{"id":46,"date":"2012-03-17T19:38:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-17T15:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/2012\/03\/taste-of-dubai.html"},"modified":"2015-08-06T18:54:46","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T14:54:46","slug":"taste-of-dubai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/2012\/03\/taste-of-dubai.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;taste of Dubai&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Summer is on it&#8217;s way, today was around 32 degrees C. It&#8217;s hard to get used to the sudden change from Winter to Summer, as Spring doesn&#8217;t seem to happen at all. One day you wake up and it&#8217;s hot again, all of a sudden. This of course means that all the lovely outdoor activities we have enjoyed over the cooler periods will be winding down, but happily they aren&#8217;t all off the menu yet (pardon the pun). Taste of Dubai ran this weekend, and we spent a few (sweaty) hours there this morning.<\/p>\n<p>If you haven&#8217;t visited a &#8220;taste of &#8230;&#8221; event yet then you may not know that it&#8217;s a massive festival of food &#8211; various restaurants offer up tastes of their menus, with the idea that you get a sense of their cooking styles and menus, and then obviously the idea is that you will go and have a full meal there at some point. Really a great way to discover some new places to try for a meal. There was also live music by the &#8220;Maple Jacks&#8221;, who were amazing. Some of the visiting celebrity chefs also host live cooking stations where they may even teach you a trade secret or two.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_283\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-283\" style=\"width: 320px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/rhodes1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"rhodes1\" width=\"320\" height=\"242\" class=\"size-full wp-image-283\" srcset=\"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/rhodes1.jpg 320w, https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/rhodes1-300x226.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-283\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">[Gary Rhodes being interviewed outside the Rhodes Twenty10 stall]<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<!--more-->We concentrated on eating, and drinking, our fair share (til our cash ran out anyway). Our &#8220;discoveries&#8221; (in no particular order) are below, I hope they inspire you to try somewhere new as well.<\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">1. <i>Coffee Planet<\/i>: OK, not really a new discovery for Stu and I as we already drink their coffee, but we went along to support our mate (the roaster) and try their single origin roasts, which are AMAZING. You really can&#8217;t beat a latte made with freshly roasted, and ground, coffee. If you would like to order online (in Dubai) go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.coffeeplanetroastery.com\/\" target=\"new\">www.coffeeplanetroastery.com<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2. <i><a href=\"http:\/\/lemeridien.com\/royaldubai\" target=\"new\">Rhodes Twenty10<\/a><\/i>: I tried the glazed duck with hoisin and plum sauce, served with a plum and japanese radish (I think) salad. Very more-ish.<\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/rhodes.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"rhodes\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/rhodes.jpg 320w, https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/rhodes-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">3. <i><a href=\"http:\/\/luxurycollection.com\/grosvenorhouse\" target=\"new\">Indego<\/a><\/i>: Stu tried their lamb korma (sorry I didn&#8217;t get a pic). He said it was amazing! Give them a try, I know we will.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">4. <i>Chef Andy Campbell<\/i>: \u00a0he didn&#8217;t have food for us to try, but was advertising his services &#8211; he caters private functions in your home, and also has a dinner club in the World Trade Center (33rd floor) which sounded like great value for money.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>5. <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gauchorestaurants.co.uk\/restaurants\/restaurant.php?id=dubai\" target=\"new\">Gaucho<\/a><\/i>: yes, we have eaten at Gaucho, twice actually, but I still enjoyed their taste of Salmon Ceviche (raw salmon &#8220;cured&#8221; with citrus juice and flavoured with herbs) and the tenderest steak served with humitas (steamed corn cakes &#8211; pic below). Yum yum. Stu had two portions of steak I might add.<\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/gaucho.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"gaucho\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/gaucho.jpg 320w, https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/gaucho-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/gaucho1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"gaucho1\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/gaucho1.jpg 320w, https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/gaucho1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>6. <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bestrestaurantsdubai.com\/ronda-locatelli.htm\" target=\"new\">Rondo Locatelli<\/a><\/i>: I tried their subtle ravioli made with a potato and chestnut filling, and slathered with butter and slices of fresh black truffle. Sublime indeed.<\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/locatelli.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"locatelli\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-287\" srcset=\"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/locatelli.jpg 320w, https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/locatelli-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">7. <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.alfapizza.it\/?lang=en\" target=\"new\">Alfa Pizza<\/a><\/i>: Stu has been on about a pizza oven for ages, so we were thrilled to discover this &#8220;portable&#8221; version that is now available here in Dubai. Not cheap, but certainly neat. Maybe for his birthday?..<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">8. <i>Lafayette Gourmet by Galeries Lafayette<\/i>: I had no idea they sold food at their store in Dubai Mall, so will definitely visit for organic meat, and some lovely French fromage, and hope it doesn&#8217;t completely bankrupt us in the process.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>\nWe finished off with a creamy, and tart, frozen yoghurt from PinkBerry and called it a day. <\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_288\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-288\" style=\"width: 320px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/pinkberry.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"pinkberry\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" class=\"size-full wp-image-288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/pinkberry.jpg 320w, https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/pinkberry-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-288\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">[a sweet treat]<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<br \/>\nHow was your weekend?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summer is on it&#8217;s way, today was around 32 degrees C. It&#8217;s hard to get used to the sudden change from Winter to Summer, as Spring doesn&#8217;t seem to happen at all. One day you wake up and it&#8217;s hot again, all of a sudden. This of course means that all the lovely outdoor activities [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,26,16,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","category-inspiration","category-outings","category-smiles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catinthedunes.com\/Dubai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}