There’s a scene in the Martin Scorsese-directed movie, The Wolf of Wall Street where pill-popping, money-crazed moral vacuum Donnie Azoff, portrayed with exhilaratingly comic timing by Jonah Hill, fires a young team member before popping the poor kid’s goldfish into his open mouth as a final insult.
While live aquatic creatures are thankfully absent from the movie-inspired brunch at Bull and Bear restaurant in Waldorf Astoria DIFC, there is a an Aperol-Spritz version of the unfortunate creature, immortalised in red jelly, ready for you to gobble up, perhaps while flinging fake banknotes (provided) over your table heaving with oysters, beef tartare and burgers – the gastronomic interpretation of 1980s-style profligacy and excess.
It’s a breath of fun, irreverent fresh air that is welcome after a year in which even ex-stockbroker Jordan Belfort might have struggled to make bank.
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Bull and Bear restaurant in Waldorf Astoria DIFC is an elegant, plush spot, with reflective décor elements
While the film that inspired this decadent weekend escapade propels the viewer along on a wave of lunatic action, depravity and furious, fantastical exploits, the brunch itself stays safely on the right side of maniacal excess. Well, for the most part, anyway.Â
The drinks are free-flowing and the ambience encourages a certain amount of letting down of hair. It’s an elegant, plush spot, with reflective décor elements, rich velvet accents and high ceilings that instantly give you a lift when you step inside.
The restaurant proper has garnered several awards since opening in 2019 as an upmarket and sophisticated steakhouse, and its new brunch adds to its weekday offering with a decadent, colourful and lavish concept that riffs on the Scorsese film of 2013.
The combination of excellent live music, fantastic dishes served a la carte, and glitzy New-York style décor of the restaurant, propels you effortlessly along on a decadent journey of taste, sight and sounds.
The drinks are free-flowing, the atmosphere is relaxed and convivial, and seriously impressive dishes (the tuna with jalapeno is a standout, as is the wagyu beef tartare) are punctuated with humorous and edible touches – the goldfish is joined by a dessert platter of bank notes, edible coins and bars of gold served up on a platter featuring a stocks and shares printout.
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The restaurant proper has garnered several awards since opening in 2019
Prawn cocktail, beef Rossini, alligator pear and octopus are also served straight to the table; the presentation is highly aesthetic (think oysters on dry ice).
The gold bull and bear sculptures at the entrance to the restaurant are evocative of the ones standing outside the New York stock exchange. It’s a reminder that all markets rise, fall, crash and build up, and what better way to escape some of this year’s less pleasant realities than by indulging in a perfectly curated power brunch? A soft drinks of bubble package is available, the former at AED290 and the latter for AED450, which seems like a sound investment for a few hours of elegant decadence and great food.
waldorfastoria.com