Dubai: Lunch at Tomo

I suck at remembering special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries, and if it weren’t for that birthday app running on my phone, none of my friends would ever receive any birthday greetings from me. Poul is really good at remembering dates, but he’s bad at decoding girls’ language, and because I usually tell him I don’t want anything for my birthday/Christmas/wedding day anniversary, he simply will not get me anything. Then I’ll get mad at him and send him out to buy me something anyway. Special occasions and anniversaries is thus not a very big thing at our place, but instead we’re good at doing spontaneous things to glam up our everyday life.

Tuesday, none of us had any plans, so we decided to go for lunch at Tomo in the beautiful, pyramid-shaped Raffles Hotel. It’s been quite a while since my last visit, but luckily, nothing had changed. Tomo is my favorite Japanese restaurant outside Japan and I love their plain, yet consistently delicious food. The view from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the upper part of the pyramid is also great, but better at night, when you’ll just see the lights from the buildings around, and not all the sand and construction sites.

Poul had a big bowl of miso-ramen, while I had a lunch box with a selection of sashimi. We also shared a portion of agedashi tofu, which is deep-fried silken tofu in a delicious broth topped with scallions. This is one of the Japanese dishes I usually suggest people unfamiliar with tofu, to try first. Even if you don’t usually like tofu, I think you would love agedashi tofu.

I’m working on adding more pictures of me on the blog, but my camera is difficult to use, and Poul has the patience of a 5-year-old, when it comes to taking photos before we’re eating. I therefore usually end up as a blurry spot in the picture, while the texture of the wallpaper in the background is sharp as a knife’s edge.

I love Japanese food, and I get ecstatic whenever I find a good Japanese restaurant. Tomo is one of the best Japanese restaurants I have ever dined at outside of Japan, and I can strongly recommend a visit.

Besides sushi, which at Tomo is an out of this world experience, you will also find Japanese dishes that only rarely make it to the overseas Japanese restaurants such as katsu-don (pork chop on rice) and natto (fermented soybeans) on the menu.

Tomo is situated at the top of the impressive, pyramid-shaped Raffles Hotel adjacent to Wafi Mall, a few kilometers from Dubai International Airport. The walls are made of glass, so you have a great view, if you manage to focus on anything else than all the delicious food.

You can choose between a large selection of individual dishes or go for some of the set menus that include soup, rice and a small dessert. The food is surprisingly affordable and most main courses are less than AED100 (though sushi is more expensive). AED 250-300 should therefore be more than enough to let you sample a couple of different dishes and an ice-cold Asahi draft beer.

Yakitori and ramen – Dinner at Tomo without sushi

Tomo, Wafi City, Raffles Hotel, Umm Hurair 2, Dubai