Tagged with DInner …

Nov 09 2011
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Arabic, Biryani, Chicken, DIera, Dinner, Mandi, Yemeni Gallery

Al Tawasol, The Mandi Standard

Ahmad has been eating at Al Tawasol, one of the oldest restaurants in Dubai, for as long as he has lived here. Its one of his favorite places, and has quickly become one of mine. A few weeks ago we were making plans to meet up with Arva from I Live in a Frying Pan, and so when she suggested we meet at Al Tawasol, we were all for the idea.

So we meet Arva and a photographer friend of hers for mandi, traditional Yemeni chicken and rice. With four of us eating, we decided to mix it up and try three different chicken preparations, and three different rices. We ordered mandi chicken on plain rice, charcoal grilled chicken on mazbi rice, and biryani chicken on biryani rice (pictured clockwise from the top).


We loved all of the chicken, with a preference for the mandhi, and charcoal grilled, and my personal favorite rice was the mazbi rice.

Ahmad always asks for the ‘special’ rice, with nuts and raisins on top. It is a necessary touch in out book, as it adds the perfect fruity crunch to the rice. The whole thing is eaten with a spicy red sauce and plain yogurt.

As far as the decor goes, the restaurant features traditional floor seating. The dining areas are enclosed by tents, there is a large tent for men in the front, and a few private tents and tables in the back for families, or the less adventurous. The place seems clean-ish… it’s passable.

In the end the bill came to less than 100 AED, a pretty awesome deal for three extra-large entrees and all the fixings (feeds four).

(Arva is a suburb blogger here in Dubai, and the co-founder of the U.A.E. food-blogging community. Her post on this meal and especially her photography is definitely worth a look. Check it out here.)

Our final scores…

Food (5/5) ***** Reliable, delicious.
Decor (3/5) *** Authentic. Minus two stars for rice on the floor. The furniture could use an update as well.
Customer Service (4/5) ***** The wait staff were very patient with us as we interrogated him for details about the difference in cooking technique, etc. Minus one star because of a few stare-ers.

Al Tawasol
Deira, Abu Baker Al Siddique Road, just before the clock tower, Dubai – U.A.E.
Tel: +971-04-295-9797

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Sep 17 2011
5 Comments
Arabic, Dinner, fish, Juice, Lebanese, Restaurant, Review, Satwa Gallery

Al Mallah Cafeteria, rundown… but a stand by nonetheless

While I’m sure this is a food blog no-no, I’m starting this post with this blurry shot of the restaurant, because I like it and because I forgot to get a pic like this until we were already in the car on the way out.

So Ahmad and I headed to Al Mallah in the middle of the night a couple of weeks ago for some delicious sandwiches. It’s the kind of place that would probably be better for take-out because you don’t really want to see how much “character” the restaurant has. But that said, we held went in and it was fine.  Above is a picture of the table marker.

Despite the sad interior, we were very happy with the food. This is a cheese and zaatar fateer was just as I love them: crispy, and salty. We also ordered a number of sandwiches that come wrapped nicely in white paper. The sandwiches we ordered included fried hamour, brain (yes, Ahmad likes brain), and chicken escalop. We agreed that they were all great, although I don’t have much experience with brain. The bread was nice in each sandwich, with the perfect amount of filling, and they were small so that you can eat more than one.

Chicken Escalop

Fried Hamour: A perfect balance between the fish, the bread, the sauce, the pickle. MMM
We also got a spinach fateer, which was really bland.
For all of the above we only paid AED 43… not a bad deal at all.

We do have plans to return, but next time we will pick up sandwiches and take them with us to eat on the beach. Mallah serves a variety of sandwiches including chicken and beef shawerma as well as fresh juices and juice cocktails.

Food (5/5) ***** Always good!
Decor (1/5) * What decor? We highly recommend this place for take-out only.
Customer Service (4/5) **** They were pretty attentive, and came over right away whenever we needed them.

Al Mallah Cafeteria
Al Diyafa Road, Satwa, Dubai – U.A.E. (Although there is at least one other location in Mamzar Park)
Tel: +971-4-3984723

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Aug 27 2011
2 Comments
Dinner, Indian/Pakistani, Review Gallery

Karachi Darbar Pulls Out All the Stops

We visited a Pakistani restaurant! Yay! And it’s currently our favorite Indian/Pakistani fix.

We arrived with a couple of minutes left to iftaar time and were ushered upstairs into the family section and quickly brought: glasses of rosemary juice, a plate of fried things, and a plate of fruit. The fritters and samosas could have been fresher, but in our hunger we scarfed a few down nonetheless.  The fruit was refreshing, so we didn’t feel like we were being totally unhealthy.

We wanted to try something new so we went for their signature Peshawari Chicken Kadai, and we were very happy we did.

It was as good as it looks… hot, falling off the bone, in a rich, flavorful sauce. We ate it with naan, and roti. The naan was really thick, and kind of tough, but the roti was just as we like it, thin and fresh.

For dessert we had tea (good, perfectly sweetened) and Cham Cham (dense, sweet yellow balls). A delicious way to end a delicious meal… no complaints there!

Last but not least, a look at the bill. Address and phone number are at the top, and as you can see we tried the Satwa location. Even though they charged us for the fritter and fruit plates, a total of aed 10, the prices are unbeatable.

