel lobby (as you exit the hotel lobby) - there is a different entrance.
Address: Tower 2 - Level 54, Address Sky View Hotel - Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Blvd - Dubai
Do note that it is still quite a walk to Dubai Mall - one of the appeals of Cé La Vi, in particular, is the vantage point of Burj Khalifa, so it is about a 10-minute walk from Dubai Mall. If you’re looking for more things to do at The Address Skyview, you can also take a look at their Sky Views Observatory - where you will have a nice view and the trendy slide that everyone on Instagram has been talking about.
Operating Hours:
Daily - 12pm - 3am (Except Saturday)
Saturday - 12-30pm - 3am
What it Costs
Their business lunch costs AED140 per person and you’ll get an appetizer, a main, and a dessert. There is an option to add AED110 for the Steak Frites - so you can take that up if you wish. You can find the set menu below.
Me and my girlfriend shared the following:
Appetizers:
Crispy Potato Hash “Okonomiyaki Style”
Roasted Mushroom Soup
Mains:
Black Truffle “Sushi Rice” Risotto
Steak Frites (Extra AED110)
Desserts:
Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake
Passionfruit Tart
We also had a bottle of water, so the bill was AED140x2 + AED110 (Steak Frites) + AED30 (Bottle of Water), bringing the bill to AED420.
What I like is that they actually also have a vegetarian set lunch menu - so there’s food for everyone here! You can take a look at all their menus by clicking on this link right over here!
How It Tastes
The short summary of the food here: no gimmicks, clean tastes, and great combinations.
Starting off with the appetizers, the roasted mushroom soup actually really impressed me. Not only am I a fan of the mushroom soup on itself, I really love the textures within. There are a few harder textures within the mushroom soup - the hazelnut, pickled Shimeji mushrooms, and the black pepper crumble - which I thought I would exactly be a fan of, but they actually work together so well! Honestly a big fan of their mushroom soup.
There’s also a warm and fluffy piece of bread for you to dip in your mushroom soup!
The Crispy Potato Hash “Okonomiyaki Style” is an interesting take on Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is normally referred to as the pancake dish with sauce and bonito flakes. I would say this is kind of an in-between of Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki (which is the octopus balls). But I like how the potato hash works as the “carrier” of the sauce and the bonito flakes. Soft and cooked perfectly, so I think this is a dish that blends well together too!
Now onto the mains.
If you’re a more frequent viewer of my blog, you would know how I LOVE my risottos (particularly mushroom). This one absolutely meets the mark. I don’t think that there are any exceptional differences by using sushi rice as the rice of choice for the risotto, but this one has the creaminess of a yummy risotto. They don’t stinge on their truffle as well, as you can see from the pictures. The parmesan mousse on the side brings another layer of creaminess and flavor to make this a REALLY nice risotto.
I ordered the Steak Frites for the extra AED110 and I personally think it probably isn’t worth the extra fee. This is perhaps the only dish that falls a bit flat for me. I want to be clear when I say this: I’m not saying it tastes bad, I’m just saying that I don’t think it is worth shelling out AED110 extra for it - especially when I say that I prefer the risotto over the Steak Frites.
You have all your basic elements - grilled striploin, french fries, lime garlic aioli, and koji jus. I really love garlic aiolis and this one isn’t an exception. As I said, I think it is an alright dish, just not good enough to be worth AED110 extra, in my opinion.
Because it was my girlfriend’s birthday, they put a sparkler on the dessert and gave her one to hold, which was nice! They also changed the chocolate cake out just in case bits of the sparkler fell into the dessert. (I couldn’t tell you whether the first cake was just for show, but at least the sparklers are nice, at no additional cost)
The vegan chocolate cake is actually pretty darn good compared to other vegan chocolate cakes I’ve had. Pretty light and tasty, so I think this is a good choice if you want a safe and light option for dessert.
I was a bigger fan of the passionfruit tart though, their passionfruit really packs a lot of flavors and the dessert goes very well complimented by the softer flavors of the coconut ice cream. A really classic combination that was executed really well, so I really liked this dessert!
Notes
If you’re a more frequent visitor of my blog, you will know that my main focus is the food, always, and I may make a small comment about the service in the star rating section if it catches my eye. I felt the need to make a special note of it for Ce La Vi, because I think that the service is great.
I actually really like the teamwork of the staff here. Everyone seems to roughly understand each customer’s timeline - how long each person has waited for dishes, they are already preparing the next thing like clockwork, etc.
If this does reach the Ce La Vi staff, my booking number was 4RJFZLBAH - so offer my compliments to the staff on the day.
Mandatory shot at Ce La Vi, their flower awning in front of the Burj Khalifa
Star Rating
9/10. One of those “can’t go wrong” places to bring a partner for birthday lunch. Splendid view, great ambiance, fantastic service, and wonderful food. Rightfully up there among the best business lunches in Dubai.