Dubai Restaurants

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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Burjuman food court: Wide choice, good price, quality food.

by colin_bramso

I usually stay clear of shopping mall food courts, but the one at Burjuman Shopping Centre in Bur Dubai is an exception. If you're shopping or sightseeing and want a quick, good, inexpensive meal, it's an excellent place to visit. There's a choice of Arabic, Indian, Japanese, Mexican, seafood, burgers, fried chicken, a fresh juice bar, Baskins Robbins ice cream. All excellent, all inexpensive.There's a non-smoking area, a relief after being surrounded by smokers almost everywhere.The photos are taken from their website. Weve eaten here several times and have three favourite places... Fish World, where the fish is fresh and beautifully cooked. My favourite is grilled hamour, at Dh28, Geina's the deep-fried crispy baby calamari, only Dh10, or Grilled Chicken & saffron rice, Dh20.Al Baiq is excellent for Arabic food. Our favourite is shish tawook & hommos.Then of course Baskins Robbins ice...

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Blue Elephant: Award-winning Royal Thai cuisine

by colin_bramso

Although it's in the lobby of a hotel the clever design makes it seem as though you're in an outdoor Thai village restaurant. Decor, staff, sights, sounds & smells all give that impression.The ingredients used in the dishes are top quality, presentation is excellent, service is what you would expect of an award-winning restaurant. It's been voted Dubai's best Thai restaurant for three consecutive years. One of the best dishes is prawn curry, which is huge fresh prawns in a yellow coconut milk curry. Always one of my favourite dishes is yum nua, a cold dish of grilled beef strips with mint & coriander in a lime & chilli dressing. Beware, it's hot! Also recommended are two stir fried chicken dishes, ginger chicken, with sliced ginger & mushrooms, and kai phad samoon phai, with Thai herbs & spices topped with crispy lemon grass.My favourite Thai dessert is hard to find but it's available...

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Indian Pavilion: Authentic Indian food at MoE

by colin_bramso

Dubai is setting a new trend with top-quality resturants in shopping malls. If you're visiting Mall of the Emirates (and anyway, in the summer you'll want to be inside in the air-conditioning not out in the heat) there's a choice of eating places. The food court is basically fast food and not very good, but there are various cafes, coffee shops and restaurants throughout the mall.On the first floor near Ski Dubai there are several large restaurants with inside and 'outside' areas. Because of the summer heat, the 'outside inside' concept is common in Dubai, with dining areas outside the main restaurant but within the building.One of the restaurants is Indian Pavilion, which offers very good authentic Indian dishes at reasonable prices in comfort and with good sevice. Excellent dishes are Lamb Roganjosh, Chicken Biriani and a speciality of the restaurant Chicken Dosa, large flat...

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Bella Vista @ Rotana Jumeira: Good value dinner buffet

by colin_bramso

On the 5th floor of the 3 star Rotana Jumeirah hotel, Bella Vista is coffee shop style - being renovated early May so it will be closed for a while.Five evenings a week they have buffet:Sunday, Carvery & JazzMonday, Indian Spice TrailWednesday, Taste of AsiaThursday, Maharajah's Curry NightSaturday, Seafood ExtravaganzaFriday, being the weekend, they have Family Brunch.Price is AED69 for food only, AED99 food and drinks. Seafood on Saturday is AED119.This is 3 star, so the quality of the food isn't up to the standard of hotel buffets such as Le Meridien - but you pay less and it's still excellent value for money. As an example, the British Carvery is two roast meats which chef will carve for you, lamb shanks, steak & mushroom pie, chicken, fish, chicken tikka marsala, mixed vegetables, roast and mashed potatoes, mushy peas, rice.There's soup, a good choice of starters and desserts,...

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Bastakiah Nights.: Arabic food in old Dubai

by colin_bramso

Bastakiya is an area of Bur Dubai right on the Creek that was part of the original small town of Dubai. It's being restored and some of the completed buildings currently house restaurants and galleries.One of them is Bastakiah Nights, a fascinating old typical house built between 1890 and 1940 and recently completely refurbished. It features an inner courtyard surrounded on two floors by 11 separate rooms, all decorated with traditional handicrafts. Narrow, steep steps lead up to the flat roof where seating is one 'normal' table & chairs, the rest of the dining is on cushions at low tables (which is authentic but uncomfortable!) and it has a tent area for relaxing with coffee. To be honest the atmosphere is the feature, we were disappointed with the food. It offers the typical menu of various grilled meats, dips and so on, juices and Turkish coffee. But we didn't think it quite as good...

