Eating in Dubai

---

Sydney Airport – after 15 hours in the air. It is 6am, and we are nearly home. Our last day was a complete contrast to the high tech modern experience of Dubai as we took ourselves down to the old market across the creek. Sadly it was Friday i.e. their Sunday, so most of the shops were closed, and the spice souq was deserted.

Never mind, we peered lustfully (or at least I did, I don’t think Davie cared much) into the dozens of windows in the gold souq, many of which were open and the old ‘madam madam madam’ call as the shopkeepers raced out of their shops to see if they could inveigle us inside. Well, I am not that confident about bartering over expensive stuff; so we gave it a miss.

We had been told by a steward on a plane that good knock offs were available; but that it was a furtive business as they are, of course, not legal. So we adopted the casual look as we wandered through the market. But, it was no different to markets anywhere else in the world in the importuning ‘sir sir sir, wanta watch?’ ‘madam madam madam, nice real handbags’.

After a bit of this we agreed to follow a chap that didn’t look too scary. Unlike Hong Kong and KL, all the knock off stuff is out of sight, up flights of stairs and at the back of shops with other more legit gear out the front. Even locked doors. Smells a bit funny, I thought.

So after some stair climbing, lifts, locks turning and curtain pushing we found knock-off heaven, and Davie has yet another watch to add to his collection. It was all rather remarkable, and also the prices were much, much higher than we have ever seen before – even when we’d more than halved them by bartering. The insistence that the product was 'real branded' was very strong - and the word knock-off was taken with a degree of insult. Mind you, they did give me a new box for my sunglasses - which was appreciated.

It is the old travel story, when you see stuff you like, blimmin well buy it. There were fantastic bags and stuff in the Casablanca Medina – but it was early days and we thought we’d see more in Spain. Europe has been cleaning up on the knock-offs for a while, and I only saw one group of tall dark guys with bags, and that was in Barcelona, and they got short shrift and moved on. Interestingly they had all their bags tethered on long lines, I guess so they a) could be pulled together for a quick get away, and, b)were safe from thieves.

This was our last day and night in Dubai, so we had a fantastic lunch of entrees only with a view to saving space for the gourmet evening of Arab food. This was a fascinating adventure – six guests and an ex Booz Allen strategist/foodie/local Dubai born Indian in a van. It is called Frying Pan Food Adventures and we strongly recommend trying it if you are over that way - as long as you are adventurous about the sort of food you are prepared to eat.

This was different. All our Dubai food experiences had been in pristine malls and hotels, and now we were out on the streets. And, it was good.

We started at a falafel fast food café with outside plastic chairs on the footpath. These were lighter, crisper and very fluffy and soft in comparison to the hard things we have at home. Made with fava beans (broad beans) hey had a high percentage of parsley and coriander, and each one had a little bit of chilli in the middle and sesame on the outside. Simply divine.

They were served with the tastiest hummus ever ; pickles (olives, carrots, turnip and beetroot) and a lovely fresh capsicum sauce. Oh so yummy. But. oh boy, you wanna see their menu?? Stuffed sheep and all. I'll try to put the photo in.

Then it was to a baklava shop. The Dubai people don’t drink, but boy do they like cakes and sweets, and if we have an obesity problem in NZ, it is not as bad as these guys have. The malls are chocka with cafes full of cakes, ice creams and other sweet treats, and there are lots of lolly shops.

Anyhow, in this shop we went to were a wide range of pastry things, some made with thin shredded pastry (some gorgeous ones formed into nests with glazed pistachios as eggs – cute), others made with the sapon root sap which is whipped up into a sort of marshmallow, and dozens of varieties of baklava, pastry and almond type things. Many of them were drenched with honey and far too rich for me and Davie.

All the time we were being told the history of the foods and why they were like they are. Our group of six were all Kiwis bar one young Californian guy who turned out to be Egyptian-born. He was interesting as his mother of course cooked a lot of the food we had – although the names were slightly different due to accents and dialects.

Then it was onto an Iranian street restaurant. This had a fire on a mound and a huge split fish grilling from the side. Quite medieval really. We started there with a delicious lentil soup with lemon juice, and then had the fish – which was really lovely – very smoky and delicious. But we were getting a bit full by then.

