Going Tribal

Tribes is a feel-good, good-food restaurant with a great atmosphere and ambience. Located in the Fashion Dome of MOE, it offers a unique African experience, with a great menu to choose from and fantastic service. The staff cheerfully welcome you to an escape from Dubai, decorated with drums, leather chairs, woven objects, masks and giant ladles with faces carved on them. 

 
Some of the popular dishes are featured below but their menu is quite vast and diverse, making it difficult to pick your order. The food is displayed in a simple yet impressive manner and even the plates are very distinctive, adding to the presentation of each dish.

If there is a celebration at your table and the drums come out and the staff gather for an African-style singalong. It's an absolute treat! 

A refreshing watermelon and crispy cheese salad

Grilled West Coast calamari

Their famous pesto burger served with delicious sweet potato fries

The Tribes cheese burger served with a green salad

Drumrolls in the air

Special Ostadi

A small but impressive Iranian eatery in the heart of Bur Dubai, Special Ostadi is a hidden gem that has been around since 1978. Run by Muhammad Ali Ansari and his family, Special Ostadi is one of the best restaurants I have tried in Dubai. The owner's lively presence guarantees free laughs in a cosy environment that makes you feel welcome. At times it feel more like the home of an Iranian family, than a restaurant.

The food is simple, yet delicious and the grilled kebabs are a specialty. There is a retro feel with antique phones and light switches decorating the walls. All over the restaurant old photographs of the family, customers and the ruling families of the UAE, are displayed, transporting you through the history of this 34-year-old restaurant and of Dubai.

I personally loved the old and new currency notes from all over the world placed under the glass of each dining table. And at our table I even spotted the discontinued Cypriot pound! A smile on the way out is guaranteed as you are being greeted by the family, something that doesn't happen in most restaurants in this city.

Lentil soup, rich with chunky pieces of chicken and traditional herbs.

A mixed grill of mainly chicken and mutton, marinated with either lemon or yogurt. Grilled to perfection, the meat is soft and succulent. 

Iranian style rice with butter and pomegranate seeds. 

After the end of our meal we opted for black tea with fresh mint, the ideal finish to any meal. 

Asitane: Fine Ottoman Cuisine

Continuing the culinary journey through Istanbul, I wanted to write a separate post for one of the restaurants that is my personal favorite. Preparing for my trip, I had come accross an interview with Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's Nobel Prize Author, describing his favorite places in the city. Asitane, which was mentioned as one of the author's picks caught my attention. 

The restaurant has been around since 1991, serving genuine Ottoman recipes from the Topkapi, Dolmabahçe and Edirne Palaces. The menu displays the original Ottoman name and date of each dish. Even though a few restaurants in Istanbul claim to offer genuine Ottoman cuisine, Asitane was the first to receive an official license from the Imperial Kitchens. 

At Asitane, the lady in charge of guest relations, Hanzade, was extremely accomodating and sweet, as were the rest of the staff. The food was exquisite and as I had mentioned to the staff, I am confident that if we had not tried it, we would have missed out on a important part of Istanbul. Below are the dishes we tried:  

Stuffed Melon with mincemeat prepared with rice, herbs and almonds is a popular recipe dating from 1539. 

The Mahmudiyye (Mahmut’s Dish) also dates from 1539. It consits of boneless chicken cooked with dried apricots, grapes and almonds, with pinch of cinnamon. 

For desert we picked the Sour Cherry Bread, since it was the only thing we hadn't seen anywhere else. Dating from 1844 this bread dipped in Sour Cherry Syrup (Visino as we say in Greek) was served with Vanilla ice cream and topped with crushed pistachios and a sour cherry. Turkish Delight indeed!

Flavors from Istanbul

Istanbul is not only a wonderfully diverse city, but it also offers a truly exciting gastronomic experience. Our travel guide had some recommendations of places to try but we were lucky enough to come accross some great restaurants ourselves. The city is a feast of irresistible flavors. Every corner filled with endless mini sweet bites to choose from, an array of eateries or street food carts that leave you curious and tempted. The fish sandwiches are particular to Istanbul, but since I am not a big fan of mackerel I wasn't tempted to try one. 

