3 must be restaurants in Dubai
- Even if you can afford a dinner in the most expensive location in Dubai – Al Mahara restaurant in Burj Al Arab, looking for some good food you will surely visit Bu Qtair. It’s a place with the best and most fresh fish in the area. Fish they serve come straight from the water; fishermen just came back from the sea delivering fresh seafood to the restaurant. Instead a fancy restaurant you will find a bunch of plastic chairs and tables outside.
It is also quite an avdenture to find out how it all works. So first step is to get inside to place an order.
That means to choose from the huge amount of freshly caught fish in some kind of sauce. If nothing looks familiar it’s a good idea to rely on stuff’s help. Pay at the window, leave them your name and sit outside looking forward to hear it being shout by the waiters.
Once your order is ready you get your own plastic table. We got one big fish, whole bunch of shrimps and a box of tissues. No alcohol is served. Fish looked burned outside but it was just that (kind of Indian) sauce and inside it was all nice and delicate. And the shrimps, slightly spicy, we dare to say were the best we have ever had.
That’s not kind of a place where they accept credit cards so be equipped in local currency. I don’t think we have to add that baby high chair is not available.
- Another remarkable place is Barracuda restaurant. It’s located at Jumeirah street and declares itself to be best contemporary Egiptian and Arabic seafood restaurant there.
It works in similar way to the previous one – everyone is free to choose his own fish and have it cooked in one of the offered ways like singary (fish opened and grilled with seasons), radda, fried, tagine (fish prepared in a clay pot with seasons) and some others. We chose singary and tajine fish and to kill the first hunger seafood soup, eggplant with garlic and hummus. Eggplant was awesome, and fish, cooked both ways, exceptional!
Ola sat together with us at the table in high chair and enjoyed throwing to the ground everything she could only catch. And of course she stole our waiter’s heart.
- Al Fanar Restaurant & Cafe – place offers strictly local quisine and among their guests there are more local people than tourists.
The place is decorated in the atmosphere of old Emirati traditions. Guests are greeted by old dessert Land Rover parked at the entrance and lovely personnel dressed in traditional style uniforms. Outdoor terrace offers kind of compartments. Low table and soft carpet was a good place for Ola. She was the first one who started choosing from the menu but anyway ended with her usual meal – milk.
We ordered koftat samak (fish cutlets with tomato sauce), tomato and onion salad and Jesheed (crumbled fish cooked with onion).
All the food was good, full of local spices taste. However Emirati cuisine seems to based on meat. Meat-eaters will find there a wide variety of dishes, vegetarians very few. It’s worth to finish the meal with with a pot of Arabic tea.
We took also desert (khabisah – some traditional sweet) but it didn’t look like you would like to see it so we are not showing any picturs of it. Neither it tasted. Deserts, unlike other dishes, we cannot advise.
We have to definitely praise their stuff – we were served by at least four people at the same time, and all of them very nice and helpful. They finished our visit by ritual hands washing with scented water. Baby high chair is available hovewer Ola barely used it as she preffered being carried by personnel or sit with us at the table. Or underneath it.
We visited the branch located at Jumeraich road in the small shopping center. Mall restrooms were equipped in changing station and vending machine with baby stuff. The other location in Dubai Festival City Mall has way more decorated interior, including local scenes from old times build of figures of people and animals.
Cheryl Thursday December 29th, 2016 at 11:30 AM
Awesome blog. I love Dubai and it’s lavish food.
Thanks
Magdalena Kuźma Thursday December 29th, 2016 at 12:06 PM
Happy to hear that! Thank you!
Kasia Saturday November 11th, 2017 at 06:07 PM
Witam wybralismy się do restauracji By Quitar Restaurant dzięki Państwa sugestii jednak nie możemy się zgodzić że to tania i taka dobra restauracja,
Po pierwsze wybiera się rybę która nie ma okreslonej ceny więc każda inaczej jest liczona , a jak juz podadzą to nie ma co za wiele zjeść z dodatkiem niskej jakości suchego ryżu. sosem bez smaku Wysmażona spalona i pikantna , nie ma się czym najeść , nie wpominając o “sałatce” poszatkowanej suchej kapuście z cebula .Zapłaciliśmy 100AED za kawałek ryby gdzie w innej restauracji za te pieniądze można zjeść smaczniej i w dodatku w przyjemniejszym miejscu a nie przy portowym baraku z latającymi muchami wkolo.
Ogólnie jadam często ryby i naprawdę nie polecam tej pseudo restauracji.