Birdies Sports Lounge, located on the fringe of the Arabian Ranches golf course, is possibly the most overlooked, underrated venue in all of Dubai Land. And that includes Motor City, Victory Heights, the Green Community, the Polo & Equestrian Club, etc. Even I am guilty of coming here for nearly a decade without so much of a second thought. So why now? Well, one reason is that the Ranches Restaurant & Terrace is closed for refurbishment and, besides Maison Mathis, there’s nowhere else to go without having to drive outside the Arabian Ranches colony. The other reason is that, having visited it with friends yesterday I was reminded what a lovely little venue it actually is. I’ve never visited it at night, using it only as day time, post golf thirst quenching watering hole.
The interior is actually quite nice, if a little stereotypically sports bar-ish with pictures of sports personalities and memorabilia vying for space on the walls with the multitude of flat screens. Greeting you as you enter is a lightly used pool table which my friends entertained themselves with while we waited for our fourth companion to arrive. I don’t play. Two of the framed pictures caught my attention, one of the great Jack Nicklaus holding up the British Open Championship trophy on the 18th of the Old Course at St. Andrew’s in ‘78. I was actually there and remember being ecstatic, not because the Golden Bear had won, but because the three day ordeal I had been dragged along to by my golf mad dad (hey, that rhymes) and his even nuttier friends would finally be over and we could go home. The second was of Maradona holding up the ’86 World Cup trophy. It reminded me of his famous ‘hand of God’ goal against England in the quarters. I guarantee you will think of the same when you see it.
We ordered finger food. Simple stuff like Nachos and Sticky Chicken Lollipops to accompany the sparkling water I was drinking and the other fizzies my companions were drinking while watching the unimaginable, Prost and Senna battling it out in Formula E. This of course was Nico, son of the great Alan Prost, and Bruno, nephew of legend Ayrton Senna. Back to the fizzies, Birdies has a smile-worthy happy hour – from 16:00 to 21:00. The down side is that it kicks everyone out at 22:30. The food took no time to arrive and was surprisingly good.
Service was exemplary. The young, hugely friendly Filipino supervisor making us feel very much at home – fussing over us, remembering our names, anticipating our wants and needs, changing the channels when we wanted – brilliant, even if we were the only ones there. If you live in the area, Birdies is most definitely an option worth checking out. The service is good, food is good, ambiance is good – the only problem is that they don’t show Euro 2016. But that’s soon be over.
Waste NOT. Want NOT.
Check out my collection of the best value for money restaurants in Dubai: https://zoma.to/uc/51-AKZZm