- Bib Gourmand, Eat, Italian Restaurant
Let’s Go, Escargot! Dubai’s Best Escargot Guide
- Dubai Restaurants, Eat, French Restaurants
- Share
Let’s Go, Escargot! Dubai’s Best Escargot Guide
Three Escargot Enthusiasts set about to titillate and taste some of Dubai’s best escargot during one fine October day, assessing for beastiness, butteriness–and more. Look no further: this is Dubai’s Best Escargot Guide!
Written by Matt Broderick, Lizzi Stead and Liam Collens // Read more articles here. You can follow Matt Broderick on Instagram or follow APEX Mystery Shoppers on Instagram. You can follow Lizzi Stead on Instagram. You can follow Liam Collens on Substack, Instagram or Threads.
The Highs
The Lows
The Highs
The Lows
Let’s Go, Escargot! Dubai’s Best Escargot Guide
21 months ago, a Secret Escargot Society WhatsApp Group was formed. (Yes, 21 months ago–you cannot rush a snail society.) Between us, we whispered of unctuous, buttery, garlicky snails–and bread! Bread that absorbed every glistening ounce of naughtiness from the snails. Over time, we sought recommendations, conducted individual trials, and eventually settled upon the 2024 Snail Trail.
A weird and wonderful October day unfolded in ten of Dubai’s best or most highly recommended purveyors of escargot.
Our judges found their mascot, and Matt found a shirt with Liam’s name on it.
Snail experts Lizzi Stead (never serve lemon with her escargot, please), Matt Broderick and Liam Collens spent a year devising the criteria that make A Great Escargot.
Finally, the day arrived.
Over 9.5 hours of selfless taste testing. Over 40 kilometres of driving through Dubai’s Friday traffic (at snail speed). A guzzling of 146 snails (50 for Matt, 48 each for Liam and Lizzi). Approximately 40 pieces of bread, over 30 different ingredients, nearly 12,000 calories and over 1000 grams of fat.
We ate a week’s worth of fat. Each. Dubai’s best escargot judges: Liam Collens, Matt Broderick and Lizzi Stead.
A weird and wonderful October day unfolded in ten of Dubai’s best or most highly recommended purveyors of escargot.
Our judges found their mascot, and Matt found a shirt with Liam’s name on it.
Snail experts Lizzi Stead (never serve lemon with her escargot, please), Matt Broderick and Liam Collens spent a year devising the criteria that make A Great Escargot.
Finally, the day arrived.
Over 9.5 hours of selfless taste testing. Over 40 kilometres of driving through Dubai’s Friday traffic (at snail speed). A guzzling of 146 snails (50 for Matt, 48 each for Liam and Lizzi). Approximately 40 pieces of bread, over 30 different ingredients, nearly 12,000 calories and over 1000 grams of fat.
We ate a week’s worth of fat. Each. Dubai’s best escargot judges: Liam Collens, Matt Broderick and Lizzi Stead.
Dubai’s Best Escargot, the judging criteria
Some criteria were obvious: the size and quality of the snail and the quality of the butter/dressing sat nicely alongside terms like “dippage-ability” and “reverse-dippage”.
Naturally, certain criteria are subjective but sentient. We wanted a sense of joy in our escargot. We wanted to be seduced by the presentation: something authentic or imaginative! We wanted to be romanced with a bread made with considerable effort that levitated us out of our seats.
Value for money presented itself throughout the research process and, indeed, offered one of the most subjective points. Bias and subjectivity would be moderated with robust discussion and averaging our scores.
Paint Me Like One Of Your French Girls: Liam Collens and Matt Broderick sizing up the escargot at St Tropez, Mall of the Emirates. (Christ, is that a lemon?)
The judging factors came down to the following:
1. Size and quality of the snail
2. Quality of the butter/dressing
3. Presentation of the dish
4. Inherent joy / wow factor in the overall dish
5. Dippage-ability (can the butter be soaked up and enjoyed?)
6. Quality and bespoke nature of the Bread
7. Value for money
Matt Broderick sizing up the contestants at Bistro des Arts.
We needed to whittle the throngs of escargot-serving restaurants down to a manageable handful. To those restaurants synonymous with escargot. Early contenders appeared fast, like the wildly popular French-inspired behemoths with their signature je ne seis qua LPM, Couqley and Josette–to name but a few.
