“The glass was even colder than I expected”
Thomas Frey: Dubai is known for its strange and unusual features, but there’s something extraordinarily mesmerizing about seeing a restaurant made out of ice in the middle of a hot desert. The Chill Out restaurant is located in the center of the Time Square Mall in Dubai. Nearly everything inside is made out of ice, and the food is amazingly good. (Pics)
The sign at the front entrance doesn’t quite prepare you for what’s inside. They charge an entrance fee of 60 DHS ($17) to enter the restaurant.
First stop, the wardrobe closet to get a nice comfortable coat and a pair of gloves. The oh-so-sexy hat was the other must have fashion accessory of this chilling event. Since I was on the early side of lunch time, I ended up being their only customer.
The restaurant has a nice sparkle to it with lights behind all the ice tables. An ongoing background hum was emitted by the numerous compressors used to chill this crazy place.
All of the surfaces that a diner could sit or lean on are covered with white fur. The seats were quite comfortable, but for some reason customers in this environment tend to talk fast, and eat quickly.
I talked briefly to Tatiyana, my waitress and asked her if it was hard working in the cold temps of this freezer restaurant. She said she was from Russia, and loved to feel the cold air when she worked. Importing your help from Russia. Brilliant!
My orange juice was served in a cup made completely out of ice. Just to let you know, there are very few things more refreshing in a hot desert area than to drink juice from an ice cup like this.
Large ice chunks on strings separated the booths, giving a cave-like feel to the room.
Outside of the side windows is the rest of the Time Square Mall with people walking by and waving at me. Actually, this was a bit like an ice zoo and I was on the inside of the cage.
Ice sculptures added an artistic flow to the dining experience. Undeniably cold, and hard, but somehow it softened the starkness of being in a freezer.
When my kabobs came out, they were sizzling over a flaming grill. Sensational flavor and pleasantly contradictory biting into sizzling hot food in the literally ice cold room.
The camera was already starting to ice up as Tatiyana to another shot of me. I can’t think of any other restaurant that could benefit so much from having a camera de-icer for customer use.
As a way the keep the room alive and inviting, colored lighting changed from red to blue, giving a much different effect.
Another shot of the crazy collection of stores outside the restaurant.
Dropping off my coat, hat and gloves after having one more “sexy snapshot” taken, I fondly said goodbye to a wonderfully cold lunch in Dubai.
As I bid a final farewell I waved goodbye to the cute cardboard cutout of Tatiyana greeting potential cool customers in the mall. Until we meet again Tatiyana…
