As promised, here's my review of almost everything I ate in Dubai, with pictures!
Please note that since I haven't traveled outside of the country since I was 7, and my last memory is of eating strawberries with whipped cream dipped in sugar with a view of the Eiffel Tower when I was in Paris, my oooing and aahhiinngg over the food in Dubai might be just a regularly normal experience for you.
With that out of the way, my first stop had to be Starbucks and Tim Hortons, coffee slave that I am. I definitely found Tim Hortons to be much more satisfying with better options. Although I did have the turkey and cheese croissant at Starbucks, which was lovely the coffee was just...meh. My true love Tim however, had good ol' French Vanilla and somehow their coffee just had more body and flavor. Also, the bagels, biscuits, muffins and can we please not forget the fresh chips? Yum!
Next, my cousin insisted we try Laduree (La-dure-ay)'s macarons, which I gotta tell ya, are little morsels of heaven. I haven't found anything that comes close to them. Not even Okra. Sabeen Rasool of Gateau is the closest thing to Laduree's macarons in Karachi. Salted caramel and pistachio just literally melted in my mouth. The texture is difficult to describe. Slightly crunchy, very soft, and strong flavors of each melding in harmony to the texture. The rose cake was something I wasn't very sure of, because when it came to the table, it was kinda...well, wet. But oh, how wrong I was. It was spongy, it was soft, it was definitely rose flavoured but not overpoweringly so. I wasn't a fan of anything rose except the flower before I ate that, and I know l'll probably never be able to find anything like it here.
Then we move on to IHOP breakfast with a view of the Burj and do you know, the fountain works during the day too? I didn't know either! We got the cream cheese pancakes which were soft, fluffy and abundantly filled with cream cheese. And if you don't like cream cheese and pancakes with whipped cream and strawberry compote, there's something wrong with you. The IHOP coffee was just aight, and helped soothed my frayed nerves, because I'm not used to leaving home without coffee.
The Godiva store in Yas (Always made me go yaaaaassssss) Mall at Abu Dhabi with me in it was literally a kid in the candy store scenario. I was prancing around and asking prices of all the chocolates and had already bought 4 things before family intervention. The ice cream cone which sadly comes in just chocolate, vanilla and the two mixed made greedy little me go for both mixed, of course. And it was just uuuffff. I have no words for it. No words. After I got it, I wondered how I'd possibly finish it but I persevered, tried my best, and didn't have dinner after if.
Now, everyone who's been to Dubai knows La Maison du Chocolate don't come cheap. And when I popped a small square of dark chocolate infused with cinnamon into my mouth, I knew why. That little sucker (I literally sucked on it till it finished) was pure decadent dark chocolate made with the finest cacao and the flavor of cinnamon infused perfectly with it. Not too much, so it overwhelmed the chocolateyness, and not too little, so you didn't feel gypped about the cinnamon. It made me dance the entire time I had it in my mouth.
Two of the places that left a lasting impression were Hatam and The Farm. I was in love with Hatam's cheese platter served with hot nan and everything else took s backseat for me. That cheese was divine with the assortment of baby spinach, spring onions, pickles, olives and walnuts. That was pretty much my meal. I couldn't resist the chelo kabab and the chops though. While the chops did have that distinct meaty smell, it didn't hit me in the face and wasn't obnoxiously strong. The meat was tender, succulent and deliciously flavoured. The chelo kababs were honestly what people raved about them. I don't know what spices they used, but I didn't miss the mirchi even once.
Moving on to The Farm at Al-Barari. Fancy place with menus on their iPad. Decent assortment of items but what I wanted was The Farm Bolognese pasta. I don't remember the exact name, but the flavors imprinted themselves in my taste buds. There was not a hint of chili anywhere. The tomatoes, sausage, meat, everything spoke for itself. It was hearty, it was filling and it is something I wish I could recreate at home.
Of course, how can I forget Yamanote, Eataly and Mooyah? Eataly was food heaven for me. An entire bar dedicated to Nutella. Hello? Who will NOT fall in love? Inside it was a small Italian market, complete with cheese, pastas, sauces, relishes and so much more I didn't even find the time to look at!
I specifically asked for the spaghetti carbonara and I wasn't disappointed! It was al dente spaghetti, not mushed to death, so there was a bite to it. The carbonara sauce itself was perfection, flavoured with Turkey bacon I know I won't find here. Sigh.
Then comes Yamanote. This place is pure love. You enter the shop, grab a tray and tongs, and proceed to help yourself. There was a huge assortment of everything bready. Curry buns, udon buns, salted caramel buns, cinnamon buns, cream custard buns, mini Japanese cheesecakes, nutella stuffed buns. It was a Japanese fusion restaurant and each and every single thing was just a party in my mouth. Their coffee was delicious too!
Mooyah is basically a burger place, and while I found it to be better than Shake Shack, on the whole spectrum I find our local burgers (CoughOMGcough) do a much better job. The fries and onion rings though, let's learn something from there.
PF Chang's while good, I suppose was overhyped for me. While the dynamite shrimps were delicious as was the Mongolian beef, I think I'll skip it on my next trip.
Krispy Kreme's glazed doughnut was also a treat to eat, although I'm not really a doughnut fan, but I was glad my cousin insisted I try it.