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Thai Bistro @ Dubai Marine: Very disappointing

by colin_bramso

A great location in the garden of Dubai Marine Beach Resort, overlooking the pool, so it's a great atmosphere. The staff are good too.The problem is they've got it totally wrong. It isn't what it says it is - a Thai restaurant. The menu is almost entirely Cantonese. They've even got the cutlery wrong, they have knifes and forks.The food is far from the genuine Thai spicyness - we asked for extra hot and could barely taste the chilli.Prices are typically 5-star hotel though - a small Perrier water is AED14 and the bill for two dishes plus rice was AED 167.

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Chalet: Atmospheric neighbourhood restaurant

by colin_bramso

On Jumeirah Road, known locally as Beach Road, not far from Burj Al Arab, is the recently-rebuilt Chalet restaurant.It's been a hang-out for expats of many nationalities for a long time, especially the outside dining area which is right on Beach Road.The restaurant adjoins, and in fact is owned by, a mosque, and is a great place to spend a couple of hours in the evening watching the world go by. It's a real Dubai experience rather than a tourist experience.The food is a mixture of grills, seafood, Indian, Arabic, Chinese cuisines and is all the basic no-frills variety. Two of us can have enough food, plus a bottle of mineral water, for less than AED40! We have a few favourites - shish tawook, grilled chicken wings, chicken biriani in particular. The food is excellent ingredients simply prepared and authentic.

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Shahjahan: Top Indian food featuring Mughlai cooking

by colin_bramso

One of the excellent selection of restaurants in the Dubai Metropolitan Hotel, offering authentic Indian dishes with an emphasis on Royal Mughlai cooking.Everything about it is authentic - decor, chefs, staff, food - and top quality. My complaint about many restaurants is that the tables are too small, but not here. They're large enough to take the various dishes you order and still give you room to eat in comfort.Alcohol is available as this is a 5-star hotel. I like rogan josh, which is a traditional mughal lamb curry, chicken biryani, chicken cooked together with rice, gosht vindaloo, which is a very spicy lamb & potato curry. If you're from the UK, be prepared for something different with the chicken tikka masala. It's nothing like the UK's most popular dish, this is the genuine article.With Indian food I like to drink salted lassi, yoghurt churned with salt & cumin. The version...

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Waves @ Le Meridien Mina Seyahi: Our favourite buffet

by colin_bramso

An international buffet with a huge selection of dishes and accompaniments. Included in the price are all house wines, beer, soft drinks, mineral water, juices, which makes it amazing value for money at AED190 per person. (Drinks are not included on Thursday evenings).The food is excellent, the service is five star, the atmosphere relaxed and welcoming. There is inside or terrace dining overlooking the gardens and you can dress casually or in a suit & tie, whichever you feel more comfortable in. Sitting in Waves you also enjoy the live music played in the adjoining hotel Lobby throughout the evening. We enjoy different flavours & textures - such as in mezza/tapas/dim sum food, so buffets are a good option for us.At Waves we usually choose smoked salmon with various tasty things such as capers, coleslaw, horseradish sauce, with white wine. Then perhaps rare roast beef with vegetables and...

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Maria Bonita: Old established Tex-Mex

by colin_bramso

This is one of Dubai's longest established Mexican restaurants, possibly even the longest.I'm disappointed in all the Mexican restaurants in the city, most are not Mexican but really American Tex-Mex fast food. Maria Bonita used to be better but it seems to have lost some of its quality recently. It still gets very full though, so obviously people still like it. Maybe it's just me!It's located on a residential street in Umm Suqeim in a short row of shops and restaurants. It has a traditional raw brick style interior plus some tables outside on the pavement and the overall atmosphere is very good. I like the Taco Maya with chicken and the Enchilada Verdes are another choice, although like all the dishes neither have anywhere enough chilli in them for my taste. If you don't like your food too spicy then it will suit you very well.

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Places to eat in Dubai

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