Discovering Dubai through dining with locals

With over 5,000 restaurants dotted all around the city, dining options are aplenty in Dubai. But for a true taste of the city’s flavourful cuisine and colourful culture, dining with the locals through a walking food tour is an experience not to be missed.
Your culinary adventure will start off in the evening at Deira, an area bustling with lively streets, bright lights and a mishmash of grocery shops, supermarkets and cafés. The first stop on the tour is a Palestinian restaurant, where tasty plates of falafel mahshi and hummus are dished out from the kitchen.
Next, you’re handed a serving of musakhan — an incredible dish with tender chunks of meat and soft onions set atop slices of bread. The meal is rounded out with an unordinary dessert — the kunafa. It’s cheese coated in noodles, then fried and topped off with sugar syrup and chopped pistachios. This combination of ingredients may sound unusual, but it’s one that creates a sweet-salty flavour that’s irresistibly moreish.

And you’re off to savour yet another decadent treat: the baklava. Sweet and buttery, the pastry is made up of layers of filo, contains fillings of chopped nuts and is held together with syrup or honey. The dessert is served alongside spiced Arabic coffee, which serves to balance out its richness.
Much more awaits in remaining segment of your tour — from slices of manakeesh, made tantalisingly aromatic with the addition of spices like sumac and sujak, to spicy curries, served with even spicier salsa and eaten with generous portions of rice. Thankfully, glasses of yogurt lassi are doled out just in time so you can cool down your burning palate.

When the night draws close to an end, you’re left feeling satiated— not just from the variety of Middle Eastern fare you’ve sampled, but also from fond memories of friendly conversations with locals, and hearing snippets of intriguing information about Dubai from your guide through the evening.
Dining with the locals is a tactile experience of discovering a newfound destination — one that lets you get a feel for the tastes, smells, sounds and sights of the city.
The Side Project Blog was created as a means for me to work on personal content projects. And what better way to start off the blog than with an article centered around a few of my favourite things — food, culture, travel and connecting with the locals.
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