The ten restaurants that took part are, in order of visit, are:
Bistro des Arts, Dubai Marina
St. Tropez, Mall of the Emirates
Odeon, Jumeirah
Reif Kushiyaki, Dar Wasl
RSVP, Box Park
Couqley, Business Bay
La Cantine du Faubourg, Emirates Towers
LPM, DIFC
The Guild, DIFC
Josette, DIFC
Six escargot steeped in butter at St Tropez, Mall of the Emirates.
Naturally, some restaurants could have been overlooked. We wish to make it abundantly and absolutely clear here that all ten restaurants are considered ‘best-in-class’ based on our research, polls and opinion-gathering.
We thank the collective chefs, owners, PR gurus and anyone involved in making such an itinerary happen. A very special thank-you goes to one restaurant for opening especially during closed hours, to accommodate us. We thank everyone for their generosity and effort to indulge, let’s face it, a rather obscure folly for a dish that some would argue is falling out of fashion. Still, we firmly believe escargot remains in our collective hearts (literally, that level of saturated fat will haunt us forever).
Bread was a key differentiator between the escargot contestants. This chunky handful is available at The Guild.
There was no “bad dish”. We loved trying them all, and the process taught us a lot.
“The difference between a great snail and a good snail comes down to the tiniest of differences”, notes Matt. Lizzi learned that “my love of snails runs deep and that temperature matters a lot—some were too hot for my tastebuds!”
As for trends between the top three winners, Liam points out that “from fastidious attention to first impressions and lasting flavour went a long way, but more than anything, you sense that the winners are from chefs who love escargot and understand intuitively what makes it great.” Lizzi notes that, “Having a good vessel for the snails makes a massive difference in how they look. Also, when the bread is made especially for snails, like Josette’s brioche soldiers for dipping. That’s a game-changer.”
Couqley seriously impressed us with their enthusiasm for escargot with this limited edition escargot platter.
Where restaurants lost points, Matt warns that those “snails were slightly transactional and while they were ‘nice’, they all lacked something to elevate them–such as a balanced butter, or a bread that complemented the experience.” Lizzi submits, “Who knew that shells were so important? The ones towards the bottom were served without shells which took away from the whole experience—a snail without the shell is like a burger without the bun.” Never a truer word said Lizzi. Liam adds that, “bread is massively underestimated. Some took it seriously, one showed real ingenuity; some may have just gone to Carrefour.”
But, the competition was fierce. There was almost nothing between the top 7 or 8 entries. Fractions of a point. It was *that* tight. We entered our scores independently of each other. We only knew the final result once we submitted scores and the spreadsheet did the maths.
So, without further ado, here it is…
Who will be crowned Dubai’s Next Top Escargot?
Naturally, certain criteria are subjective but sentient. We wanted a sense of joy in our escargot. We wanted to be seduced by the presentation: something authentic or imaginative! We wanted to be romanced with a bread made with considerable effort that levitated us out of our seats.
Value for money presented itself throughout the research process and, indeed, offered one of the most subjective points. Bias and subjectivity would be moderated with robust discussion and averaging our scores.
Paint Me Like One Of Your French Girls: Liam Collens and Matt Broderick sizing up the escargot at St Tropez, Mall of the Emirates. (Christ, is that a lemon?)
The judging factors came down to the following:
1. Size and quality of the snail
2. Quality of the butter/dressing
3. Presentation of the dish
4. Inherent joy / wow factor in the overall dish
5. Dippage-ability (can the butter be soaked up and enjoyed?)
6. Quality and bespoke nature of the Bread
7. Value for money
Matt Broderick sizing up the contestants at Bistro des Arts.
Dubai’s Best Escargot, the restaurants in running
We needed to whittle the throngs of escargot-serving restaurants down to a manageable handful. To those restaurants synonymous with escargot. Early contenders appeared fast, like the wildly popular French-inspired behemoths with their signature je ne seis qua LPM, Couqley and Josette–to name but a few.
