A Brief Dubai Experience

gila-makan is back. We have just returned from a great holiday in Europe. A party of 3 pair of spouses embarked on a month-long journey across 6 countries. We are all Malaysians but came from different parts of the world. My wife and I took an Emirates flight from KL to Dubai where we met up with Eddy and Bee who arrived there from Melbourne. We had a brief one night stop-over in Dubai. That evening, we visited the famed Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world.

We took the city Metro to the most impressive Dubai Mall. 

We found our way out of the mall and were greeted by this absolutely magnificent building. However we thought the night lightings on the building were somewhat pale compared to our Petronas Twin Towers. We thought the Twin Towers look brighter. In the vicinity of the Burj was a waterfront. This was probably the most happening place in Dubai. 

It was a real festive place. Thousands of people mingled, enjoying the lights and the water and the aura of it all.

 

A half-hourly water show accompanied by a variety of music selections kept the crowd entertained.

We went into the Dubai Mall looking for food. The restaurant we picked was the Al-Wafi. They served Lebanese and Arab cuisines. We picked a table outside on the terrace and dined alfresco. 

The place was absolutely conducive to a relaxing meal. We had some drinks and watched the water show while waiting for our food.

The first to arrive on out table was the Lebanese salad. It was a dished of chopped vegetables in a olive oil dressing, topped with some chopped tomatoes. The flavour was good.

Then we had a small plate of assorted Lebanese savouries. I cannot remember the names of the savouries and what we actually ate. The portions were too small to create any impression in my mind. We just had a nibble of each.

The main course was magnificent. We had an assortment of grilled meats and kebabs. There were mutton and chicken together with salad, pickles, grilled onions and tomatoes and pieces of pizza-like bread. It was a huge plate of the 4 of us. The Arabs grill their meat really well. The aroma and taste were delicious. I particularly liked the minced meat kebab. All these were eaten with fabulous freshly baked Arabic bread.

The last dish was this cannot-remember-the-name wrap. It was minced mutton wrapped in thin bread grilled to perfection. The flavour the meat was fantastic and the bread was delightfully crispy. This was perhaps the best the lot.

Next morning we woke up early and took a cab to the airport. After checking in for our flight, we walked around Emirate's Terminal 3 looking for breakfast. We settled for a small cafe known as the Le Pain Quotiden. 

My choice was egg benedict with bacon. It was two wonderful flowing egg over two halves of muffin topped with strips of bacon, and served with some salad. The flavour was perfect for an early morning meal.

My wife's choice was the more mundane mushroom omelette, served some salad and 2 slices of bread.

Our coffee were served in bowl in place of cups, which was OK in quantity but rather difficult to drink when hot without any handle.

Breakfast done, we boarded our flight for Athens where we met up with our other traveling companions Benson and Nelly, who had flown in from Barcelona the day before.