Big Fernand, City Walk

Bonjour! Bonjour! Yet another Big Fernand branch has opened up in Dubai! We were invited to a tasting there recently and had a great time sampling their homemade food and drinks. It’s a fun, new gourmet burger joint which, if you hadn’t guessed by now originated in France. This will be their third outlet in the city and it’s located in the very popular City Walk area, the other two outlets are in Dubai Festival City and The Outlet Village in Dubai Parks. They serve options for meat and veggie lovers alike and boast that all their ingredients are made in-house. This includes bread, patties, sauces and even  drinks.

Our verdict: Delicious burgers and drinks that are all made in-house, it’s a promising new burger diner. Definitely something new to try out. We were especially impressed with their veg burger and will be coming back for more.

The Food

Big Fernand [AED 50]: Big Fernand’s signature burger! A beef burger, with Tomme de Savoie cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley and Tata Fernande sauce (their homemade cocktail sauce). It wasn’t too bad, the patty was a bit dry, however since we usually don’t prefer beef burgers we did like the other two burgers better.

Charles [AED 50]: Chicken fillet with Tomme de Savoie cheese, caramelized onions, tabasco, coriander and a Tonton Fernand sauce (their homemade sweet mayonnaise). This was M’s fave, the sauce that accompanied it complimented it well and the coriander was a nice addition.

Gaston [AED 45]: Portobello mushroom, Tomme de Savoie cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, chives and Tata Fernande (their homemade cocktail sauce). T’s fave for sure. This was surprisingly a very flavourful burger even though it’s vegetarian. The portobello mushroom was cooked well and was not bland. Great option for vegetarians.

Fernandines [AED 16]: Big Fernand’s homemade French fries which are cut in-house and come with either a Provence herbs or paprika garlic seasoning. They gave us three of their homemade sauces to try with it: spicy mayonnaise (our fave), sweet mayonnaise and cocktail sauce. The fries and the sauces were a bit of a hit & miss. While we liked the paprika fries, the herb fries were quite tasteless. Same with the sauces, the spicy mayonnaise was delicious and the cocktail sauce was nice, however, the sweet mayonnaise was overpoweringly sweet.

The Drinks

Archibald Fernand’s Elixir [AED 25]: Big Fernand’s in-house drinks which are their artisanal lemonades of which they have three flavours: lemon, apple with a dash of lemon & licorice and grenadine, peppermint & lemon. Our favourite was the latter, however all the drinks were quite tasty and paired well with the food.

Homemade Iced teas: We also tried out two types of iced teas, jasmine and raspberry and original. The former definitely had a hint of jasmine and was our preference from the two.

Service

The staff are very friendly and explained each dish well. They also made suggestions as to what they liked best and were very helpful. We’ll definitely visit again soon.

The Venue

The back wall has the Big Fernand logo on wooden panels. The counter on the side has a open kitchen behind it and above it a panel of chalk drawings. The wooden paneling, black ceiling and glass windows provide a warm yet modern feel to the space. One of favorite parts of the venue was the generous amounts of cheese displayed on the counter, we were feasting with our eyes.

How to Get there

By Car: You get to City Walk from either Al Wasl Road or Sheikh Zayed Road depending which side you’re driving from. Head on to Al Mustaqbal Street and towards the circular suspended City Walk sign intersection. Big Fernand will be on the corner of the turn towards the City Walk 2 underground parking. Opposite of which is a large parking lot near the Green Planet. You can park there and walk towards Big Fernand.

By Cab: Instruct your driver to head towards City Walk. From the central City Walk intersection, the restaurant is on the corner of the turn heading towards the back of City Walk 2 and Hub Zero.

Public Transport: Considering that City Walk isn’t metro friendly, the closest station would be Business Bay on the red line, from where your only real option is a short taxi ride.

Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/apaeUgYoiG52

The Entrance

Big Fernand is a stand alone restaurant on the corner of the City Walk sign intersection. Behind City Walk 2 and Hub Zero. The restaurant has outdoor seating and open glass doors. As it’s located on the corner of the first City Walk main intersection, it’ll be hard to miss.

Total Bill

• Big Fernand: AED 50
• Charles: AED 50
• Gaston: AED 45
• Fernandines: AED 16 x 2
• Archibald Fernand’s Elixir: AED 25 x 2

Total for 2: AED 227

Restaurant info

04 2712117

Note: Our meal was provided by Big Fernand as part of our invitation for their City Walk soft launch tasting. However, our thoughts and opinions are unbiased and our own.

Comments

comments