Tnatesh is Kuwaiti restaurant in the Jewels Tower overlooking the Dubai Marina waterfront. Unfortunately, it’s one of the few eateries located on the far, incomplete end. So, unless you’ve got a 4X4 you’re going to have a nail-biting time taking your car down and then back up the unasphalted dirt road. Thankfully, I can raise the height of my car but my poor food-buddy, Sam, who came in his red, convertible Porsche 911 greeted me with a nervous frown as we parked our cars.
Once inside, the restaurant itself is a delight, handsomely decorated with touches of turquoise offsetting whitewashed exposed brick walls, jute twined rope ceiling and partitions, and tile and wooden flooring. And it’s mercifully cool.
The physically oversized Tnatesh menu covers all the Kuwaiti favourites I have heard of and many which I haven’t. On a strict low-carb diet at the time, I ordered the Gebla Shawarma of spiced chicken strips. It arrived, like the rest of the food, inexcusably late. It was also overcooked and cold.
My food-buddy ordered Murabyan, a traditional prawn and spiced rice dish served with a tomato sauce on the side, which he loved. We shared a cheese coated eggplant and minced meat dish called Eggplant Tawa, which was nice, certainly better than my chicken.
Service at Tnatesh was also a disappointment. Although we were the only people in the restaurant that lunchtime, we had to get up and seek out wait staff every time we wanted or needed something. So, as good as my friend’s Murabyan was, the combination of a location which still looks and feels like a construction site (not to mention that it’s right next door to a pet store), agonisingly slow and indifferent service, and my overcooked, cold chicken means I cannot recommend this restaurant.
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Xerxes physically visits each and every venue he reviews and pays full price for whatever he eats and drinks. Xerxes accepts no money, gifts or free meals in return for reviews. What you have read was not influenced in any way by the venue.
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