Dubai food review: Our 2 cents on 3Fils

What’s a better place to have seafood than a waterfront eatery? Well, unless you’re 120 floors up, we must say waterfronts do bring a certain vibe to restaurants. And, that was the case with 3Fils, a restaurant at Jumeirah Fishing Harbour. The popular eatery, might we add, is very busy on weekends and serves international cuisine with an extra emphasis on Japanese and seafood delicacies.

At the harbour front, you will find jet ski and boat rentals that have taken up space at the pier to run a leisure business offering water activities.

3Fils is fairly chic with its interiors and the table settings that overlook the open kitchen where chefs are doing their magic. While the main dining area is tiny, an extended summer terrace makes sure more people can visit. It also provides a better view of the harbour front and all the docked speedboats and jet skis. Relive your childhood at the arcade game machine placed on the other side of 3Fils which is a good way to kill time and score some knockouts on Street Fighter.

Diving into the meal, we started with a typical seafood appetiser, the salmon carpaccio. Seasoned with ponzu sesame, lime and black chilli, we found the serving quite filling for an appetiser which is why leaned more towards the super delicious Seaweed Salad, a mixture of seaweed, granny smith apple and crunchy walnuts.

It was not long before we were served the main course; salmon and Chutoro Nigiris. These are balls of sushi rice topped with slices of salmon and Chutoro, a part of tuna. Both were surprisingly tasty given they were served without soy sauce. (3Fils does not serve soy sauce as they believe it will compromise the true flavours of their dishes).

The Dragon sushi was, perhaps, the pièce de résistance at 3Fils. Seasoned with pickled onions and gochujang (a popular Korean condiment), it had a distinct flavour with the Tempura shrimp tucked perfectly into the sushi roll. Next, we got our hands dirty with some chicken wings, seasoned with garlic, soy and Togarashi, a common Japanese spice mixture containing several ingredients. Before we devoured the wings, we were served a plate of what looked like rocks — aubergines coated with bread crumbs and squid ink - atop a plate of charcoal, a highly unusual but oddly satisfying dish.