The ten restaurants that took part are, in order of visit, are:
Bistro des Arts, Dubai Marina
St. Tropez, Mall of the Emirates
Odeon, Jumeirah
Reif Kushiyaki, Dar Wasl
RSVP, Box Park
Couqley, Business Bay
La Cantine du Faubourg, Emirates Towers
LPM, DIFC
The Guild, DIFC
Josette, DIFC
Six escargot steeped in butter at St Tropez, Mall of the Emirates.
Naturally, some restaurants could have been overlooked. We wish to make it abundantly and absolutely clear here that all ten restaurants are considered ‘best-in-class’ based on our research, polls and opinion-gathering.
We thank the collective chefs, owners, PR gurus and anyone involved in making such an itinerary happen. A very special thank-you goes to one restaurant for opening especially during closed hours, to accommodate us. We thank everyone for their generosity and effort to indulge, let’s face it, a rather obscure folly for a dish that some would argue is falling out of fashion. Still, we firmly believe escargot remains in our collective hearts (literally, that level of saturated fat will haunt us forever).
Bread was a key differentiator between the escargot contestants. This chunky handful is available at The Guild.
Dubai’s Best Escargot, trends and what separates the Good from the Great
There was no “bad dish”. We loved trying them all, and the process taught us a lot.
“The difference between a great snail and a good snail comes down to the tiniest of differences”, notes Matt. Lizzi learned that “my love of snails runs deep and that temperature matters a lot—some were too hot for my tastebuds!”
As for trends between the top three winners, Liam points out that “from fastidious attention to first impressions and lasting flavour went a long way, but more than anything, you sense that the winners are from chefs who love escargot and understand intuitively what makes it great.” Lizzi notes that, “Having a good vessel for the snails makes a massive difference in how they look. Also, when the bread is made especially for snails, like Josette’s brioche soldiers for dipping. That’s a game-changer.”
Couqley seriously impressed us with their enthusiasm for escargot with this limited edition escargot platter.
Where restaurants lost points, Matt warns that those “snails were slightly transactional and while they were ‘nice’, they all lacked something to elevate them–such as a balanced butter, or a bread that complemented the experience.” Lizzi submits, “Who knew that shells were so important? The ones towards the bottom were served without shells which took away from the whole experience—a snail without the shell is like a burger without the bun.” Never a truer word said Lizzi. Liam adds that, “bread is massively underestimated. Some took it seriously, one showed real ingenuity; some may have just gone to Carrefour.”
But, the competition was fierce. There was almost nothing between the top 7 or 8 entries. Fractions of a point. It was *that* tight. We entered our scores independently of each other. We only knew the final result once we submitted scores and the spreadsheet did the maths.
So, without further ado, here it is…
Who will be crowned Dubai’s Next Top Escargot?
REIF’s were a wildcard, an anti-establishment snail skewer, incredible!, Lizzi Stead
Dubai’s Best Escargot, The Winners
1. Josette
2. RSVP
3. Reif Kushiyaki
Congratulations to Josette and Head Chef Burcu Eralp Cracknell. Her work developing the plumpest snails with the butteriest of butters, and those lightly toasted brioche soldiers is exceptional. Given that when we arrived at Josette, we were ‘snailed out’, it was some achievement to produce something that we were able to wolf down.
Josette is the winner of Dubai’s Best Escargot
Matt Broderick’s Top 3
First: Josette
Second: Reif Kushiyaki
Third: RSVP.
Matt, on his top 3, “Josette won because the snails were HUGE, the bread was bespoke and the butter was perfectly balanced. Both Reif and RSVP had bespoke bread to complement the flavours, which influenced my value-for-money perception. The likes of LPM, Couqley, The Guild, and Odeon all had gorgeous snails but fell half a point short on at least one of those finer details.”
Lizzi Stead’s Top 3
First: Josette
Second: LPM
Third: Reif Kushiyaki
Lizzi, on her top 3, “Josette nails it. It’s everything you want in a snail—amazing presentation, complex flavour and bags of buttery goodness for double dippage. LPM’s snails are also amazing and I’d go back any day to have some more (48 snails and counting!). REIF’s were a wildcard, an anti-establishment snail skewer, incredible!”
