MARTINIS AND MUNESH : ARABIAN NIGHTS

P Sood is busy putting the finishing touches for the party before the evening guests arrive . An early Saturday evening dinner with a few close friends before  he takes the early morning flight to Dubai,  a city which is definitely not  one  of his favourites. But today Sood is happy as he looks forward to a fun filled evening before what he beileves will be 2 miserable days in Dubai . 

 Raju , the master food conesiur is the first to arrive , boundless energy , a spring in his walk , he throws across a CD,  saying " play this man it's the house music of the Okku lounge."Hesitantly,  Sood asked what is OKKU , only to be met with an incredulous look , " you never been to Okku , it may definitely be one of the better resturants and coolest bar in Dubai!!!!! " Says our man.

The music is good , reminding Sood of Cafe del Mar more than Costes ., enough to perk his interest and make a mental note of  OKKU .

Sunday evening after a hard days of work in Dubai , Sood and his friend decide to go a drink , Sood recommends the OKKU  , his friend a Dubai resident for a few years had never been there although he had heard of it . 10 pm they stroll through the lobby of the H Hotel in Dubai , make their way to the first floor of the hotel and soon find themselves at the Okku . The velvet rope ,  the 2 security personnel , and the svelte ladies dressed in TBD look  both imposing and enticing , but sure enough they do turn us down for not having reservations.  We use the magic password "  is Ramzyn  ( one of the cowoners ) at the resturant ?  with a swoosh of a magic wand the rope is set aside , Natasha from South Africa becomes our host for the evening and whisks us to a table . Past the lounge , , past a very very chic bar , to  our table near the long sushi counter

Seated at the table , Sood finally gets a chance to look around .  Stylish , chic , buzzing , boisterous ,  very very good looking people , we proudly pat ourselve on our back , maybe it is one of the criteria to walk in and the two of us did qualify. Dark stone , low lighting , low level sitting , a screen made of fairy LED lights dividing the bar area from the resturant,  a well stocked bar  and yes the centre of attraction a UV lit jellyfish aquarium,no less . No doubt it tops most of the hot lists of the region.

Natasha is back , making sure we are comfortable and wether we are ready to order , not really we say , we had come here for the bar and to the bar we head past the fairy lights .The house music is playing a bit louder at the bar , the atmosphere very chic , you could be forgiving if you think you are in New York and any moment , Beyonce or justin Timberlake would walk in . But this is Dubai and Okku is not withouth it's share of celebrities , so in walks in Lionel Ritchie , taking a que from his song All night long we know this is going to be long night so we quickly settle in at the bar and order the 15 year Nika whysky.


Many many Nika's later we do wind our wAy to the table and sit down for dinner , the Wagyu beef , yellowtail carpaccio , the black cod and of course the chilled sake .

We thought it was a good evening and we were well behaved ,  until the morning , that is , we were suprised to see a number of messages on our phone  asking why were we calling to say I love you in the middle of  the night . Well Mr Lionel Richie , I do believe we meant it from the bottom of our heart.