What to Eat at the Fairmont Fujairah Beach Resort #MurphysDoFujairah

The Fairmont Fujairah Beach Resort is a beautiful getaway on the Gulf of Oman. It’s an all-in-one vacation destination with a beach, two amazing pools, a kid’s splash pad, and even a kid’s club, but the highlight of the resort might just be the food. With five restaurants on site, we had a chance to eat a range of meals that kept our mouths watering and our minds constantly wondering what we were going to eat next. Featuring a bounty of seafood dishes, regional cuisine, and a number of internationally inspired flavours, each meal we ate at this Fujairah resort was a special experience.

Disclosure : Our visit was in partnership with the Fairmont Fujairah Beach Resort but, as always, opinions are TOTALLY ours!

During our stay we made sure to make reservations at each of the main restaurants, giving us the chance to sample a wide range of the resort’s offerings. From the great seafood dishes at the Copper Lobster  and shareable plates at the newly opened poolside Lava Beach Club to the sumptuous spread at the Canvas buffets, the food at this family friendly 5 star resort in Fujairah was one of the highlights of our recent trip to the United Arab Emirates. We spotted high chairs and change tables throughout the resort and each restaurant featured a kids menu and had crayons and activities to keep the kids busy at the dining table.

Here are some of the food highlights of our stay.

Breakfast and Dinner Buffets at Canvas

Canvas is the resort’s largest restaurant. We visited every morning for the buffet brunch and caught an impressive evening buffet on our last evening at the resort. The breakfast spread features an omelette station, a range of fresh fruits and juices, a separate section of pastries, plus a sampling of breakfast staples like sausages, bacon, and eggs in many styles (the first two are of the chicken, turkey, or beef variety since pork is very rare in the United Arab Emirates). I found myself piling my plate high each morning and opting for a late lunch, not wanting to miss out on the variety of foods available. Our kids loved it here, and the reason for that was the pancake and waffle section that offered with a multitude of syrup, fruit and chocolate toppings. The coffee is great here too! Yashy enjoyed the hummus and local breakfast fare of jams and sweets.

The evening buffet we had at Canvas on our last evening featured another great spread of dishes. The Turkish chicken Kebabs were a highlight for me and make sure you try the hummus from the array of vegetable dishes on offer. We also sampled the Chinese dishes available, which included fried rice and a General Tao-style chicken dish. As we did at breakfast, each of us made sure to sample a little bit of everything because of the wide range of options, most of which were excellent.

We also enjoyed a great à la carte lunch at Canvas when we first arrived. I ordered the delicious Biryani, which was topped with raisins and cashews and made for the perfect afternoon meal. The restaurant also offers a kids menu that includes mini burgers and grilled salmon. We ordered one of each so that kids would be well fed by the time dessert arrived, the Umm Ali, which was Yashy’s favourite dessert on the trip. On our last day, she even ordered a takeaway Umm Ali to bring back to her family in Dubai because she says it’s one of the best versions of this Arabic dessert that she has ever had and her aunt agreed!

Seafood Dinner at the Copper Lobster

For dinner on our first night, we dined at the Copper Lobster, and it was an absolute pleasure. It is one of those places where I would have been content to eat the appetizers all evening. We started with the oysters, which were transported at birth from other parts of the world into the nearby Dibba Bay, which meant that they were very fresh, though a little large for my taste. The flavours equaled the oysters we find in Canada, but I had to ensure to eat them in stages, which took a little away from the experience. Then, the Sultan Ibrahim Ceviche arrived, made with a passion fruit gel and yuzu “tiger” milk, this dish was the highlight of the meal for me – tangy, fresh, and delicious. We also ordered the Trio Tartare, which featured three styles of tartare, salmon, tuna, and lobster, each uniquely prepared and amazing.

As we enjoyed the breeze on the restaurant’s outdoor dining area, we were treated to live music as well. A solo singer with recorded background music sang a range of popular songs throughout most of our meal and she was quite good. She understood the setting and didn’t demand the attention of diners as she sang. The result was upbeat entertainment that perfectly accompanied the meal. For our main dishes, we went with two of the Copper Lobster’s most well known dishes, the Seafood Couscous and the Fujairah Clay Pot with Harra Lobster, which was prepared in a spicy tomato sauce and served with garlic zatar rice. The portions were substantial so arrive with an appetite if you are dining at the restaurant.

The couscous contained a number of seafood items, including squid and muscles, and came with a lobster and kale salad on the side. Coming from Cape Breton Island, an area known to have some of the best lobster in the world, I was impressed with the lobster we ate at the restaurant. My previous experiences with warm water lobsters had not been good. I have always found the meat to be tough and with a disagreeable taste, but the lobster here is certainly worth sampling, and its prepared well in a variety of dishes.

Like Canvas, the Copper Lobster also offers a kids menu, and so we were grateful for the animal shaped chicken nuggets and steak dishes that we ordered for the kids. They are not quite ready for stylish seafood meals yet. For dessert, Yashy splurged on the TCL Chocolate Fondant and the Mixed Berry Consume, both so pretty, it was a shame to eat them, until we tasted them.

Poolside Dining at Lava Beach Club

The last restaurant where we dined was the Lava Beach Club, which is located next to the main pool and offers a late afternoon happy hour. The menu here is wide ranging and so it was pretty easy for us to find something we knew we would enjoy. To start, we excitedly ordered a sushi roll. With five options available, it was a tough choice but we went with the Spicy Tuna roll and it was excellent, more flavourful than the average tuna roll, which is a dish we order often. We also enjoyed the Volcano Chicken Wings, which came with a very tasty hot sauce, and made the kids happy with a pepperoni pizza.

We ordered mains too, the Japanese Saikyo Miso Cod and the Nasi Goreng. If you have never had a good miso cod, it’s a must try. The dish is one of the best flavour combinations I know and the Lava produces a fine example of meal. The Nasi Goreng was an Indonesian style version of the dish. This is one of Yashy’s go to dishes and it did not disappoint.

Since Lava is just steps away from the large wading pool, which also features a swim up bar, we spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the sun before checking out the beach near sunset. The Fujairah Beach resort is about an hour and a half drive from Dubai, making it the perfect weekend getaway from the city. It’s three main restaurants will also ensure that you will find a few memorable meals while your there and the cafes will keep you happy in-between your main meals.

Stay tuned to hear more about our visit to this family friendly resort in the U.A.E!