Dubai

I wouldn't have come to Dubai had I not chosen to fly on Emirates Air. The local residents in UAE are only 15% Emirati and the rest are mostly South Asian, such as Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, etc. I usually look for authentic dishes when I travel, so UAE wasn't on my list. I arrived in Dubai yesterday. It's as hot as Egypt, but it's worse here in terms of humidity. Dubai is close to the Persian Gulf and that brings in the humidity. I managed to go out in the evening and tried Iranian food.

Today is the second day in Dubai. I found a Emirati restaurant, called Al Fanar Restaurant, which is by Dubai Creek. I learned of this restaurant from my favorite YouTube blogger, Mark Wiens. According to his video, this is the only restaurant that serves exclusively Emirati food.

This is Machboos Deyay, chicken on top of rice. The small piece next to the chicken is dried lemon. This is my first time trying dried lemon. Compared to the preserved lemon that I had in Morocco, the flavor wasn't as strong. But it still adds a nice and subtle aroma.

Saloona Samak is a fish stew. But it's more fish cooked in curry sauce, which reminds me of Northern Indian / Pakistani cuisine. It's not "chili spicy" but I tasted more cinnamon than in Indian / Pakistani curry.

This is the dessert I saw on Mark Wien's YouTube channel. This is Lugaimat and it's a popular sweet during Ramadan. It's fried dough topped with date syrup. The dough itself is very plain. And the syrup is not as sweet as it looks. I poured on a lot more of the date syrup that was provided in a separate container. It looks like donuts holes but the texture is quite different. It reminds me of the chewy texture of the Brazilian cheese bread (pao de queijo). 

The restaurant was offering Iftar, which is a meal after fasting during Ramadan. Iftar is actually a "Breakfast" because it "breaks" "fasting". I don't know what exactly the menu was because I arrived at the restaurant a touch too late. So, I had to order dishes from their regular menu. I still enjoyed their "regular" Emirati dishes.

After dinner, I went to a spice market. During Ramadan, stores are usually open until late (at least in Egypt), but most of the stores here are closed, unfortunately. This is one of the few stores that was still open. I got dried lemon here.

That's the end of this trip. I enjoyed it but I would strongly recommend to travel through Egypt / Dubai in the winter....