Food (5/5) ***** Although the naan could have been better, we left this place satisfied and smiling.
Decor (3/5) *** This place basically has no decor, but its clean, and for that we give it three stars.
Customer Service (4/5) **** When we arrived in the middle of the iftaar rush, the staff was very busy, and it was hard to get someone to take our order. But as the place cleared out, the staff went above and beyond, unexpectedly dropping by to change out our bread with some that was fresh from the oven.

On another note, we are excited to be using a new blogging platform! Still working out all the kinks, but what do you think of the re-design?

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Aug 16 2011
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Dinner, Indian/Pakistani, Review Gallery

Dinner at Delhi Darbar… not up to par

Last summer when I visited Dubai, Ahmad and I tried Delhi Darbar on his friend’s recommendation and we loved it! Good, affordable Indian food in a no frills setting. Excited about their butter chicken, we headed back there last week… but unfortunately our experience was less than lovable.

We arrived at the Satwa location right at 7:00 p.m., just in time to break our fast only to find that the restaurant was closed from 7:00 to 7:30. Trying to understand the reasoning behind these odd hours, we waited in the car for 30 minutes hungrily until they opened. Then, at 7:35 we tried again only to find that the door was still locked. We waved at the men inside, and one of them flippantly raised his cup of tea at us, motioning that he would get to us as soon as he was ready. Starving and hot, we did not have the patience to wait; we exchanged confused looks with another disgruntled and hungry customer waiting outside, then left.

Determined not to give up on our craving for Delhi Darbar, we headed to another location in Souk Naif with friendlier staff. They took our order right away, and the food was on the table in less than 10 minutes. Meanwhile, we checked out our surroundings. The same location –even the same exact table we had dined at last year– was not as clean as we remembered. The wear of the past year showed on the walls and on the dishware, which were far from pristine. The food arrived, and we tried not to eat it too quickly. We ordered a large butter chicken, chapati, a sweet lassi, an orange Fanta, and for dessert, two masala teas and a ras malai. The butter chicken was good, but very oily, the chapati was good, but kind of thick, the drinks were great, and the ras malai was good, but it was our first time trying the sweet.

The bill came to aed 68. Not expensive, but also not as cheap as some other Indian places that we prefer.

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Food (3/5) *** The food was alright, but not like we remembered.
Decor (3/5) *** In addition to our comments above, I have to add that we were seated upstairs near the kitchen, and throughout our meal the sound of dishware being thrown about (washed?) was deafening.
Customer Service Naif Location (5/5) ***** The staff was very attentive, we had no complaints.
Customer Service Satwa Location (1/5) * (see above)

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Aug 11 2011
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Buffet, Indian/Pakistani, Review Gallery

Dinner at Akbar’s


We decided to try Akbar’s on Rigga road for an iftaar dinner last week. They have a 15 aed breakfast buffet and 25 aed dinner buffet. The prices were so low we were wary about what we would find inside, so as we walked in through a door that looks like it was imported from India and saw the fancy copper-laden decor and spread of food we were instantly impressed.About 25 minutes before iftaar (sunset, time to eat) we were the only people there and didn’t think much of it, but when iftaar time finally came around and we were STILL the only people there we thought it was kind of odd. We didn’t complain though as we had the whole buffet to ourselves… we loaded up our plates and dug in.All of the food was good, not the best Indian food we have tried, but good. The corn kababs and fritters were my favorite, and Ahmad really liked the spicy tandoori chicken. The mango juice was made from powder, but the yogurt and rosemary drinks were good. The dessert, fruit pudding, was tasty.We left satisfied, and confused as to why the place was empty. Good food in a nice setting with excellent service and unbeatable prices. Ahmad has heard that they have the best biryani in Dubai so we will be heading back to Akbar’s after Ramadan to try it out!

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Food (4/5) **** (Good food, we will be back.)
Decor (4/5) **** (Very ornate, nice copper dinnerware, a fountain, and lots of murals. One star is withheld for cleanliness which we thought could have been better– there were a couple of spills on our tablecloth.)
Customer Service (5/5) ***** (Very good customer service, perhaps due in part to the fact that we were the only people there, there were three or four waiters anticipating our every need.)

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Aug 07 2011
2 Comments
Dinner, Dubai, Emirates Sea, fish, Indian, Juice, Restaurant, soup

Dinner at Emirates Sea Restaurant

Emirates Sea Restaurant is located in Abu Hail, next to Ahmad’s favorite shawerma spot (review coming). We had heard that the seafood soup was good so we wandered in to check it out. The restaurant looked clean, the prices were very reasonable, and the seating was in private ‘cabins’ which looked fun. We decided to give them a try for dinner.

We were seated in cabin number 9, and every time the server wanted to enter, he knocked. First he knocked before taking our order, then he knocked to bring us laban (a thick milk drink) and a plate of fruit on the house (for us to break our fast with since it’s Ramadan). Then he knocked to let us know that it was time to eat.

We ordered:

-The special seafood soup (Was great!)
-Cheese naan (Was not cheese naan, they probably didn’t have any so they just sprinkled cheese on top of regular naan, but it was still good)
-Regular naan (good)
-French fries (nothing special, soft and salty)
-Mixed seafood grill (fine, overcooked)
-Avocado mango juice (delicious)
-A diet coke (great!)

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All in all, we thought Emirates Sea was good. The entire experience was better than the food itself. We will probably try it again, but get more soup and a different entrée. The restaurant also sells Indian, Thai, and Chinese food.

Food (3/5) ***
Decor (5/5) ***** (Very clean, and fun with the private cabins)
Customer Service (5/5) ***** (very good customer service)

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