Liam Collens’ Top 3
First: RSVP
Second: Josette
Third: LPM
Liam, on his top 3, “Sex is great, but have you tried the escargot at RSVP? I nearly fought Lizzi and Matt for their portion, and honestly, I didn’t fancy their chances. The sauce is moreish magic for dragging their VP bread, and the puggy snails have heft. I agree with everything Matt and Lizzi said about Josette. While LPM came in bronze for me, my perception is that many of Dubai’s escargot dishes are seeking to capture their lightning in a bottle, but LPM remains the OG.”
RSVP was Liam’s winner of Dubai’s Best Escargot and overall bronze winner across Dubai.
2. RSVP
3. Reif Kushiyaki
Congratulations to Josette and Head Chef Burcu Eralp Cracknell. Her work developing the plumpest snails with the butteriest of butters, and those lightly toasted brioche soldiers is exceptional. Given that when we arrived at Josette, we were ‘snailed out’, it was some achievement to produce something that we were able to wolf down.
Josette is the winner of Dubai’s Best Escargot
Dubai’s Best Escargot, Our Individual Top 3s
Matt Broderick’s Top 3
First: Josette
Second: Reif Kushiyaki
Third: RSVP.
Matt, on his top 3, “Josette won because the snails were HUGE, the bread was bespoke and the butter was perfectly balanced. Both Reif and RSVP had bespoke bread to complement the flavours, which influenced my value-for-money perception. The likes of LPM, Couqley, The Guild, and Odeon all had gorgeous snails but fell half a point short on at least one of those finer details.”
Lizzi Stead’s Top 3
First: Josette
Second: LPM
Third: Reif Kushiyaki
Lizzi, on her top 3, “Josette nails it. It’s everything you want in a snail—amazing presentation, complex flavour and bags of buttery goodness for double dippage. LPM’s snails are also amazing and I’d go back any day to have some more (48 snails and counting!). REIF’s were a wildcard, an anti-establishment snail skewer, incredible!”
Liam Collens’ Top 3
First: RSVP
Second: Josette
Third: LPM
Liam, on his top 3, “Sex is great, but have you tried the escargot at RSVP? I nearly fought Lizzi and Matt for their portion, and honestly, I didn’t fancy their chances. The sauce is moreish magic for dragging their VP bread, and the puggy snails have heft. I agree with everything Matt and Lizzi said about Josette. While LPM came in bronze for me, my perception is that many of Dubai’s escargot dishes are seeking to capture their lightning in a bottle, but LPM remains the OG.”
RSVP was Liam’s winner of Dubai’s Best Escargot and overall bronze winner across Dubai.
Dubai’s Best Escargot, By Category
Best Bread
First: RSVP
Silver: Josette
Bronze: Reif Kushiyaki
Liam said, “RSVP’s bread smelled beautiful with its own richness. The shape fit snug inside the wells of the escargot platter absorbing all the parmesan, butter, garlic and parsley. Josette went the EXTRA MILE with their supple, Jenga-like bread toasted on all sides. Reif just wow’d us with their creative take incorporating nori into a dark bread wrapped around the snail and pierced on the kushi skewer-just brilliant.”
Biggest Snails
First: Josette
Second: Couqley
Third: LPM
Liam, “Both Josette and Couqley clearly spare no expense on sourcing hench snails that must Crossfit four times a week and eat other snails for protein.”
Matt, “If you’ve ever seen my wide-eyed wonderment when presented with wow-food, you will know exactly what my face did when the massive molluscs of Josette hit the table.”
Lizzi, “As you can see from my expression, Couqley’s snails were on the larger side of life.”
Couqley’s snails allegedly bench press other snails.
Best Value-for-Money
First: Reif Kushiyaki (AED 62 for 8 snails)
Second: Couqley (AED 249 for 24 snails)
Third: Odeon (AED 70 for 6 snails)
Matt, “I found this hard to judge but it’s bang-for-your-buck and this comes in the form of a significant offering for the price, whether that be pure size, eloquent presentation, or going above and beyond to complement the snail itself.”
Liam, “Reif’s escargot presents great value with two kushi with about 8 snails between the two. It’s not all about the number of snails. The nori bread, mushrooms and portion size makes it a great starter. Also, price was a factor, but not the be all and end all.”
Lizzi, “What is value for money? For my money, it’s when the price per snail is around AED 6 and the taste is around 10.”
