Steaks around town
Whatever your preference, Muscat offers a steak for everyone. Read our reviews to find yours
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| Prices listed are for an average meal (per person), excluding drinks. |
At the end of the day, after you’re through dabbling with salads, new age health foods and greener options, there’s always the steak. Well done, rare or anywhere in-between, it is usually large, no-nonsense, hearty and filling. In some ways it can leave subtlety far behind, and in others it can be supremely sophisticated, a prime cut from the finest meat in the world. This chunk of meat can be handled so lightly to be a soft pink deep within – even a red if you’re a purist – darkening to a greyish brown on the outside.
Whatever your preference, there’s no beating a steak. From restaurants sitting behind our busiest road junctions, one of Muscat’s largest shopping malls or the quiet sophistication of five-star service, Muscat offers a steak for everyone. Start with these few and you’ll soon find yours.
Al Tajin Grill 24 487777
The Al Tajin at the Radisson SAS says that it is the best steakhouse in Muscat – and it has good reason to make such a claim. Its steaks are expensive, delicious and cooked to perfection. Its décor is sophisticated, warm and understated, and everything about the restaurant makes you aware that the hotel takes great pride in it.
Walk in and you’ll love the interiors of soft beige, with heavy drapes, framed art and a few artefacts on the walls. Look up at the wooden beamed ceiling and the little flowers painted all over it, following the lines of the room. We were escorted to a little table for two, against a wooden slatted partition. You’re immediately aware of how different the Al Tajin is. On a little hook by your side of the table is a pen on a string and your napkin. We were a little concerned that the cloth was attached too, but it comes off for your meal. The pen is for entering your choice of food on a card – you don’t give your
waiter your order, you enter it for him. And that menu is a single sheet, with groups of choices. Select one from each group, tick off your boxes on the accompanying card and voila, you’ve got you order down. And while its debatable whether this deviance serves any real purpose apart from novelty, the really brilliant part of it is that the sheet becomes a postcard once you turn it over. Complete with a writing space, a few lines for an address and a patch for a stamp. The Al Tajin promises that they’ll deliver your little note anywhere in the world, for free. Such an unexpected turn to the meal (even before it has been served) and what a great idea! We liked this restaurant already.
Start off with the salad buffet, with a profusion of the usual greens and dressings. This didn’t do much for us – it just helps pass the time a little easier. Perhaps the salad pales a little in comparison to the main course, or perhaps you’re prepped up for something more lavish than the rather predictable offering. Either way, don’t miss out on the corn or the artichoke. Whet your appetite and
prepare for the main attraction.
They’ve simplified choices for you, into packages that come with a fixed price, a few options within. You can pair your meal with your preference of side dish, sauce and butter. Packages range from RO13-19, from the predictable mixed grill to the Australian Black Angus beef tenderloin, sitting on top of the food chain. We tried lamb chops and the Angus – they were both exceptional. And there’s even more reason to celebrate, for the talent for fine cuisine isn’t centred around steaks, or the main course. Don’t miss the Café de Paris butter, or the grain Dijon mustard sauce to go with your meat. Side dishes revolve around potato, from fries to those served with spring onion, beef bacon and sour cream.
Grill House 24 603660
Stuck between the largest malls in Al Khuwayr and traffic lights, Grill House has no option but to leave subtlety behind and blare out its message. Look towards the corner for its brightly lit signboard, and messages proudly listing Chinese, Thai, Indian and Continental cuisines. Such a high density of variety is in keeping with the pace of traffic outside, but has nothing to do with its name – just a section of its menu is devoted to grills.
Its offering has got to be one of the most extensive within Muscat,
literally listing hundreds of dishes that range from Thai starters to Chinese soya, Indian biriyani to beef sizzlers. We cut through the haze of variety, straight to the steaks and grills. Your choice first seems to be of the usual variety – pepper steaks, sizzlers and the predictable grills. We ordered a fillet, and looked for another steak to choose. After sometime, though, steaks begin to resemble each other, and we looked further afield. Tucked pages away was tenderloin, but instead of being a regular steak this one was hidden between the flat noodles and clear soups of the Thai section. It described itself as strips of beef with onion, served with soya sauce. We ordered it with fried rice with peas and basil leaves, which sounded exotic enough.
Grill House began to fill up, and soon we were enveloped by the steam from sizzlers, whiffs of other foods and conversations from all around. The fillet steak came on a sizzling platter, complete with a bed of vegetables and a mound of French fries. It was a large, flat piece of meat, well done and tender enough. But what was surprising was its sauce – like a mixture of tomato sauce with a sweet touch to it. If you’re a traditionalist who knows what you want you’ll be aghast, but then you probably wouldn’t be here anyway. Instead, be a sport and try it different. The meat is well cooked, and the sauce could be interesting. Add to that the greens and you’ll have a platter that will fill any stomach to capacity.
