Makan-San Brunch at Peppercrab, Grand Hyatt

To our most avid followers, our lust for seafood is no secret, and in particular anything of the Crustacean variety. So you can imagine our delight when we found out about the recently launched Makan-San Brunch at Peppercrab inside the part-palatial, part tropical rain forest surroundings of the Grand Hyatt. Billed as the first of its kind seafood restaurant in Dubai, it boasts the unique culinary delights of Singapore with a mesmerizing view of the action in the live kitchens.

The Food

Chef Yapp and Chef Ryo have teamed up to create a brunch concept promising to combine the best of South East Asian and Japanese cuisines utilizing both "Peppercrab" and the adjoining restaurant "Sushi." We began in the namesake restaurant with some beautifully presented Cold Appetisers which included Acar Acar, a type of vegetable pickle made in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, Smoked Duck with mixed capsicums in an orange dressing, Young Mang Seafood Salad and a Vegetable Salad with Bean Curd in Sesame dressing. One of the unexpected stars of the day was undoubtedly the Gado-Gado, an Indonesian Salad made up of steamed Vegetables, Hardboiled Eggs and a peanut sauce dressing which was mixed live in front of us in large wooden bowls. Delicious.

From the complexities of the Asian Salads, we moved onto the gratifyingly simplistic pick up and eat street food which was served atop a large Pandan Leaf. A selection of Deep fried Prawn fritters, Deep Fried Crispy Chicken and Prawn Crackers were served with either as much or as little Sambal, Chilli Soya, Chilli Padi and Red Chili flakes as your taste buds could handle.

As you would expect, the Sushi, Sashimi and Seafood spreads are both mouthwateringly fresh and aesthetically pleasing, particularly the huge meaty Lobster Tails which were presented theatrically on ice with freshly shucked Oysters surrounding them. We were even served mini bowls of Chili Mud Crab to our table which was an unexpected but extremely welcome and not to mention delicious surprise to come back to!

If all of this talk of seafood is getting a bit much for you, do not despair as they also had the Carnivores among us covered in the form of a BBQ station which was obviously smaller in comparison with the selection of Seafood on offer, but no less comprehensive. Here we scarfed down juicy cuts of Lamb & Chicken Skewers, Beef Tongue (yes we had to try it…) and Singaporean Duck before partaking in a cursory tasting of the Steamed (Har Gao, Chicken Siew Mai, BBQ Chicken Pau) and Deep Fried Dim Sum selections (Chicken money bag, Deep fried Lotus Sesame ball, Veg spring roll).

There was just about enough room left for one of our personal favourites…the Malaysian Laksa Curry before moving onto the desserts which came in the quintessentially Asian form of various mixed tropical fruit, a Creamy Mango Soup, an indulgent selection of naughty mini Chocolate cakes, Daifuku, which is a Japanese confection consisting of a small round Mochi stuffed with sweet filling and a novel coconut and crushed ice set up - where you can create your own bowl of child-like goodness from a multi-coloured assortment of fruits and jellies.

The Drinks

We opted for the alcoholic package which included free flowing Sparkling Wine, Wine and Beers (Chang, Tiger and Asahi) as well the "Peppercrab Sling", a drink entered into a worldwide competition and making it to the top 20! It was impressive although we could only handle a couple of these each due to their sweetness.

We were left relatively undisturbed throughout the entirety of our brunch, which on any other day could have left us frustrated and parched. Luckily for us, however, the staff, perhaps aware of our reputations had brought us over bottles of Sparkling Wine and left them in ice buckets within arm's reach of our table, so we were more than happy to serve ourselves for the afternoon.

The Other Stuff

Pepper Crab has a beautifully tranquil feel to it with its Floor-to-ceiling windows filling the restaurant with natural light and the garden area engulfing the outdoor terrace a lush oasis bristling with bamboo shoots and water features. On our particular visit, there was a lady playing the flute for almost the entire duration of the brunch. Her soft oriental notes providing the perfect complement to the overall relaxed ambiance of the day, although it would have been nice to have a little change of pace here and there with perhaps a DJ in intervals to halt the march towards hypnosis and the inevitable food coma.

This brunch feels more like a laid-back long lunch rather than a highly strung brunch with lots of fireworks, flames, bells and whistles. The focus here is on simple and fresh ingredients, impeccable seafood, and a relaxing atmosphere. We would come back for the crab alone!

Every Friday from 12:30pm to 4:00pm

AED 249 per person (soft drinks)

AED 349 per person (Alcoholic Package) AED100 per child aged between six and 12 including soft drinks. Children below six dine for free.

To Book: Please call 04 317 2221