El Greco | Greek shack in Jumeirah

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Greek food in Dubai? I don't think we have that long of a list. I can think of Eat Greek, Elia and now, El Greco. Do you know any others? Let me know if I'm missing out!

Even though this one fits the Greek category, it's similar to the small shacks you'd find in Europe where the seating is minimal and music, smells and interiors feel authentic & homey. The shelves are filled with Greek oils (delicious olive oil!) and there's a few seats outside for the gorgeous weather that's starting to creep up. Are you as excited as I am for that? Humidity - See you later ;)

The menu is pretty much Greek street comfort food like gyros, donner and souvlaki served with traditional Greek bread. Starters and salads include well known favorites like baked feta and greek salad.

I'm going to keep this post nice and short and get to the point. Their food is delicious! Super tasty, flavorful, authentic and fresh!

I've had their 'mamaca's salad' both times that I went, it's my favorite thing on the menu. Red, plump tomatoes, authentic Greek feta (none of that fake stuff), olives, capers, oregano, parsley and here comes the best part, the Greek pita bread that's brushed with olive oil - SO GOOD. Must try!

The chicken 'gyro' comes tucked in their beautiful bread. It doesn't have fat which can be a huge turn off, packed with tomato & onion and your choice of sauce. I kept things traditional and opted for tzatziki of course. As simple as a tzatziki sauce is, sometimes there isn't enough flavor or too much garlic but theirs is beautifully balanced and creamy. Spot on!

I love watching my food being cooked in front of me and with that in mind, my 'souvlaki' was grilled to tender perfection on the grill. Served with generous portion fries, choice of sauce (tzatziki, what else?), veg condiments and a side of happiness :)

I'll be stopping by here on the regular. Service is friendly and fast, parking is a little minimal but it's nothing unexpected with any shop directly on beach road and food is fresh & tasty.

x

To hype or not to hype: Meat Me There

I know you've seen those sesame seeded buns sprawling on your Instagram feeds. Fess up. You've seen them haven't you? So did I. A few too many times. And since I have a weakness for burgers, I said it's time to try these lil' sesame bad boys out. Let's be honest, they do Instagram very nicely ;)

If you don't know the new 'Souk' mall that they're located in, chances are you might be a little lost like my sister and I were today. I wish they added their GPS coordinates on their Instagram bio. I love when all basic info is laid out for new places. It just makes for easy access.

Once you do get to it, it's one those burger 'shack' type places, a few indoor tables, simple & short menu, you're in-and-out-before-you-know-it sorta thing. I personally like these places. I don't always want a big restaurant with long waiting time for food. Sometimes you just need to grub you feel me? 


Let me say, the outdoor seating was great. So so so glad the weather is getting better. I get so excited when it does in Dubai. I love to be outside as much as possible so whenever the weather allows, I'm a small kid jumping for joy!

The menu has 3 burgers, 'Me Burger' - usual toppings hold the cheese (I will never understand why people hold the cheese on burgers. Never), 'Meat Me Burger' - usual toppings with the cheese (boom) and 'Juicy Double' - a double patty version of the meat me burger (double boom). Toppings included onions 4 different ways - caramelised, roasted, crispy, raw. A bit of an onion obsession going on at this joint, I'm not sure why. For fries, you get normal 'Me', 'Paprika' or 'Chizu'.

We got one single and one double burger along with paprika and chizu fries.

Besides the burger hype, I've seen a ton of hype on the chizu fries so we were pretty excited for those. The burger itself was so juicy but not greasy which we loved. The duo colored sesame seeds gave a nice dimension of texture and you could taste each and every topping inside. Points to that. I don't like burgers that taste like mush in your mouth. Burger down, we were super pleased.

As for the fries, we did enjoy the paprika dusted ones. The chizu however, was meant to have gruyere, american cheddar, parsley, spring onions and green onions. Let me tell you. There was barely a pinch of cheese or parsley. Personally more concerned with where the cheese was. Not happy. It was a little too onion-y for us and I generally like onions. Downside to both fries was they were both heavily salted and I also generally like my fair share of salt. We were a little too thirsty after. If I go back I'll get the normal or paprika fries (ask for less salt).


Is this place worth the hype? Hmm... Burger was really good. Fries had issues. Place was cosy but music was a bit of a roller coaster - they should just keep it chilled. I may have to say (burger aside!) it's not worth the hype for a few reasons. One, it was over priced for what it is. You get more fries in other gourmet burger joints and topping variety was pretty much onion variety. For the single patty, the meat wasn't substantial enough to complete the burger. You needed two patties to balance out the bun & toppings. Third, fries were too salty.

So verdict is, burger aside - not worth the hype. Does that even make any sense for a burger place verdict?? Ok I've given you the low down. You decide! Comment below, to hype or not to hype?

x

"Sha3bi" Shop: Bu Qtair

"Sha3bi" Shop - my features on Dubai's sha3bi restaurants/shops (the restaurants which are on the less glitzy side of Dubai). Sha3bi is an Arabic word that means popular and is used when talking about smaller, street type of eateries.

I have to say that a lot of the time sha3bi food here can be much tastier than a lot of the more pricier places. There's something very different about the full experience when you're at a simple shack that you really look forward to after being out on the town going to the typical restaurant. 

When it comes to these types of places, it really helps if you have friends or know people that know their way around Dubai so they can direct you to these hidden yummy spots - or once you stay tuned, I will fill you in on! :)

Last night I had my first experience at the much raved about Bu Qtair in Jumeirah, right next to Burj al Arab hotel. I was told that this place has great fresh fish that is caught every morning and is served through out the day and night.  

Photo credit to TimeoutDubai

The restaurant is basically a small hut where they cook the food and plastic chairs for families and friends to sit on. 

The cool concept of ordering food is you stand in line and place your order in the restaurant and then sit on the stools in the waiting area. Once your food is ready, you are then given a table which was kind of interesting!

Their menu has fresh prawns, hammour and sherry fish - all marinated indian spices and fried. They also serve a curry sauce, onions & lemon and parathas to order.

Marinated fried prawns

Sherry fish and toppings

Sherry fish and toppings

Hammour fish

To put it simply, 1 kilo of prawns + 2 sherry fish + 1 hammour = 7 very very happy eaters. 

The spices were extremely tasty and made the fish super crispy. The fish, specifically the hammour was so tender it melted in your mouth. That was my favorite! All in all, with the weather in Dubai getting cooler at night, this place is something definitely to try with family and friends at this time! Also, the surroundings of the beach and boats while you're eating seafood kind of tops it off!

What do you guys think? Have any of you tried Bu Qtair?

Note: this isn't the healthiest of food so it's definitely for once in a while and be ready to get your hands messy because that's the only way to do it! 

Love,

Mina