• Chicken machboos at the cultural lunch at SMCCU
    Dubai,  Travel,  United Arab Emirates

    Dubai Creekside, Al Fahidi and a cultural lunch at SMCCU

    Despite Dubai’s changing landscape, the historic district of Al Shidagha, the traditional Textile Souq along the Bur Dubai side of the creek, the continuing Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood (formerly Bastakiya), the Spice Souq and Gold Souq across the creek in the Deira side… all these places have managed to retained their original charm and sanctity. Bukhoor or Bakhoor, scented bricks soaked in fragrant oils Today’s post is in celebration of my brother’s birthday. A designer by profession, he’s an artist, a creative soul and capable of capturing the eclectic in things that others would find most ordinary and random. This is a creative and a foodie day out in my…

  • Dubai

    Al Fannah | How Deep (Fried) Is Your (Fish) Love?

    So, here's our new find (almost budget find). Located inside the Umm Sequimm Fishing Harbour and the Dubai Ports and Customs Authorities, our hunch is that this hidden gem is soon going to be the next 'Bu Qtair' in town, alibi some fairy lights, melamine plates, steel cutlery and queue-less waits. Also with better fish and a lesser bill!

  • Dubai,  People & Chefs

    Quique Dacosta | When Food Becomes An Enigma

    Each person is an enigma. You’re a puzzle not only to yourself but also to everyone else, and the great mystery of our time is how we penetrate this puzzle. ∼ Theodore Zeldin enigma ɪˈnɪɡmə/ noun noun: enigma; plural noun: enigmas a person or thing that is mysterious or difficult to understand. Difficult to understand, yet beautiful and stimulating to the senses… mysterious yet slowly revealing like a poetry… that is how I will describe my experience at Enigma. Did I comprehend it? Will I go back to it? Will I recommend it? For now, one thing is certain, this is a first of a kind of a dining concept…

  • Bu Qtair Fish Restaurant
    Dubai

    Bu Qtair In A New Avatar | A New Year, A New Location

    I don’t understand why the press is so interested in speculating about my appearance, anyway. What does my face have to do with my music or my dancing? ∼ Michael Jackson The above quote stands true for Bu Qtair too. What has the new look of Bu Qtair got to do with the taste of the fish it serves? The charm is still all in the fish, the fresh fish, the deep fried fresh fish, the deep fried spicy fresh fish. Specially the shrimps, although I miss the old Bu Qtair very very much! Bu Qtair is no Michael Jackson. But it is Dubai’s only celebrity-eating-hole that has managed to…

  • Dubai,  Published Work

    Hidden Gems of Dubai | My Pick of Restaurants

    There are little gems all around us that can hold glimmers of inspiration. ∼ Richelle Mead Hidden Gems. The term is sometimes too clichéd and overrated, specially in an ever evolving city like Dubai. Here, big shopping malls are easier to spot than hidden gems and the few gems that have remain hidden are exposed all too sudden. The example of the latter is perhaps the popular seafood joint Bu Qtair – it’s the most *unhidden* venues of Dubai! However, not everything is lost as yet and there are still many such quaint places in Dubai that provides comfort to one’s soul. I write about such places in my *Hidden…