But no, there was more. This time it was off to a Yemeni proper restaurant i.e. inside a building. We took our shoes off, and then headed down the back of a place with heavy drapes forming whole rooms. The front room was for men on their own, we were in the mixed area, and there was another one further back for women and children. So it was down onto the carpeted floor, no chairs at all, but some cushions. While this sounds all a bit sexist, as some background Dubai is full of migrant workers, many of them male and alone. Apparently this can be a bit overwhelming in places like restaurants, so there are women and family only areas in eateries and even public transport.

Anyhow, much to my disgust, I found Grandma can’t sit cross legged any more on the floor – might need to do some stretching!!

Here we had a lesson in making balls of rice with our fingers (lots of hand washing and hand spray first). The rice was lovely, with saffron in it, and there were two sorts of chicken, some cooked in a tandoor (originally an Iranian word, apparently) and the other was grilled. There was a nice salad, with the most delicious Lebanese cucumber and other greens in a salad. I never thought I would think twice about cucumber, but it was really good.

Sitting on the floor with a sheet of plastic to catch the fallen rice did not feel that glam really. And, I must say, Davie was terrifically patient with the whole thing and said he really enjoyed it.

Sadly we were both too full to eat much at this point, but it was an interesting experience, but this was not the end.

It was off again into the hot night – and literally to a street stall making what initially looked like oversize roti. Boy that man worked. And, he had his hands going in and out of a very hot oven – talk about asbestos fingers! So this was pudding, Egyptian style. It was roti-like pastry with a creamy salty cheese and pistachio nuts and honey over the top.

The whole thing was bigger than a dinner plate – I was too full to appreciate it, but to my taste it was a bit doughy and not particularly exciting.

But, the venue was. We sat outside in a carpark on plastic chairs, surrounded by cars and people racing into the shop and taking whatever it was called out in pizza boxes, or sitting in family (with lots of tiny babies and children) or all male groups eating massive quantities of the stuff. We watched two guys eat one each and then share a third – boy that would have taken some doing, this stuff is very rich and filling.

So after that it was back to the hotel, a lovely big sleep and up at 5 am to catch the flight to Sydney. Would we go back to Dubai? Yes. It was heaps better than I imagined, and it is clear that once you get past the plastic malls, which are good anyhow, there is quite a bit to look at, and fun to be had.

Our big flight was uneventful, and nowhere near as horrid as I expected, probably because we had slept well already. We are now in the Qantas Club early on Sunday morning drinking bubbles and beer while waiting for the flight to Wellington. While it feels a bit naughty drinking this early in the day, our bodies have no idea what day it is, let alone what time. But the best was a soy latte, made with our own Vitasoy Café milk. Yuuuuuuumo!!!

And, our dear friend Iesha has just texted to say the garage doors are working and dinner is already prepared – what a doll she is. How thoughtful is that? It is so appreciated.

So it will be home, hopefully KC will remember us, and we’ll be back in our own bed with a pile of photos to sort and a brain full of fantastic memories.

Obviously, this was written en route, and I have only just now got around to posting it...

---

Photos

The mighty Atlantis Hotel out beyond the Palms
This is a hotel in Dubai on an island off the coast, reached by motorway tunnel. It demonstrates the 'biggest' and 'most opulent' perceptions the Dubai King wants us to see

Even the art is big in Dubai
Is this art? Is it advertising? Well it is too big for Cinderella. Taken in the huge 1,200 shop Dubai Mall (with the ice rink, aquarium, amazing lake with dancing fountains and shops, sales and food everywhere).

Menu in Lebanese food shop on tour
The falafels were divine. Did not get around to ordering the sheep's head.

Cake in the baklava shop
This green one is interesting, made with the sap of the sapon plant - makes a sort of marshmallow.

Our fish grilling Iranian style
It was really delicious, but it made the restaurant pretty hot

Bedouin meal Yemeni style
Rice, chicken and green vege. The milk was a sort of yoghurt/buttermilk drink. It was very refreshing. Love the sheet of plastic.