Being the melting pot of cultures from across the world, Dubai is home to a wide variety of cuisines. And one of the prominent cuisines here is Egyptian cuisine. We commenced our food exploration in the metropolis with some Egyptian food at two popular places, along with our absolutely gracious and enthusiastic hosts Mona Biswarupa Mohanty, a celebrated painter, her husband Lalatendu Mohanty and close friend Sachin Bradoo.
We started the journey from Al Hara Cafeteria in Al Karama. This place is a popular tea parlour in the locality where people flock during work breaks or leisure time to reinvigorate or unwind with different kinds of tea. On Lalatendu's request, we opted for a tumbler each of non-milk Doctor chai and Biryani chai. The former was laced with ginger, whole spices and lemon while the latter with ginger and mint. Going by the ingredients, we felt that the names seemed a little confusing and should have been vice versa. Nevertheless, the taste was quite refreshing. The Biryani tea had the spiciness of ginger while the Doctor tea was filled with the aroma of whole spices. Lalatendu informed us how during the evening especially in winters, the space around this shop turns into a hangout hub with people coming to enjoy the tea.
Next, Latendu and Mona took us to Al Damyati, which is a renowned Egyptian restaurant mostly famous for their lamb chops. After going through their elaborate menu, we ordered some khubz, hummus, falafel and lamb chops. The condiments included tahini and a green chili sauce. Speaking to the manager of the place, we got to know that this place has been there for 45 years and the menu has been the same in these years. Their cooks too are long associated with the place and hence the quality of the food has been consistently amazing. The crispy falafel here was made with chickpeas and it tasted great with tahini. The khubz or aish baladi bread was soft, fluffy and lacy and tasted best with hummus. The tender, succulent and smoky lamb chops totally lived up to their reputation of being one of the best in the city. They were minimally spiced and the meat quality too was great. The amber-hued sulemani chai was a perfect thing to end the meal with.
With half-filled tummies, we reached our last destination Alfalah Alaslai Restaurant opposite Dubai Frame. Here we were joined by Sachin who is an avid foodie. This too is deemed as one of the best Egyptian restaurants in the town. Here we opted for an elaborate spread consisting of some classic dishes like feteer, falafel, hummus, ful, grilled chicken, shish tawook, and koshari. It's only after the food arrived did we realize that this colorful spread seemed fit for 10 people because the portion size was pretty good. We started with the chicken feteer which is also referred to as cushion pie because of its soft and fluffy texture. The bread, cheese, and chicken resulted in a heavenly combination. The rest of the dishes too were top notch. All thanks to our phenomenal hosts, we couldn't have asked for any better start to our Dubai food journey.