Hi there. You know I’ve stopped blogging, no breaking news there. It’s not because I don’t love writing, I still do. (and I occasionally still write for a few places, most recent of which is the Friday Magazine with Gulf … Continue reading
Category Archives: Dubai
The Samosa Skeptic
Make rolls with meat, if wished, with thin sheets of bread whose ends you need to seal. Or, a piece of dough, you may use, well kneaded but still soft. Into thin discs spread it out with a rolling-pin, And … Continue reading
Should Every Restaurant Perfume Their Biryani with Rosewater?
I have finally tasted a biryani that is worth talking about. Not because it’s the best biryani I’ve ever had – that credit unsurprisingly goes to mum and a few other mothers and private chefs in Hyderabad and Dubai – … Continue reading
For the love of Fattet Magdous.
If you’re having one of those days where you want to bolt out of the office, grab the first available garden hose and spray-silence the blockhead sitting across from you in the meeting room – only to realize that your office … Continue reading
Dubai’s Priceless Iftar Buffet
The only Iftar buffet that captures the spirit of Ramadan is the one found across many humble parts of the old city. No, you won’t find linen-covered tables crammed with food nor people sitting around dates poised on silver trays. What you will find are mosques – mosques … Continue reading
A Trail of Crumbs: Diving into Traditional Bread Baskets across Dubai
Be it the pillowy pita or the raggedy injera, breaking bread across the many ethnic communities in Dubai is an incredible way of experiencing its melting pot – or heart-warming oven – of cultures. At this junction of the Middle East, Africa … Continue reading
A Trail of Four Markets – a Friday market hop across Old and New Dubai
The Friday brunch experience to try in 2015 is not the one in a sterile overpriced hotel, but rather the buffet of sensory market experiences that both old and new Dubai have to offer. Save your dirhams and spend a fruitful Friday completing … Continue reading
When sorrow over Safa Park strikes, distract yourself with this food trail.
After being in the food tour business for two years, I don’t know what on earth I’ve been doing writing about one-off restaurant experiences in backstreet here, or hidden alley there. I eat, live, breathe food trails every day of … Continue reading
Nigerian cow’s tail, fishy cookies, camel meatballs and other food moments to celebrate.
Since my last post on greasy comfort-laden strips of Turkish doner, I’ve had a couple of memorable food discoveries that I have to share with anyone who cares to know. These are food memories that have connected me ina deep, fulfilling … Continue reading
Layali’s Tonbik Shawarma: The greasy zenith of Turkish comfort food in Naif.
The first time I sunk my teeth into the Tonbik Shawarma, the saucy swirl of condiments and crunchy cabbage and tender chicken and plump grease-sodden fries awoke the sleeping endorphins in my blood stream. This was not sophisticated food. I … Continue reading
Tahtah Malleh – Preserved fish and rice made by the gifted hands of an Emirati mother.
In Emirati lingo, Malleh means preserved fish – from the word ‘Milh’ or salt. It was the natural way of preserving fish back in those days when desert dwellers didn’t have refrigerators. And while I’ve eaten malleh a few times … Continue reading
Help keep the new Taiwanese ‘Honey Ice Cream Dessert Shop’ alive.
28/10/2014: The sinister niggling feeling in my heart played out folks, this place has shut down. A real tragedy that we won’t be able to support the Taiwanese taro-ball maker anymore. Two months ago, a bubble gum-pink sign and fairy lights popped … Continue reading