The famous fish sandwiches are prepared on thesse distinctive boats floating on the Golden Horn. The waiters take orders onshore, the sandwiches are handed out from the boat and served to customers seated on stools set up with a view of the water.

The endless variety of Turkish delight flavors and types of Baklava sweets. Street after street the city offers you sugary attractions.

The crowded and noisy cheese and meat market. The vendors literally beg you to taste their offerings, in confidence that you will love their product and seem positively offended if you reject them. 

Passing through the famous Istanbul Spice Bazaar, full of smells, colours and noise. Endless varieties of spices, teas, herbs, dried fruits and vegetables, all kinds of sweet temptations and lively crowds. Long before the Ottoman times, this domed market was the terminus of the Spice Road.  

Amazing grilled meat balls at Sultanahmet Köftesi. Even though the menu is limited to six choices, most customers go for the meat balls. They are grilled to perfection with their own recipe of mixed spices that adds a delicious flavor. 
 

Thankfully we were able to try this place at lunch time, as on all the evenings we spent strolling Sultanahmet Square this was the queue for those tasty meat balls.

          Manti, the Turkish style dumpling, stuffed with spiced meat (lamb or beef) toppded with yogurt, garlic and ground sumac at Kafe Ara. Owned by and named after the renowned Turkish photographer Ara Güler, the place is  decorated with huge prints of his work, mainly B&W photos of the city.

The so-called Aegean sliced meatballs, a pastry stuffed with spiced meat, served with rice, potato wedges, green chilli peppers and yogurt at Galata Konak.

Village pasta, resembling cut, thick noodles topped with walnuts and halloumi at Galata Konak.

A rich green salad, artistically served, with tomato, cucumber, purple lettuce, halloumi and corn, topped with pomegranate sauce at Galata Konak.

Sutis Profiterole was as rich in flavour as it looks. A scumptious delight right in the heart of Taksim Square. Apparently there are master chefs for several of the desserts, and the profiterole is one of them.

The cream of chocolate, though simple yet tasteful, is topped with ground pistachios and coconut at Sutis. Despite the contrast in flavour the pistachio has to the coconut, they both add a nice twist to the cream.

Latino food near Sharjah

A small place tucked away behind Sahara Centre, El Plato Latino is really worth a visit. Photographs of children's faces rule the space on the walls. Though the atmosphere is plain, the dishes and flavours you will try are not. The owner, Haifa a lovely petite Lebanese lady, with a wonderful smile and big eyes, is more than willing to make suggestions to those like myself, who are clueless about Latin American cuisine. Even though, it's closer to Sharjah than the centre of Dubai it's defnitely worth the trek. This is what we sampled:

Delicious freshly squeezed Parchita (Passionfruit) juice

Pabellon Criollo is a dish of shredded beef with red peppers 
and black beans, served with latin rice, sweet plantains 
and Arepas (baked cornflour patty)

Cheese and tomato Arepa with a seletion of sauces and salad

Beef and chicken Empanadas (fried pastries) 
served with sauces and chips

Cute salt and pepper shakers

Something fishy

Coming from the Mediterranean, I love fish and most seafood. Growing up, there was always fresh fish served at the table. My mother had to work hard to keep the smell only in the kitchen and away from our living room. She didnt always succeed but the food was so delicious we did not care in the end. However, up until a couple of years ago I avoided fish with any kind of bones. As a kid I had a terrifying experience that kept me away from fish for a long time, and even though my parents tried to serve boneless fish, it took me a while to get over it. 

And I am glad I got over it, because in the last four years I have tasted some of the best fish in my life. And my husband had something to do with that. In Goa, where he is from, delicious and fresh fish is a part of everyday life.

