A Weekend of Dubai Dining
I was in Dubai this past Valentine’s weekend. The weather
was a sunny 30°C, and
people were strutting around the malls in shorts and flip-flops. Contrast that
to Beirut’s inclement rain and folks bundled up in knee-length woolen coats! I was grateful for the escape.
It’d been over fours years since my last visit to the
Emirati state, and I was transported back to my numbered days there in the fall
of 2010, when I worked as a strategy management consultant in Abu Dhabi. It’s
uncanny how that short-lived episode is so vividly etched in my memory. After
four years away, I could readily navigate around Dubai’s expansive, village-like
malls, Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates, as if I'd been frequenting them my
entire life.
We spent nearly a full day scaling Dubai Mall’s four floors
of shops, cafes, restaurants, supermarkets and confectioneries. There’s also an
indoor ice skating rink, the outdoor Souk el Bahar, fountain shows occurring twice hourly in the evenings, and the towering majesty that is Burj al Khalifa.
 |
| Me eyeing an irresistible cinnamon roll at Costa Coffee in Mall of the Emirates, Dubai |
On a second day, we let ourselves get lost in Mall of the
Emirates, a slightly more compact shopping center with higher-end designer boutiques
and swankier dining facilities—there’s even Burj al Hamam and Salmontini housed
inside!
A friend in Beirut had raved wildly to me about the food at The Butcher
Shop & Grill, a South African restaurant famous for its aged beef and
perfectly done steaks. Our lunch confirmed it, and we were left dazzled with the Pulled
Beef Sandwich (AED 55, USD 15) and Beef Espetada (AED 129, USD 35).
The sandwich featured stringy succulent chunks of beef
smothered in melted Swiss and stuffed between two thin slices of toasted brown
bread. The accompanying red and green cabbage coleslaw was animated by chives,
which I've never seen done before, and it was delectable.
 |
| Pulled Beef Sandwich with all the trimmings |
 |
| The perfect onion rings |
The vertically suspended spit of five hulking cubes of beef
topped by a wedge of dripping fat made up the “espetada.” Beneath it were cubes
of country-style potatoes and a roasted head of garlic that married well with
the tender meat.
 |
| Beef Espetada with country-style potatoes and roasted garlic |
Rumor has it that The Butcher Shop & Grill is moving
into Beirut Souks in the shopping complex adjacent to Cinema City. I hope that’s
true, and if so, I pray the restaurant preserves its high standards, generosity, and
price-to-quality rapport exhibited in Dubai.
One thing’s certain about Dubai dining: you feel like
you’re getting your money’s worth, which is
something rather uncommon in Lebanon. Prices are not notably cheap in the Emirate city,
but portion sizes and quality of ingredients very well justify them.
Comments
Post a Comment