Dubai offers you the chance to enjoy flavors from all over the world!
Here you’ll find an endless variety of restaurants, from well-known international fast food chains in the large shopping malls to the prestigious eateries of the luxury hotels, which often boast highly renowned chefs. There are also plenty of typical food stands and places to enjoy traditional Arab dishes.
The local cuisine features a host of spicy, sometimes unusual dishes, such as those made with camel meat or camel milk. Pulses, such as the chickpeas used to prepare hummus, are also widely used. Black pepper, cloves, cardamom, saffron, cinnamon, laurel leaves and nutmeg are just some of the flavors you’ll find in the traditional local dishes.
One of the most characteristic specialties here is falafel, tasty fried balls made with chickpeas or beans, flavored with garlic, onion and spices.
Chicken, lamb, goat and beef are featured in many recipes, often cooked with vegetables and served with rice or Arab bread.
Because Dubai was a commercial port and thus a meeting point for many different cultures from the Middle East, Asia and Europe, the city’s cuisine has been influenced by other traditions, and has exported so many of its own dishes, perhaps with different names, which can be found in other countries.
Make sure you try the delicious sweet specialties! The breakfast buffets of many of the hotels serve Balaleet, pastry discs made with eggs, onions, sugar and cinnamon; Mohalla, a type of thin bread enjoyed with honey or date syrup, and Khabeesah, a sweet bread prepared with sugar and saffron.
Those of you with a sweet tooth will love the dates! Forget those sold on supermarket shelves in the West: in the Dubai Mall, at Bateel – considered an authentic “date boutique” – you’ll find numerous organic varieties, grown in Saudi Arabia and stuffed with candied fruit or dried fruit and nuts. They’re out of this world!
Let me leave you with an interesting fact: if you fancy a new cappuccino experience, try the camelccino, made with camel milk!
Language: English