sandCat in Dubai

Category: food

  • our first visitor, and eid

    I am beginning to think that I should rename this blog to “Dubai dining” or “Desert foodies” or some such thing, it seems I am always telling you about the wonderful meals we eat here. I am not sure why food seems to be the main focus right now, and I do apologise if you are finding it duller than dishwater, but its really the most exciting part of the weekends for me at the moment. Maybe its because of Ramadan and the persistent summer heat which has left us somewhat limited in our activity choices, as a picnic in the park, nor a visit to the beach, is quite on the cards just yet. It may be partly due to those reasons but then I think Stu and I are unashamedly food lovers and the quality of the food we have been exposed to so far really IS worth sharing. I do promise to find some other things to write about too!

    This weekend we ticked three things off our DUDO list (DUbai DO list)! I just made that up aren’t I clever? Anyway, the three winners, in no particular order, are 1) we hosted our first foreign visitor, 2) we visited the restaurant of a celebrity chef and 3) we went on a dinner cruise on the creek. And no I can’t tell you what is left on the list, not because I don’t want to but because its a vague and fluid thing that exists only in my mind right now. I do promise to let you know when another box is checked.

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  • is it a bird? .. is it a plane? nope its more dust and heat!

    Mr and Mrs at Tagine
    [Mr and Mrs]
    Continuing with the September birthday theme we celebrated Stu’s 49th birthday this week. We started off with a high speed breakfast at the Hilton. The reason it had to be high-speed is that we only arrived at 10.30 and the buffet closes at 11, so we had to get some serious eating in, which wasn’t a problem of course. After that we had to drop off our now ex-dishwasher, which we have sold, to the very nice American couple that had bought it from us. They live in a penthouse apartment in Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR), and its actually an understatement to say that we were completely blown away by how stunning their apartment is. We have been congratulating ourselves for a couple of months now on the fact that Stu managed to get us a villa and that we have a little garden and can braai to our heart’s content. I am also sure that the cats are grateful in their own silent feline way, but anyhow we (I) started to adjust that thinking when we saw this apartment. Complete with it’s own pool and lovely outside area, definitely big enough for us to throw the odd chop on the fire, and at least a 180 degree view of the beach and the city, we could probably manage to live there. Just. Haha, its certainly something I will be lusting over for the immediate future anyway. Its good to have a goal, or a dream, anyway.

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  • a quiet week mid-ramadan

    Happy Birthday As September is 9 months after New Year you would expect to run into a few birthdays here and there this month, and even in our case, with our severely depleted social circle, you would be right! In fact we have 2 birthday celebrations this month, one this last week for Eunice, and one this coming week for my dear husband Stuart. We joined Eunice in celebrating her 26th birthday (man don’t I feel old) on Thursday evening at the Grand Grill in the Grand Habtoor Hotel and Resort, Jumeirah Beach. We decided to take a cab so that we could both have a celebratory drink, but man oh man was the journey hair raising; the cabbie seemed determined to hit 120km/h between speed bumps on the way there, and this, combined with the squeakiest brakes this side of the equator, left me feeling rather seasick. However we arrived in one shaken-but-not-stirred piece, in fact we beat the birthday girl who was fashionably late, and had to settle for water for a pre-dinner drink as no alcohol is served until 19h30 due to Ramadan. The advertised cuisine of the restaurant is South African and the menu included a boerewors starter with pap and even a taste of bobotie served with banana ice-cream. Most of the guys and gals went for home-reared slabs of beef, whilst Stu had a burger and I did the sacrilegious ordering fish at a steak house. Happily it was delicious. We also made up for the slow start on the drinks side eventually flattening about 6 bottles of some lovely Porcupine Ridge Merlot and Fairview Pinotage. After that we headed up to Bar 44 for a nightcap, this is a watering hole (frighteningly expensive) on the 44th floor of the Grosvenor House hotel which is just opposite the Grand Habtoor, and reached by a rather frightening dash through sand and over a busy road, not recommended in heels. This is one place you notice the lack of no non-smoking laws here (well this could change any day as the Sheikh is planning to ban all smoking in public places). It reminded me a little of Spats back in Sandton in the old days (well the 90s anyway), minus the live music and with the addition of the most amazing view of the Jumeirah Beach area (ok maybe not much like Spats after all). The view does make it worth visiting at least once, but save up first! Incidentally Grosvenor House is also home to Dubai’s own version of the Buddha Bar, which we plan to visit another night.

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  • bracing for ramadan, the wafi mall & more food

    Friday, sorry I mean Thursday, was undeniably the hottest day I have experienced here so far. Stu picked me up to go for lunch, and the walk from the office to the car (probably only a couple hundred meters) was literally hell. I could feel the heat radiating off the paving and tar, and baking down on my head all at once. When I got into the car, happily very air-conditioned, the dash read 47!! Thats a record, well for me at least. We went to the Wafi Mall, which is part of Wafi City (an Egyptian themed complex) for a bite to eat at Wafi Gourmet. What an exquisite shop. Its a large deli-style restaurant laid out around a central counter laden with pre-prepared meals, cheeses and various meat dishes; and around the perimeter are baskets of fresh fruit and veg, olives, nuts, dates and other counters displaying sweets and pastries galore! Its a treasure trove.. Sadly I was not allowed to take a picture of the inside of the shop so you will just have to imagine the nicest deli you can and you will be close.

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  • the meat co., and fossil rock

    Burj Dubai
    [Burj Dubai]
    So it may seem that we are red meat mad from this blog but finding a good steak here is harder than you may think. Anyway we met up with some MORE South African friends, who were here escaping from Iran for some R&R, on Thursday night last week at the Meat Co in the Souk Al Bahar, which is near the Burj Dubai tower (at 1km when complete it will be the tallest building in the world apparently). This Souk (or shopping mall if you like) has been designed to look old fashioned and almost Moroccan, although not having been to Morocco this is only a guess you understand. Unfortunately the metro and road construction all around the Old Town Island, where this development is located, made it rather a challenging place to a) find and b) get into, but we made it in the end.

    SA waiters
    [South African waiters]
    The nice thing about the Meat Co, apart from the SA meat of course, is that the waiters are all imported too, so it’s a real home away from home, with them singing “shozaloza” with the happy birthday song. The meal was delicious, as designated driver I did not have any wine sadly but nonetheless the evening was lovely. Yes drunk driving is not a national sport here like it is in South Africa so you really do have to plan your evening a bit better than you did at home; luckily there are toot-and-scoot type services if you get into a pickle (ha-ha!)

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