You may have experienced it when you walked into a restaurant - the smell of the smoke, the visible drama of open flame, the particular sound of something cooking the way it is supposed to be cooked. Rodeo Drive at Ibn Battuta Gate is that restaurant. And with its revamped menu now launching, it is making that case more confidently than ever.

At the centre of the dining room sits the Asado Grill, imported from the United States specifically to cook over open flame. It’s almost like the fire is the show, and Head Chef Walter Melo has built an entire menu around what that fire can do.

 

Melo is a Mexico City native with 23 years of cooking across Mexico, Texas and Dubai, formally trained at Mexico's Colegio Superior de Gastronomía and shaped by years in demanding kitchens since. He calls his style Cocina de Autor - a personal approach built on curiosity and restraint in equal measure. "I cook the way I grew up eating, honest and full of flavour," he says. "This menu is simply that instinct on a plate, nothing dressed up, nothing hiding behind the fire."

The menu reads like a road trip along America's Deep South to its border with Mexico. The Rodeo Drive Mix Grill Platter arrives with 1kg of 15-hour slow-cooked brisket, seven-day cured pastrami, sausage and blackened half chicken, served with house-made BBQ sauce. The Cowboy Tomahawk Steak - 1.3kg of Black Angus, is the kind of centrepiece that earns its name. Beyond red meat, a Whole Blackened Seabream and Cajun Tiger Prawns bring a coastal counterpart, seasoned lightly enough to let the fire do most of the talking.

 

The smaller plates hold their own. The Nashville Hot Chicken Burger layers buttermilk fried chicken, Nashville hot glaze, tangy coleslaw and melted cheddar in a brioche bun. The Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes and Burrata Skillet - blistered tomatoes, fermented spicy honey, rich burrata, chilli basil oil and toasted grilled sourdough, is the dish that will surprise you most, and stay with you longest.

Nothing on the menu reads as an imitation of a genre. It feels closer to raw material, reworked. Which, as it turns out, is exactly what honest cooking looks like.

www.rodeodrivedubai.com | @rodeodrivedubai