The Thai tenderloin was no less: a bowl filled with lightly cooked beef, with onions and soya sauce, the rice a huge mound of dark cereal. Massive quantities to fill your stomach, without argument. The treatment does require a stronger stomach, for the spices and their volumes are more
tropical than Continental, so be warned. If you’re adventurous, like your spice and conversation then you have to try this restaurant. It certainly deserves points for originality and character.
Chili’s 24 545815
Chili’s is a place to come to if you’re hungry, for their food is heavy and their helpings gargantuan. We were famished, and as we waited we drowned our hunger in vanilla flavoured cola. This might sound surreal, but this cooked-up concoction is a reality you could only
experience at Muscat City Centre. It’s so good it boasts of its own fan following, who will loyally make their way to the fringes of the capital to douse themselves in its fizzy depths.
Chili’s is an unapologetically jeans and T-shirt place, with warm tiles on the floor, earthy ceramics on the table and neon signs above. You’ll have green painted wood panels and soft beige walls for company, not to mention a giant chili upstairs. And, of course, the ever-present rush of the food court outside. Its service is young, energetic, friendly and efficient, and its quality consistent over years.
We tried a regular flame grilled rib eye steak, and chose a new item on the menu, the top shelf fillet. Top shelf? We’re not quite sure why it’s called that, but it did come over bread, and was fine enough. The rib eye was excellent, very juicy and tender, the real star of the show. We had both dishes with mashed potato, which was as good, with slivers of carrot and shavings of cheese as garnish. Other attractions include fried chicken with pepper sauce, corn on the cob or just classic burgers.
Chili’s is a very focused place, aimed at people who like food a particular way. If it fits your appetite, go for it. You’ll love the food, the flavoured cola and, most importantly, you’ll be stuffed to capacity. Your other option so far out of the city would have to be the food court, but that is an entirely different category of light, fast food that you have to eat in the massive atrium with every other shopper who strolls in. Instead, you can enjoy a private table at Chili’s, for each seating area is separated from the other by a low partition. Highly recommended.
Duke’s Bar 24 560100
Walk into the moderate sized restaurant at the Crowne Plaza, only to find that the better part of the place lies beyond the set of doors that lead to the open air section. Here you can choose to have your steak under a starlit sky, with the soft sounds of the sea lapping the sand at the beach or the faint sounds of a melody being played in the restaurant.
A quick glance at the menu will reveal there is a choice between rib eye steak and sirloin, among others. So while my companion chose to taste a traditional fish and chips, which includes batter fried fillet of hammour with French fries and sautéed vegetables, I remained loyal to the original objective of the visit and ordered a well-done
sirloin steak with mashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables as accompaniment. For starters we decided on Chicken Tenders served with a sauce that included honey and mustard in its ingredients.
Our order was promptly taken by a pleasant waitress whose politeness and efficiency would definitely earn brownie points for the restaurant. While politeness might be a common feature at all good restaurants, the time between placing the order and the arrival of the food often leaves something to be desired. What surprises one at Duke’s Bar is the efficiency with which the place is run and the
service. The starters arrived within minutes of placing the order, with the main course following soon after.
The quality of food left nothing more to be desired, with the delicious chicken tenders only helping to whet our appetites. Although there did seem to be a shade more oil than was required in the fish and chips, the steak was perfect. And, it looked as delicious as it tasted. Of course you can opt to have yours rare, medium or very well done. While taste, ambience and so on are extremely relative; if you do insist on a verdict then it would be a must-visit for those with a stomach for steaks.
Up Town Restaurant 24 706020
At Up Town the atmosphere is entirely informal. A huge television attached to the wall broadcasts the latest sports events – usually football – while others at the eatery remain happily engaged in conversation amidst occasional glances at the score.
If you’re here for steaks your choice boils down to the grilled beef steak sizzler in a choice of mushroom or pepper sauce, served with potato wedges and sautéed vegetables. You could opt for the grilled chicken steak sizzler or the mixed grilled sizzler, but then they would not be a steak, strictly speaking. Dispensing with any need for starters, we went straight to the main course, beef steak and a mixed grilled platter. The service is not five star, but friendly and efficient. The food is served quickly enough, and we found sizzling wooden platters placed in front of us.
The food is good. Though the potato wedges could have been prevented from being overcooked, there were no complaints about the steak. The pepper sauce lent the steak an extra dollop of flavour, which only helped in enhancing the taste of the well-done piece of meat. The mixed grill sizzler could turn out to be a matter of taste – we found some of the meat cooked a little longer than we would have liked. The sauces, however, were the saving grace and it did not taste too bad at the end of the day.
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