Absolutely delicious!!

Absolutely delicious!!
The city that is.

I have to say that despite the plenty obstacles beforehand, I think this city has etched its way up to my number 2 favourite city, provided that it's winter time there. Well, okay, to be honest, I may have to really considerate again, but let's not do that now.

What I really, really want to tell you now is the culinary feast that's inseparable with Dubai.

In Surabaya, the most extraordinary food you can find is probably Indian and Vietnamese, and being a culinary adventurer myself, I was so looking forward to having a decent Middle Eastern food. I once tried an authentic Afghanistan food in Vancouver, but that was years ago.

Anyways, so I start my first day in Dubai with breakfast on the 14th floor, and within the following week there, it sort of become my main menu: Smoked Salmon, Honeycomb and bread (Waffle/Pancake/Pita, etc.).



Yes, for FIVE straight days, I started my days with a bite of buttery-texture salmon which has perfect balance: not too fishy, but inticing enough to wake your senses in the morning. Plus, how could anyone not miss the first bite of the honeycomb?
The waffles, simple as it sounds, are always freshly made upon request, so the warmth and crispiness and the soft scent of butter and flour that's teasing you are trully unforgetable.
Our first lunch is seafood in Le Meridien. We picked the fish/crabs/prawns/veggies that we like, and we request the sauce. I tried the Lemon-buttery spice.

It was P.E.R.F.E.C.T. At first, the appearance is exactly like mayonaise, so that's not too impressing. But never judge the book by its cover. And it goes for food too. They made the lobster juicy yet fully marinated. There is the freshness of the ocean that comes with the lobster, there is that comforting taste of just the right amount of butter, and a spice of lemon to make things more interesting.

We had so much of lunch that I skipped dinner that day and woke up still quite full.

So the following day's lunch, Mr. Mohammad took us to a Lebanese restaurant and treat us our first middle eastern food. Now, I forgot most of the name, but I do remember the grilled chicken and lamb, the middle eastern pizza a.k.a martabak, the sauce (how do you call it, homous?). It was great. Just perfect tender texture, just the right mixture of salt and other herbs.



At dinner, we went to Le Meridien again for Italian food. I ordered Grilled Veal, Ming went for all time favorite Prime Ribs, and we had so much of spaghetti and pasta and pizza and bread that most of them was left untouched.

On Saturday, we went with Mr. Pathy for the regular Cantonese food. The chef used to work for a five star hotel before opening his own restaurant. Surprisingly, you got a wonderful, authentic Cantonese food that's even better than most restaurant in Indonesia.

Really, is it something in the water that made all the food both juicy and delicious?

Our dinner, we originally planned to go for japanese food (blah), but the Tokyo Restaurant was full, so I thought outloud, "What about Iranian food?" since our host is Iranian (really, I was very sleepy by that time (around 8pm Dubai or 11pm in Indonesia), and I was as surprised as he was. But we all agreed and finally we went to "the Shahrazad" at Hyatt, no not the Grand Hyatt we're staying (there are three Hyatts in town).

We had lentil soup, veggie and cheese as appetizer. Main course is grilled lamb, beef, chicken and prawns. With the exception of prawns, everything else is superbly tasteful.

On Sunday, we are too busy seeing customers that I have to skip lunch and dinner.



On Monday, we had our last meal in Dubai at the Grand Hyatt, an Arabic food, which is almost the same with Lebanese and Iranian, but not quite so delicious as the Iranian one.

We flew back Monday night by Singapore Airlines, having our supper on board that's not worth mentioning, and arrived in Singapore by 7am. We had breakfast in Burger King. I know, what a downgrade huh? but must say, the Taro turnover (like apple pie) is good, though scaldingly hot.

And so the feast of food that we had in Dubai, mostly treats from Mr. Mohammad Fathali.

But the best part of all is, i lost 1kg!!! huahuahuahuaaa!!! I have no idea how is that possible, but I assume because we skipped rice and almost all the food was grilled instead of fried. If only I could resist the temptation of freshly made, hot and crisp bacon every morning, I might loose more....

But to resist bacon? don't be silly!