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!

Project Cupcake - Dubai Mall

I don't usually like the taste of cakes in Dubai so I was a bit skeptical when a friend suggested I try the cupcakes from Project Cupcake in Dubai Mall.

WOW! Which one to choose?

They did not have many flavours but the ones they did have sounded delicious! I took quite a while to choose what I wanted...in the end my table opted for...

Mont Rose

Belgian chocolate cupcake kissed with a pink vanilla frosting

Nutella Madness

Secret recipe Belgian
chocolate cupcake centred
with Nutella, topped with a
Nutella frosting 

California Dreaming

Vanilla California cupcake
topped with a cloud of
marshmallow frosting

Sparkly marshmellow!

All were extremely delicious, moist and full of flavour! I wanted more but was held back.

I think this will be a usual treat for me and I will not rest until I have tried all the flavours!

UPDATE! Two days after I wrote this I invited a friend to come to Project Cupcake with me again! I really shouldn't have but...mmmm I did! I got a Red Velvet Valentine.

Soft red velvet cake,
delicately finished with
a cream cheese frosting.

I can't stop myself!

*~Eid Preparations~*

It's Eid tomorrow!
So the day before Eid is Arafah day and Muslims are encouraged to fast on this day. Our household fasted Alhamdullilah.
We went to the supermarket early this morning to avoid the crowds, but this did not work! Obviously everyone had the same idea that I did!
Anyway we went along with a long list of ingredients just for the Eid meal! We all disagreed on what the main meal and desserts should be for tomorrow so everyone is making a dish. It's fine though as we have a lot of family visiting.

I've already prepared my roast chicken, veggie spring rolls and festive fudge! GO ME!
The house is clean and our Eid clothes are ironed.

OK so all of the above is a LIE! That's what I wish I could be writing. I went to the supermarket and on my return discovered that DU had kindly given me free channels for the Eid vacation. I have been watching BBC entertainment all day! I watched Casualty...I don't like Casualty or hospitals, but I watched it! Why would they do this to me???

So now I have given up the remote control to go and get ready for tomorrow. SIGH! What a waste of a day...thanks DU!