Emirati Food at Festival City

I visited an Emirati restaurant in Festival City today called Al Fanar. The food was so flavoursome and fresh!
The restaurant is located along the Canal Walk outside the Mall. The entrance was a stone archway and before you reached the seating area you were taken on a mini journey through old UAE. They had several statues of Emirati men and women cooking, fishing etc It was really interesting to see and made me even more excited about the food.
We then decided to sit inside as it was too hot at lunchtime...however outside there was arabic majlis type sitting which I would have loved to try.

The inside of the restaurant was decorated with artefacts and had a beautiful tree in the middle. The atmosphere was quiet and had Qu'ran playing, which made the setting very serene.

 We received the menus and I was delighted to see that each dish was accompanied by a photograph. This made it simple to choose! Unfortunately I forgot my camera at home therefore I have had to use photographs from the restaurants website.
For starters we had...

Vegetable Samboosa

Koftat Samak

They both came with a tasty hot sauce type dip. The samboosas had plenty of flavour and the pastry was crispy. The fish melted in your mouth and had a fresh taste to it. Both dishes were very light and we eagerly awaited our main course...

Beryani Dajaj

This was a massive dish enough for two people. I loved the sweetness of the sultanas with the fragrant rice. The crispy onions also worked well with the rice and chicken. This dish was also very light and we moved onto our dessert...

Luqaimat

We had to wait ten minutes for our dessert as they were being made at that moment. They were hot and syrupy and went really well with the mint tea we ordered. The Luqaimat we had were drizzled with a thick syrup and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. I want some more!

I have guests visiting soon so I will be taking them to this restaurant to try the wonderful Emirati cuisine! However next time I will be getting a plate of Luqaimat for myself!

Dress Modestly in the UAE

 
There has been a lot of discussion regarding UAE have a 'dress code'. Recently Emirati's have commented on the way people should dress modestly in the UAE and respect the culture and religion of the host country.
A campaign was launched by two Emirati ladies on twitter : UAEDressCode.
One of their comments was:

As a guest, you're welcomed to our country and everything you think of is provided to you. So be grateful & show some respect to the people. 

I agree that people should dress modestly in the UAE. Now I would never enforce my views on anyone else but I believe people should respect others and cover up! I have a lot of British non-Muslim friends who mostly dress modestly. At my workplace people are sent home if they are wearing revealing clothing. One colleague came into work dressed like she was going to the beach...another colleague mentioned that she would not go to work in the UK like that so why would she do that in the UAE?

I read an interesting article about the topic in the Khaleej Times which gives expat's views on the topic too.
The famous Expat women website also has a guide to the Dubai dress code.

Arabic sweets

One of my favourite places in Dubai is Yamal Al Sham

Yamal Al Sham is an Arabic sweet store. It has many different types of tasty nutty pastries covered with syrup and the most amazing chocolate!!!
You must try the chocolate butterflies which have cornflakes inside YUM!
There are also several different types of flavours including an Arabic cardamon nut type which is divine. The chocolate is not labelled with flavours and the ladies who work there don't really know what's inside each one because there are so many. I suggest you ask for a mixture and see what you like best.

Yamal Al Sham also has a biscuit section, nut section and freshly ground coffee. If you have an allergy to nuts then stay away. 

Mixed nuts

 Before entering the store you can smell the aromas of coffee and sweets. Arab's love a coffee called 'gahwa' which is served with something very sweet like baklawa. This is the store that they get everything from.



My teacup filled with gahwa



During Eid this shop gets crazy busy! Last time we had to wait a couple of hours for 3 small baskets of sweets. Here are the beautiful gift baskets.

I never go to a friend's house without bringing a gift. If it is an Arab friend then I will always buy them a tray of sweets from Yamal Al Sham. And then I buy myself a treat too!