Strawfire review: Fireballs meet fine dining at Abu Dhabi restaurant

The National

30-03-2025

Refined dishes created with delicacy, elegance and an eyebrow-searing fireball in the kitchen – it's just another evening service at Strawfire by Ross Shonhan. In the few months it has been open, the high-end Japanese restaurant at Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental has built a scorching-hot reputation. And within minutes of my arrival during a packed Sunday service, it's easy to see why. We take the seats closest to the glass-encased kitchen. The glass isn't there to stop guests from overhearing any exotic language that may arise in high-pressure kitchens – à la The Bear – it's there to stop our table from going up in flames. The restaurant embraces the traditional Japanese cooking technique of warayaki, which translates to 'straw fire', hence its name. Before our welcome drinks arrive, a chef is bundling bales of hay into a deep oven and igniting them. The dry straw takes about a nano-second to erupt into metre-high flames before dying down just as quickly. Shonhan and the team prepare dishes over the rice straw-fired flames, promising the method infuses each bite with deep flavour and smokiness. This isn't the only tradition that inspires the restaurant. The whole venue showcases Japanese craftsmanship, including a 7.3-metre shimenawa rope that hangs from the ceiling of the private dining room – and weighs nearly one tonne. It symbolises sanctity and protection, and is the largest ever produced, I'm told. There are hand-painted silks on the walls, pampas grass dotted throughout and vast rose gold cloths draped across the ceilings of the main room. It's dark, sophisticated and grown-up – and a bit paradoxical with the commotion going on with the kitchen firestarters. But I love it. There is something for everyone here. There's à la carte, a tasting menu (Dh450 each) and an omakase menu (Dh550 each). While it isn't cheap-bite-on-the-way-home dining, it certainly isn't overpriced for a restaurant that I suspect will end up with a star at the next Michelin Guide Abu Dhabi awards. Take the edamame, for example. It costs Dh30, while it's Dh35 at Wagamama. That's not sneering, I love an easy 'Wagaz' on a Friday. But it's not the sort of price I expect to see at a classy venue dripping in gold. On the waiter's recommendation, I opt for the tasting menu titled First Taste of Strawfire. It rattles through 10 of the restaurant's best dishes and covers seafood, sushi, raw, hot, meat, veggie and dessert courses. As another fireball roars over my shoulder, the first courses arrive. The Wagyu sashimi is sliced so thinly it's almost translucent. But there's boldness with a sprinkle of bonito powder and sticky gyu tare sauce. It's followed by an outstanding tuna tartare. The fish is marinated in the Goldilocks of wasabi mayonnaise – not too hot, not too mayo-y – and it's all sandwiched together in the style of a monaka, which is a traditional sweet snack of bean paste between two wafers. Strawfire's wafers have been shaped into a flower and hats off to the chef tasked with making batches of these fragile morsels each morning, especially when the kitchen resembles Dante's Inferno every now and then. But unlike Dante, this is a journey through heaven, though admittedly with more fire. Dishes such as sushi and sashimi; a particularly excellent avocado salad (who knew avo' seared by flames was a thing); salmon toro with plenty of crispy skin; and takoyaki flow out all with theatrical flames in between. The latter is the Japanese version of cheesy dough balls, with plenty of pizzazz and octopus stuffed inside, and is a strong challenger for dish of the day. Mains of Wagyu strip loin, served above a glowing piece of coal, and crab don (essentially a rice clay pot, though not served in the dish it was cooked in, rather sadly) plus a side of green beans round off the savoury courses. Although I've lost track. I've also lost count of the fireballs threatening to melt the chef's face – they never do, he never even flinches. Not even the dessert platter – ice cream, sorbet, fruit and burnt cheesecake, of course – served on a bed of smoking dry ice can temper the burning desire building inside me to come back the day after, and the day after that. It's the best new Abu Dhabi venue I've been to since Mika in Yas Bay. The tuna tartare (Dh45) is reminiscent of the corn bombs at Orfali Bros, in that they go down in two bites, are utterly moreish and something I'd cross mountains for – barefooted. While we're unlikely to hear a cacophony of spoons scraping against the bottom of clay pots at a high-end restaurant anytime soon, it is still a shame the crab don (Dh140) isn't served in the vessel it's cooked in so I can prise off pieces of burnt rice. But that's probably more of an indication of my Neanderthal dining practices than a mark against this Michelin contender's star power. While the menu doesn't fit into traditional three-course formatting, those looking for a cheaper or lighter meal can tuck into the edamame for Dh30 to start, spaghetti mentaiko (Dh75) for main, and finish with a scoop of ice cream or sorbet (Dh25). Dh130 for a three-course meal here screams value. For splurgers, there is sea urchin sashimi (Dh300), Wagyu strip loin priced at a how-deep-are-your-pockets Dh380 per 100g and a large dessert platter for Dh450. Aussie-born Shonhan arrived in Abu Dhabi with an outstanding kitchen pedigree, having worked at London's Dorchester Hotel, Nobu and Zuma. His approach to cooking is storytelling. 'Almost all these dishes are a collection of things I have experienced on my travels,' he tells me. He's been working on Strawfire since 2021 ('I'm involved in every element, from design, branding, menu planning and so on'). Of his dishes, he chooses the avocado salad as his favourite for vegetarians; the short rib is a 'definite' for carnivores; the warayaki tuna is for seafood lovers; and to round things off, he says the popcorn cooked over coals tableside is the perfect evening's end. Strawfire is open daily from 6pm to midnight. Reservations can be made by calling 02 690 7999. This review was conducted at the invitation of the restaurant