Fish is not only tasty it is also very healthy and salmon is a particular favorite.
Below are some of my favorite home cooked or restaurant meals with seafood: 

Seafood served with Greek-style barley pasta and 
fresh herbs at Elia restaurant

Salmon Bento, with fresh nigiri and sashimi salmon pieces,
avocado and crab maki, small salad and fresh ginger from Sumo

Fresh oven-grilled salmon steak encrusted with herbs, 
cooked in virgin olive oil and served with 
white basmati and mozzarella and rocca salad on the side

Smoked salmon tortilla wrap with lettuce, served with 
crispy chips and a small salad at Kino's Cafe at Kinokuniya

Home-cooked fresh lobster, served with a garlic 
and butter sauce (in Goa)

Homemade soup with seafood, rice vermicelli, sweet chilli, 
fresh ginger and spring onion

Easter Delights

I went home for Easter and I knew what was coming! In Cyprus any major religious holiday is accompanied by a feast of food, a celebration of diverse culinary options. Unable to prepare most of these foods on my own, I enjoyed our traditional Easter feast once again. Some of my favorites include a yogurt based starter with toasted Arabic bread and tomato paste, covered in cashewnuts. Next is the homemade cannelloni stuffed with spinach and feta cheese, a favorite to many. The traditional pasta bake with a mixture of beef mince and herbs and a rich topping of béchamel cream. And my personal favorite, Koupepia also known as Dolma, which is vine leaves stuffed with mince, finely chopped onion, rice, tomato and herbs. There are variations of this dish in several other countries.

Crisp bread covered with tomato paste, yogurt and cashenuts

Cannelloni with spinach and feta

Pasta bake with beef mince and béchamel

Vine leaves stuffed with rice and minced meat

El Greco

Having lived in Dubai for just over six months, I have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive about finding authentic Greek cooking in the city. However, a visit to Elia (Olive in Greek), one of two Greek restaurants I have heard of in Dubai, turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Located in the Majestic Hotel in Bur Dubai, the eatery is simple, yet classy. Elia does a pretty good job at bringing a little piece of Greece to the heart of Dubai. The menu is limited but consists of Greek staples with a vibrant, modern twist.

We started with a Greek salad and and my all-time favorite, Tzatziki a delicious dip made with thick Greek yogurt with shredded cucumber, garlic, fresh mint and dill. We also tried the calamari which was perfectly grilled and stuffed with tomato and cheese.  For the main course we picked the Chicken Souvlaki, a traditional Greek kebab cooked on skewers (not unlike the Arabic Shish Tawook) accompanied by Tzatziki and a roasted pepper stuffed with herbs, mince and rice. Our second main dish, was the Moussaka, a caserole cooked with layers of eggplant, minced lamb and béchamel. 

Chef Yiannis Baxevanis has clearly done a good job bringing his own take on traditional Greek cuisine to Elia's menu. We'll certainly be going back again.

Chicken Souvlaki 

The Moussaka

Did you know? The name moussaka derives from the Arabic word‎ musaqqaʿa ' which means chilled. (source: Wikipedia)

Burgerlicious

The love of burgers leads us often enough to either trying them out at Dubai's many restaurants. But every once in a while we experiment with our own version of the 'perfect' burger. One such attempt: a 250gm oven grilled beef cutlet served on wholegrain olive bread and topped with a slice of mature cheddar and German mustard, with baked sweet potato slices and Greek salad on the side. Delcious.

Homemade burger

A food start...

With the array of options for great dining here in Dubai, along with our own culinary attemps (successful or not) at home, this blog seemed like the right way to share our love of food. Yesterday was the last day for the Taste of Dubai Festival 2012. Some of the best (and most expensive) restaurants in Dubai were present, allowing us to try small samples of their signature dishes. So we went along and here are some of the highlights (the ones we remembered to photograph before eating them)...

Churrasco de Cuadril served with Humita from Gaucho. 
Tender marinated steak accompanied by a traditional corn 
and cheese paste. 

Black cod yuzu miso topped with crisp ginger from Nobu.

Sashimi tacos from Nobu.

The Twenty10 burger from Gary Rhodes is a fillet 
steak burger served on potato topped with foie gras.