Have you found yourself in need of a campus get-away on Friday night but have no idea where to go? Or is it your best friend’s birthday, but you do not know of a good spot to celebrate over tasty food? Or, perhaps, you want to dress up and take that special person out for a nice dinner? Swiss Butter at the Novotel Al Bustan might be just the place you are looking for!

It is birthday season for my friend group, and two of my closest friends have their big days in the coming week. As classic sophomores, our Google Calendars are scary to look at, with everyone trying to balance their studies, jobs, and social life. Therefore, getting a group of 15 people together for a dinner is one of the toughest challenges we face. However, we persisted and organised a group outing to a place we had not tried before: Swiss Butter at the Novotel Al Bustan. To say the night was amazing is an understatement, with the food being the ‘cherry on top’ of our fun hangout!

So, do I recommend a visit to the 40AED taxi-ride away restaurant? Yes, and here is why.

Entering the restaurant felt quite boujee. The spot is located within the swanky Novotel hotel, which you can find in the Al Muroor district of Abu Dhabi. While some of my friends and I were late, others were greeted with smiles and respect by the amazing staff. No reservations were needed, but considering our group included 15 people, we were told to inform the restaurant half an hour prior to our arrival, in order for the staff to prepare our table.

When my friends and I arrived at the restaurant, we found the others seated at a long table in the back of the joint, with excitement on their faces and laughter filling the room. It was a surprise dinner for the two friends who are celebrating their 20th birthdays in the coming days, so the suspense of the surprise we organised was visible in their eyes.

As we were the last part of the party to arrive, the waiters took our orders soon after we came. The restaurant’s menu is quite simple: there are three mains, depending on the kind of meat you wish to order. There is something for everyone, as the options include chicken, beef, and salmon for the fish-lovers. If you ordered the beef, you had the option between a beef fillet, which held less fat and a ribeye which was attached to a bone and offered more fat. Every main comes beautifully served on a large, wooden chopping-board. The centerpiece is your meat of choice, and next to it you can find a vast portion of crispy fries, fresh salad drenched in savory dressing, crunchy french baguette, and chilli flakes for the lovers of spice. The meat itself was served in a small, cast-iron pan, and submerged in a mouth-watering, savoury, buttery sauce – one that makes you want to dip every crumb of bread you were served in it!

As someone who loves cooking, I can always appreciate a nice chicken meal. While it is arguably an easy dish to prepare, it can be challenging to make it stand out. Swiss Butter achieved this: the chicken was grilled to perfection and, combined with the buttery sauce, was a staple in the meal. Moreover, I am not a big beef-lover, but this dish made me rethink my preferences. As in most restaurants, you had the option of how well you wanted your meat prepared and, considering the large group I was surrounded by, I had a chance to try out different styles of the beef option. The rare-style was delightful and matched deliciously with the sauce. The medium-rare option was also really good, as was the well-done style, both of which were not too rough or dry.

What pleasantly surprised me were the sides. Next to the flavourful main, you are served a fresh salad, coated in their house dressing, which added a perfect kick to the more heavy meat. The fries were crispy, and went really well with the chicken, while the french baguette was freshly baked and offered a perfect tool to clean the cast-iron pan after you finished up the meat.

Considering it was a surprise dinner for our two friends, one of the attendees was sneaky enough and got some shared desserts for the table. For a price of 45AED, The Pain Perdu - a french toast dish submerged in amazing, milky-sauce, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream – was my favourite. The Molten Chocolate dessert, or a mix of brownie and lava cake was a perfect blend of doughy and runny flavour-explosion, and is great for lovers of dark chocolate. It runs for a price of 50AED. After a happy-birthday song in English and Spanish, candles were blown on a scoop of regular vanilla ice-cream drizzled with chocolate syrup, which cost us 22AED. Once the group photo was taken at the table, and the plates were cleared either with the french baguette or spoons, it was time to call it a night.

All together, the night filled with fun and delicious food cost each person 120AED for the meal and two taxi rides - a good price tag for a steak-filled campus get-away.