Reif’s snails took home Best VFM, Best Presentation and Most Innovative.
Best Presentation
First: Reif Kushiyaki
Second: Couqley
Third: LPM
Liam, “Reif delighted and surprised us with his signature plating. Couqley’s festival platter felt like a celebration of snails (they even have a snail statute!). Finally, LPM delivered finesse with their tidy, elegant presentation inside a Staub escargot plate. I felt transported.”
Matt, “This was unanimously in favour of Reif thanks to his earthy presentation, almost symbolic of the natural habitat of the snail itself.
Lizzi, “REIF’s snails were particularly photogenic, Couqley’s were served on a gold platter (say no more), and LPM’s were straight from the pages of a French cookbook.”
LPM’s snails were some of the most elegant and likely most copied snails in Dubai.
Most Innovative
First: Reif Kushiyaki
Second: The Guild
Third: Couqley
Matt, “What Reif does with snails reminds me of when Nick Alvis and Scott Price pushed the boundaries with their snail doughnuts at Folly. Brilliantly unique but so obviously a win, in hindsight.”
Liam, “REIF presents an out of the ordinary perspective on a classic. It might also be the best way to ease in the snail-curious. It’s typical Reif in the best possible way.”
Lizzi, “I’ve never had a snail like the ones at REIF. Unconventional is the perfect term. The Guild brought a certain je ne sais quoi to the day (mushroom duxelle, shallot and lemon), while Couqley’s escargot festival of flavours stood out.”
The Guild’s bread and robust citrus flavour stood out as innovations in category.
Most Classic / Authentic
First: Odeon
Second: Couqley
Third: LPM
Lizzi, “100% Odeon. No other words necessary.”
Matt, “On paper, Odeon stand proud with their classic interpretation of escargot de bourgogne. As much as I loved some other snails, Odeon is my go-to for the classics, alongside the stunning patisserie, of course.”
Liam, “Odeon reminded me of summers traipsing and barging around France only to stumble into an auberge for escargot, all verdant green and bubbling. It brought a smile to my face. Also, there were extra points for the classic accoutrement, like escargot served in shells plus giving us escargot tongs and a small fork. Many overlooked this!”
Odeon is the nostalgic category winner offering a slice of bourgogne.
Shout out to Couqley for their Escargot Festival: six stunning flavours guaranteed to get you arguing about which flavour is best (it’s Miso Butter or Parmesan and sundried tomato, seeing as you ask). It is a must-visit for any snail fan, and the presentation platter is stunning.
I mean, just look at them!–Couqley’s escargot festival platter.
From the hundreds of DMs and comments, it is clear that snail lovers have their favourites. We learned about the importance of bread and how too much butter is sometimes detrimental.
We absolutely learned that size matters–sorry, guys–and that the escargot with nuances of flavour. The likes of LPM and Josette included seven to nine ingredients in their butters; where this balanced well, it also provided a very mature, interesting flavour profile.
Thank you again to the people that made this article happen; and we reiterate that all ten restaurants are on our recommended list for top escargot.
Who have we missed? Who should be on the 2025 Snail Trail?
To our winner, Josette! See you next year? (If we live.)
First: RSVP
Silver: Josette
Bronze: Reif Kushiyaki
Liam said, “RSVP’s bread smelled beautiful with its own richness. The shape fit snug inside the wells of the escargot platter absorbing all the parmesan, butter, garlic and parsley. Josette went the EXTRA MILE with their supple, Jenga-like bread toasted on all sides. Reif just wow’d us with their creative take incorporating nori into a dark bread wrapped around the snail and pierced on the kushi skewer-just brilliant.”
Biggest Snails
First: Josette
Second: Couqley
Third: LPM
Liam, “Both Josette and Couqley clearly spare no expense on sourcing hench snails that must Crossfit four times a week and eat other snails for protein.”
Matt, “If you’ve ever seen my wide-eyed wonderment when presented with wow-food, you will know exactly what my face did when the massive molluscs of Josette hit the table.”
Lizzi, “As you can see from my expression, Couqley’s snails were on the larger side of life.”
Couqley’s snails allegedly bench press other snails.