On the whole, I pretty much ate my way through Dubai and Abu Dhabi and don't regret a minute of it because I loved it. Also, walking till my feet broke and fell off, hello? I actually feel like I haven't gained much weight during this vacation (Fingers crossed) although I ate like a monster. Dubai made my tummy very happy ☺️
Please note that since I haven't traveled outside of the country since I was 7, and my last memory is of eating strawberries with whipped cream dipped in sugar with a view of the Eiffel Tower when I was in Paris, my oooing and aahhiinngg over the food in Dubai might be just a regularly normal experience for you.
With that out of the way, my first stop had to be Starbucks and Tim Hortons, coffee slave that I am. I definitely found Tim Hortons to be much more satisfying with better options. Although I did have the turkey and cheese croissant at Starbucks, which was lovely the coffee was just...meh. My true love Tim however, had good ol' French Vanilla and somehow their coffee just had more body and flavor. Also, the bagels, biscuits, muffins and can we please not forget the fresh chips? Yum!
Next, my cousin insisted we try Laduree (La-dure-ay)'s macarons, which I gotta tell ya, are little morsels of heaven. I haven't found anything that comes close to them. Not even Okra. Sabeen Rasool of Gateau is the closest thing to Laduree's macarons in Karachi. Salted caramel and pistachio just literally melted in my mouth. The texture is difficult to describe. Slightly crunchy, very soft, and strong flavors of each melding in harmony to the texture. The rose cake was something I wasn't very sure of, because when it came to the table, it was kinda...well, wet. But oh, how wrong I was. It was spongy, it was soft, it was definitely rose flavoured but not overpoweringly so. I wasn't a fan of anything rose except the flower before I ate that, and I know l'll probably never be able to find anything like it here.
Then we move on to IHOP breakfast with a view of the Burj and do you know, the fountain works during the day too? I didn't know either! We got the cream cheese pancakes which were soft, fluffy and abundantly filled with cream cheese. And if you don't like cream cheese and pancakes with whipped cream and strawberry compote, there's something wrong with you. The IHOP coffee was just aight, and helped soothed my frayed nerves, because I'm not used to leaving home without coffee.
The Godiva store in Yas (Always made me go yaaaaassssss) Mall at Abu Dhabi with me in it was literally a kid in the candy store scenario. I was prancing around and asking prices of all the chocolates and had already bought 4 things before family intervention. The ice cream cone which sadly comes in just chocolate, vanilla and the two mixed made greedy little me go for both mixed, of course. And it was just uuuffff. I have no words for it. No words. After I got it, I wondered how I'd possibly finish it but I persevered, tried my best, and didn't have dinner after if.
Now, everyone who's been to Dubai knows La Maison du Chocolate don't come cheap. And when I popped a small square of dark chocolate infused with cinnamon into my mouth, I knew why. That little sucker (I literally sucked on it till it finished) was pure decadent dark chocolate made with the finest cacao and the flavor of cinnamon infused perfectly with it. Not too much, so it overwhelmed the chocolateyness, and not too little, so you didn't feel gypped about the cinnamon. It made me dance the entire time I had it in my mouth.
Two of the places that left a lasting impression were Hatam and The Farm. I was in love with Hatam's cheese platter served with hot nan and everything else took s backseat for me. That cheese was divine with the assortment of baby spinach, spring onions, pickles, olives and walnuts. That was pretty much my meal. I couldn't resist the chelo kabab and the chops though. While the chops did have that distinct meaty smell, it didn't hit me in the face and wasn't obnoxiously strong. The meat was tender, succulent and deliciously flavoured. The chelo kababs were honestly what people raved about them. I don't know what spices they used, but I didn't miss the mirchi even once.
Moving on to The Farm at Al-Barari. Fancy place with menus on their iPad. Decent assortment of items but what I wanted was The Farm Bolognese pasta. I don't remember the exact name, but the flavors imprinted themselves in my taste buds. There was not a hint of chili anywhere. The tomatoes, sausage, meat, everything spoke for itself. It was hearty, it was filling and it is something I wish I could recreate at home.
Of course, how can I forget Yamanote, Eataly and Mooyah? Eataly was food heaven for me. An entire bar dedicated to Nutella. Hello? Who will NOT fall in love? Inside it was a small Italian market, complete with cheese, pastas, sauces, relishes and so much more I didn't even find the time to look at!
I specifically asked for the spaghetti carbonara and I wasn't disappointed! It was al dente spaghetti, not mushed to death, so there was a bite to it. The carbonara sauce itself was perfection, flavoured with Turkey bacon I know I won't find here. Sigh.
Then comes Yamanote. This place is pure love. You enter the shop, grab a tray and tongs, and proceed to help yourself. There was a huge assortment of everything bready. Curry buns, udon buns, salted caramel buns, cinnamon buns, cream custard buns, mini Japanese cheesecakes, nutella stuffed buns. It was a Japanese fusion restaurant and each and every single thing was just a party in my mouth. Their coffee was delicious too!
Mooyah is basically a burger place, and while I found it to be better than Shake Shack, on the whole spectrum I find our local burgers (CoughOMGcough) do a much better job. The fries and onion rings though, let's learn something from there.
PF Chang's while good, I suppose was overhyped for me. While the dynamite shrimps were delicious as was the Mongolian beef, I think I'll skip it on my next trip.
Krispy Kreme's glazed doughnut was also a treat to eat, although I'm not really a doughnut fan, but I was glad my cousin insisted I try it.
On the whole, I pretty much ate my way through Dubai and Abu Dhabi and don't regret a minute of it because I loved it. Also, walking till my feet broke and fell off, hello? I actually feel like I haven't gained much weight during this vacation (Fingers crossed) although I ate like a monster. Dubai made my tummy very happy ☺️
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