Blue Diamond Alsalam Resort***** Gran Lujo is a newly-opened resort in the emirate of Fujairah (United Arab Emirates), which has rapidly become a standard bearer for hotels in the area. This seafront hotel has managed to include, among its many services, an innovative and international culinary offering, with its premises housing a series of establishments that have quickly generated rave reviews from international tourists and locals alike.
The hotel belongs to the Spanish chain BlueBay Hotels, which is among the country’s top ten hotel companies by international presence. This new opening reinforces the brand’s presence in the Middle East, which already boasts five-star hotels in countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and the emirate of Dubai. It’s no wonder that it’s one of the Spanish tourism companies with greatest presence in the region, where it has been established since 2012.
Blue Diamond Alsalam Resort*****GL is a seafront hotel comprising 379 deluxe rooms, apartments and suites, where its guests can enjoy a broad range of culinary offerings ranging from theme restaurants to cafeterias and a beach club. Regarding leisure options, the hotel has a beautiful spa, swimming pool area, gym, private beach and kids’ club, as well as spacious and suitably versatile function and conference rooms.
Solid commitment to gourmet food
Open since mid-January, the hotel has quickly managed to align its eating options with the prestige of its deluxe rooms and services in the UAE.
Hotel guests can choose from an enormous open buffet that is open all-day-round, Momo; two theme restaurants, Aretusa and Orchid; and an artisan café, La Perla. There are also two outdoor areas – Amwaj Beach Bar and the Narjilista Lounge – with access to a swimming pool and terrace. The eating options are united by a fantastic common denominator: namely, magnificent uninterrupted views of the sea.
Let’s begin our run-through of the culinary options by taking a look at the Momo buffet – the hotel’s largest dining facility – which is notable for its international influences and specialises in contemporary cuisine. Found very close to the reception area, this is an open, spacious and well-lit eating area.
Hotel guests can choose from a broad selection of food and drinks practically 24 hours a day, with each dish concocted from top-class ingredients and provided with a service to be expected of a five-star hotel. Its menus were crafted by international teams, who managed to strike a fine balance between the best local cuisine and the most innovative contemporary dishes and combinations.
Momo shares its name with another of the chain’s stand-out restaurants, housed in the Bellevue Club hotel in Alcúdia, Majorca (Spain), which is one of Europe’s largest holiday cities. The Blue Diamond Alsalam Resort*****GL shares the same gastronomic concept as the Momo restaurant in the Bellevue Club, but the food is of a higher quality, as the Fujairah hotel is more prestigious than the Balearic hotel. Both establishments operate under the same slogan, “Food and People”, stressing the importance of sitting down at a table to eat with friends and family.
Aretusa is the first of the hotel’s theme restaurants. It is an à la carte restaurant specialising in Italian food, with a menu devised especially by first-class international chefs.
This is one of the stand-out dining establishments, where guests can savour the taste and authenticity of Italian cooking in the heart of the United Arab Emirates. As with Momo, the chain wanted to export the idea of one of its most internationally-successful restaurants, the Aretusa A1, which is a restaurant overlooking the port of Puerto Banús (Marbella), in one of the world’s most exclusive and glamorous tourist resorts.
The BlueBay Hotels chain also has its own brand exclusively dedicated to dining options: BlueBay Gourmet. The brand employs specialist staff and operates under a specially-constructed work structure, which it has managed to export to the biggest restaurants in its 62 restaurants worldwide.
The second theme restaurant is Orchid, which specialises in Asian cuisine but also offers additional à la carte dishes from different cultures. Here, guests can enjoy the taste of Asia without stepping foot outside the Middle East, thanks once again to the internationalisation of a restaurant concept currently implemented in BlueBay Hotels’ Bellevue Club in Mallorca.
One of the hotel’s outdoor lounge areas is La Perla; a delicious cafeteria harnessing an exquisite local atmosphere where guests can try a selection of homemade cakes, washed down by a broad range of worldwide coffees and recently-brewed teas, with all the liturgy and authentic taste of the Middle East.
The eating options are capped off by an al fresco lounge area which boasts an impressive range of drinks and snacks that guests can enjoy by the pool. The Amwaj Lounge has a privileged position with fantastic views over pool and sea, where guests can enjoy the best live music and electronic music from successful DJs from the international circuit.
When night falls, there are few things better than taking a seat in the hotel’s outdoor terrace area, Narjilista. Here, guests can sip away on the finest alcohol-free drinks and cocktails while holding a pleasant moonlit conversation over a shisha pipe.
