World of choice for dinner in Dubai
Emirati food not just falafel and hummus
THERE is far more to Dubai than high-rise buildings, shopping malls and desert safaris. Food guide Arva Ahmed helped
ISHAY GOVENDER-YPMA to piece together the cultural fabric of the city through food exploration tours. The buildings are drab in this neighbourhood of old Dubai close to Dubai Creek, especially if you have spent the day in the glittering company of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, and lunched at the swanky Address Hotel nearby. Bland concrete apartment blocks dwarf the sky and neon signs flicker over restaurants. We are here to meet food guide Arva Ahmed, who runs Frying Pan Adventures, the only dedicated food tour in the United Arab Emirates.
To define the cuisine of Dubai — or the Emirates — means we need to understand who the people are that make up the region. Emiratis comprise just 19% of the population and an overwhelming majority of them are foreigners. A mere 20 years ago, Dubai was nothing more than a trading port surrounded by the Arabian Desert. Today, it is a cosmopolitan metropolis.
“The original cuisine of the Emirati people is one of the desert — it’s rich in camel milk, dates and fish for those living near the coast,” said Ahmed.
About 70% of produce is imported to Dubai. Along with influences owing to trade with India and Iran and the influx of immigrants, there is evidence of cultural crossover in dishes such as salona (curries) and machboos (a type of biryani).
Traditional dishes such as balaleet, a sweetened vermicelli made with egg that is popular for breakfast, thareed, a meat stew made with layers of flat bread, and luqaimat, small drop dumplings drizzled with date molasses, are not as easy to find as you might imagine. At Al Farnar restaurant in Festival City, you can taste these dishes that claim to celebrate Dubai of old.
Ahmed said people were surprised to learn that Arabic — or Middle Eastern — food represented a small portion of what Dubai and the Emirates had to offer.
“I try to step out of the comfort zone of hummus and falafels and talk about specific cultures and their speciality foods, rather than a blanket notion of what Arabic food must be,” said Ahmed. Dishes come from Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Turkey. Lebanese and Indian food dominate the culinary landscape, but every dish or element chosen for the tour has a story.
“Ghiath is an ice-cream maker who moved here from Syria, bringing a delicate, chewy pistachio-studded ‘booza’ to my street,” said Ahmed. I was lucky enough to witness Ghaith in action and taste the fruits of his patient labour — and I can attest to its greatness.
During the tour, Ahmed provides an endless supply of well-researched facts as she unpacks culinary Dubai. She is humorous and
The original cuisine of the Emirati people is one of the desert — it’s rich in camel milk, dates and fish for those living near the coast
entertaining, giving “pop quizzes” whenever the group lapses into silence, a natural consequence of five hours of feasting.
To enjoy this dinner party, guests need to be well rested, hungry and openminded. Visit fryingpanadventures.com.