At.mosphere: Dining Above The Clouds At Burj Khalifa
Equality, liberty, and more importantly toleration and respect
Equality, liberty, and more importantly toleration and respect
Following all my business trips to the United Arab Emirates, I’ve come to realize that people are prejudiced against the country a bit. However the four themes that I’ve had the opportunity to observe in the UAE are: equality, liberty, and more importantly toleration and respect.
While the country highly tolerates most of the things except for drugs, guns and anarchy; although it is still governed by monarchy, the UAE set a better example for equality than many countries with claims of democracy. In Dubai where the unofficial language is English because of the numerous expats and workers from all over the world, you can see women everywhere, be it, shuffling around the shopping malls crowded by the globally most popular brands or sunbathing in their bikinis by day and dancing in their miniskirts at outdoor clubs such as White Dubai by night.
While back in the early 1990s, Dubai was a city with just a few buildings in the middle of the dessert, it is obvious that the city has made the big dream of those days come true with all the skyscrapers mushrooming everywhere. Well, as such, Dubai can be said to have been built from scratch just like the city of Las Vegas. The city has a high imports rate, which means, it is very possible to find in its dessert restaurants live fish brought from Japan or Mediterranean greens fresh as if they’re collected from the garden a few minutes ago.
As the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa deserves to be called the landmark of Dubai, besides it is also home to the highest restaurant of the world: At.mosphere.
With its sky spearing height standing at 828 meters, Burj Khalifa offers a striking view where you can even take a glance at Iran. Although its higher floors are built with special material to ward off the scorching dessert weather, the building is still a bit vulnerable against the wind exposure with a room to bend 1.5 meter. Again, the visitors experience this as little as possible thanks to its architecture.
Perched on the 122nd floor, At.mosphere Restaurant is only accessible by a special elevator. After your table reservations are checked at the entrance, you will almost be beamed up to the 123rd floor in 50 seconds at 65 km/h speed. Although, you won’t feel the pressure change or any other disturbance. When you get there, a cigar lounge and a café will be waiting for you.
In the restaurant, in addition to the usual tables, you will also find a special dining room with 12 seats. The tables near the windows feel like you’re on a plane. While the skyscrapers around will make you dizzy if you’re out on the street, they will look like huts from those tables.
With its short but quality menu and delicate wine pairings, the restaurant offers the city dwellers a nice fine dining experience. As for me, I chose to visit the restaurant at lunch time to enjoy the day view from above. The first thing our table got was a bread plate and some salty butter. Also in addition to some crunchy French baguettes, the breads with parmesan and truffle would be the anthem of the end of your diet.
The starter I chose to go with, crab salad featured shredded Alaskan king crab as well as Mediterranean greens and slices of red beet. And this picture perfect dish was accompanied by a glass of Sauvignon Blanc sourced right from the New Zealand Marlborough vineyards.
After a fresh start, the next dish apparently had its share from the imported goods of the city: Patagonian black cod. Its spectacular presentation was complemented by some risotto made from the mineral-rich Italian “black venus rice,” parmesan foam, dried tomato and lemon slices. The only downside was that there was more than enough beet which turned into an average sort of sauce blending with the melting foam.
For dessert, I got dame blanche profiterole which was bathed in its hot sauce. Eventually, the meal came to an end with eye-catching coffee and petit fours duo.
One of the leading restaurants in Dubai, At.mosphere offers quite a satisfactory experience for those gourmands who want to stay close to clouds by day and stars by night.
Bon appétit and enjoy the taste of life…
At.mospehere
Burj Khalifa,122nd Floor, Dowtown Dubai UAE
+971 4 888 3828
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