Pachanga - Churrasco at The Hilton, The Walk JBR
Restaurant Dining | In Unspecified on August 15th, 2016
100-200 AED
Unspecified
We discover the best of South American cuisine in one of Dubai's longest standing Latin haunts. Nestled away on the first floor of the iconic Hilton JBR is the Havanna-themed Pachanga, with its distinctive green chairs and wooden shutters hiding the ghastly construction site which is now temporarily blemishing the beach side beauty of the "Walk."
For starters, rather than the traditional salad bar we see at other Churraseria's, we were served 4 mini bowls at our table including a couple of Argentinian Beef Empanadas, Corn Cakes, a Sweetcorn Salad and what we thought was a Potato Salad. The Dough of the empanada was floury and the meat inside was well seasoned, although the Corn Cake had a strange consistency to it and we found the Sweetcorn salad to be bland. The Potato Salad actually turned out to be a pineapple salad, and we found it to be quite strange…it looked and was seasoned like a savoury dish but the sweet taste was a little confusing for our taste buds. Sufficed to say, although you are able to reorder as many times as you like, there was nothing that compelled us to do so and we quickly moved onto the main course.
The 1st meat to appear on the skewers was the Picanha. One of the most prized cut of meat in Brazil and Argentina, really tender, smoky, salty and could have been eaten by itself, although we did have sauces brought out to us including chili sauce, pepper sauce, mushroom sauce and our favourite chimichurri which has the inimitable gift of making everything taste better. Next up was the Ribeye, which had been marinated in Dijon mustard and is usually our favourite cut of steak when in a "regular" steakhouse. Due to these lofty expectations, this particular cut proved to be the biggest disappointment on the night as we could tell even from the way that our waiter struggled awkwardly to butcher it in front of us that it looked tough and fatty. A real contrast to the way the knife simply slid through the Picanha we had enjoyed so much before. The next pieces of meat to arrive were the Boneless Leg of Lamb marinated in Thyme, a Beef Sausage with Chorizo and finally a grilled Chicken marinated in herbs and paprika.
The Chicken was undoubtedly the star of the day, served on a round chopping board, its crispy skin with cracked black pepper reveals juicy, flavoursome thigh meat to rival that of any chicken we have tasted anywhere before.
Accompaniments of Bean Stew, Fried Banana, Rice & Potato Wedges were served in addition to the meats, although we saved room in our stomachs for the protein.
Following the Chicken, we were suitably stuffed and at this point would have turned over the red table mats we are used to seeing at other Churrascaria's signaling our surrender!
We wanted to finish the meal on a high, so in our opinion the desserts were a little unnecessary, especially having the additional and unexpected pallet cleanser of grilled pineapple surprise us at our table. Nevertheless, arrive they did and a triple glass platter of Dos Amigos (Two Chocolate Mousses), a fruit salad and a raspberry mousse made a slight impression but were ultimately forgettable.
All in all, aside from from a couple of standout dishes, the experience was lacking in a bit of atmosphere as there were only 3 other tables in attendance that night. The large pillared dancefloor area and deserted bongos, however, tell the tale of a venue fit to, and used to hosting more raucous affairs which we would be very keen to see. The background music, a mix of of reggaeton, salsa and samba music with modern remixes of more familiar artists such as Chris Brown, Rhianna and Justin Bieber was a nice touch and kept the evening flowing along nicely. We certainly saw enough on this mini snippet to entice us back to give it another try on a busier evening, even if it would just be for the Chicken and the Picanha.
Churrasco & ASADO All-you-can-eat South American meat grill AED 195 per person or AED 249 for 2 people with the Groupon deal. (Saving AED 141)
To Book call +971-4-3991111 or email fb.jumeirahreservations@hilton.com
The 1st meat to appear on the skewers was the Picanha. One of the most prized cut of meat in Brazil and Argentina, really tender, smoky, salty and could have been eaten by itself, although we did have sauces brought out to us including chili sauce, pepper sauce, mushroom sauce and our favourite chimichurri which has the inimitable gift of making everything taste better. Next up was the Ribeye, which had been marinated in Dijon mustard and is usually our favourite cut of steak when in a "regular" steakhouse. Due to these lofty expectations, this particular cut proved to be the biggest disappointment on the night as we could tell even from the way that our waiter struggled awkwardly to butcher it in front of us that it looked tough and fatty. A real contrast to the way the knife simply slid through the Picanha we had enjoyed so much before. The next pieces of meat to arrive were the Boneless Leg of Lamb marinated in Thyme, a Beef Sausage with Chorizo and finally a grilled Chicken marinated in herbs and paprika.
The Chicken was undoubtedly the star of the day, served on a round chopping board, its crispy skin with cracked black pepper reveals juicy, flavoursome thigh meat to rival that of any chicken we have tasted anywhere before.
Accompaniments of Bean Stew, Fried Banana, Rice & Potato Wedges were served in addition to the meats, although we saved room in our stomachs for the protein.
Following the Chicken, we were suitably stuffed and at this point would have turned over the red table mats we are used to seeing at other Churrascaria's signaling our surrender!
We wanted to finish the meal on a high, so in our opinion the desserts were a little unnecessary, especially having the additional and unexpected pallet cleanser of grilled pineapple surprise us at our table. Nevertheless, arrive they did and a triple glass platter of Dos Amigos (Two Chocolate Mousses), a fruit salad and a raspberry mousse made a slight impression but were ultimately forgettable.
All in all, aside from from a couple of standout dishes, the experience was lacking in a bit of atmosphere as there were only 3 other tables in attendance that night. The large pillared dancefloor area and deserted bongos, however, tell the tale of a venue fit to, and used to hosting more raucous affairs which we would be very keen to see. The background music, a mix of of reggaeton, salsa and samba music with modern remixes of more familiar artists such as Chris Brown, Rhianna and Justin Bieber was a nice touch and kept the evening flowing along nicely. We certainly saw enough on this mini snippet to entice us back to give it another try on a busier evening, even if it would just be for the Chicken and the Picanha.
Churrasco & ASADO All-you-can-eat South American meat grill AED 195 per person or AED 249 for 2 people with the Groupon deal. (Saving AED 141)
To Book call +971-4-3991111 or email fb.jumeirahreservations@hilton.com
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