I’m back with a restaurant review after 50 million years. I’ve still been eating out plenty, but not enough meals have been worthy of jotting down in this online diary of mine. I recently realized that I end up forgetting where I’ve had some of my most enjoyable meals, and every time anyone asks me for a recommendation, I blank out and can only recall the most recent ones and find myself having to refer to my own blog to refresh my memory. Enter, Ba Restaurant and Lounge, for this was an enjoyable meal, worth the calories, the time and going down on the record.

We went to Ba Restaurant and Lounge a couple of weeks ago, with a friend like family from out of town. He loves sushi, and I had heard from a fellow blogger (Hungry Young Woman) that the Japanese side of the menu at Ba was quite sumptuous, so I decided to accept a standing invite from them and trotted right over.

I have another friend though, whose opinions and insights I trust very much, and she wasn’t too impressed with Ba Restaurant and Lounge. To be fair though, she can’t eat any seafood and all she tried were mostly the pork dishes (which I naturally didn’t have any of), so I’m thinking the two of us had two very different experiences.

Here’s what I loved about Ba Restaurant and Lounge:

• It didn’t feel dead despite being empty. It had a nice, romantic and private feel about it and is great for an intimate date night
• The maki rolls. We tried the 4 best ones, and it was hard to pick which one of these we liked best, they were all incredibly delicious and the balance of flavors was -excuse the cliché- quite umami.
• The baos were soft, juicy, and moreish.
• The tiger prawn tempura. Light, crispy batter, salty, tangy ponzu dipping sauce,
• The black pepper beef was tender, succulent, and had a nice but not overpowering peppery sauce.
• The seafood fried egg noodles were hands down the best of their kind I’ve had in Dubai. They were palpably finished off on a high flame in a very large wok, because that’s the only way one can impart that charred flavor to those perfectly slippery noodles.
• The yuzu sorbet and tart was absolutely sublime. The perfectly light and refreshing end to an indulgent and extremely enjoyable meal.
• Service was excellent. Our server, Deon, was welcoming, pleasant and accommodating.

Here’s what I didn’t like:

• I wasn’t a super fan of the Kung Pao Chicken, wouldn’t order it again.
• I didn’t like the dry hay-like fence forming a divide between the maki rolls on the otherwise shows topping platter. The ice sphere with color changing light under was a cool touch but the hay fence made it absolutely impossible for the person sitting on one side of the table to reach over for the sushi/maki on the other side of this Great Wall without having to turn the entire platter around.

Would I recommend Ba Restaurant and Lounge to those seeking a nice quiet place for a Japanese cum Chinese meal? For sure. So far, I’ve tried two F&B outlets at Fairmont the palm, this and Little Miss India, and both made for excellent meals and excellent service.