Burj Al Arab - High Tea

Most hotels will let you walk in and look around, in the lobby at least, although you may have to go through some security. Not the Burj Al Arab. If you don’t have a reservation for something inside you don’t even get in the gate. But, we’d decided on one last splash for our final days in the UAE. So it was that we showed our reservations for Afternoon Tea at the gate and entered the bridge to the hotel. It’s an imposing site as you drive across; a huge sail looms in front of you; all that you see of the hotel where it stands on its reclaimed island – an island that apparently took longer to build than the hotel.

The Lobby

As we drew up to the front to valet park our rented grey Corolla, a family was disembarking from one of the hotel’s limos; a white Rolls, of course, with the gold Burj logo tastefully tattooed behind the rear passenger door window. We disembarked, clothed in accordance with the dress code (collared shirt and trousers/pants for men, dress or long skirt and dressy top for women, no open shoes) and entered the lobby.

Looking up the Atrium

The lobby is dominated by a fountain climbing between two escalators, computer controlled so that it plays water in a number of different ways – as we watched, it spat snakes of liquid into the air to be swallowed elsewhere in its structure. At the foot of the fountain, a leaf shaped carpet is reflected in the gold ceiling.

The Burj is triangular in cross-section; two of its sides comprise accommodation and these face the Arabian Gulf. The third side is the sail, facing Dubai. I say ‘accommodation’ because there are no rooms; only suites, 202 suites on twenty-eight, two-story floors. Price to stay ranges from US$2,000 to US$18,000 per night, but it was fully booked that day, so we didn’t sleep over!

High Tea was high indeed; seven courses commencing with a glass of champagne; a raspberry/strawberry amuse bouche, lovely little sandwiches, hot sliced beef tenderloin with mash, sorbet with candied rose petal and, of course, scones with strawberry jam and Devonshire clotted cream. Finally, we finished with melt in the mouth French pastries. All of it served with tea of your choice (English Breakfast for me!) and accompanied by the soft melodies of a woman playing a harp.

There are high stores inside too. Our friend tried out a $250,000 diamond ring but didn’t buy…

Despite being one of the tallest hotels in the world, built around its huge glitzy atrium, it has an intimacy that’s hard to fathom.

I looked back, as we left across the bridge en route to the Santana concert, to see the sail glowing in the dark from within. Our final night in Dubai.

www.Burj Al Arab