Best Value-for-Money
First: Reif Kushiyaki (AED 62 for 8 snails)
Second: Couqley (AED 249 for 24 snails)
Third: Odeon (AED 70 for 6 snails)
Matt, “I found this hard to judge but it’s bang-for-your-buck and this comes in the form of a significant offering for the price, whether that be pure size, eloquent presentation, or going above and beyond to complement the snail itself.”
Liam, “Reif’s escargot presents great value with two kushi with about 8 snails between the two. It’s not all about the number of snails. The nori bread, mushrooms and portion size makes it a great starter. Also, price was a factor, but not the be all and end all.”
Lizzi, “What is value for money? For my money, it’s when the price per snail is around AED 6 and the taste is around 10.”
Reif’s snails took home Best VFM, Best Presentation and Most Innovative.
Best Presentation
First: Reif Kushiyaki
Second: Couqley
Third: LPM
Liam, “Reif delighted and surprised us with his signature plating. Couqley’s festival platter felt like a celebration of snails (they even have a snail statute!). Finally, LPM delivered finesse with their tidy, elegant presentation inside a Staub escargot plate. I felt transported.”
Matt, “This was unanimously in favour of Reif thanks to his earthy presentation, almost symbolic of the natural habitat of the snail itself.
Lizzi, “REIF’s snails were particularly photogenic, Couqley’s were served on a gold platter (say no more), and LPM’s were straight from the pages of a French cookbook.”
LPM’s snails were some of the most elegant and likely most copied snails in Dubai.
Most Innovative
First: Reif Kushiyaki
Second: The Guild
Third: Couqley
Matt, “What Reif does with snails reminds me of when Nick Alvis and Scott Price pushed the boundaries with their snail doughnuts at Folly. Brilliantly unique but so obviously a win, in hindsight.”
Liam, “REIF presents an out of the ordinary perspective on a classic. It might also be the best way to ease in the snail-curious. It’s typical Reif in the best possible way.”
Lizzi, “I’ve never had a snail like the ones at REIF. Unconventional is the perfect term. The Guild brought a certain je ne sais quoi to the day (mushroom duxelle, shallot and lemon), while Couqley’s escargot festival of flavours stood out.”
The Guild’s bread and robust citrus flavour stood out as innovations in category.
Most Classic / Authentic
First: Odeon
Second: Couqley
Third: LPM
Lizzi, “100% Odeon. No other words necessary.”
Matt, “On paper, Odeon stand proud with their classic interpretation of escargot de bourgogne. As much as I loved some other snails, Odeon is my go-to for the classics, alongside the stunning patisserie, of course.”
Liam, “Odeon reminded me of summers traipsing and barging around France only to stumble into an auberge for escargot, all verdant green and bubbling. It brought a smile to my face. Also, there were extra points for the classic accoutrement, like escargot served in shells plus giving us escargot tongs and a small fork. Many overlooked this!”
Odeon is the nostalgic category winner offering a slice of bourgogne.
Dubai’s Best Escargot, Special Mention
Shout out to Couqley for their Escargot Festival: six stunning flavours guaranteed to get you arguing about which flavour is best (it’s Miso Butter or Parmesan and sundried tomato, seeing as you ask). It is a must-visit for any snail fan, and the presentation platter is stunning.
I mean, just look at them!–Couqley’s escargot festival platter.
Dubai’s Best Escargot, Final Thoughts
From the hundreds of DMs and comments, it is clear that snail lovers have their favourites. We learned about the importance of bread and how too much butter is sometimes detrimental.
We absolutely learned that size matters–sorry, guys–and that the escargot with nuances of flavour. The likes of LPM and Josette included seven to nine ingredients in their butters; where this balanced well, it also provided a very mature, interesting flavour profile.
Thank you again to the people that made this article happen; and we reiterate that all ten restaurants are on our recommended list for top escargot.
Who have we missed? Who should be on the 2025 Snail Trail?
To our winner, Josette! See you next year? (If we live.)
You May Also Like
- Arabic Restaurants, Casual Dining, Dubai Restaurants, Eat
- Dubai Restaurants, Eat, Fine Dining, Japanese Restaurants, Michelin Guide Dubai, Spanish Restaurants
Category
Follow us @eatgosee on Instagram
