BIG BINGE: DUBAI FOR THE JET-SETTING GOURMAND

Delightful degustation menus, French brasseries with art-inspired menus and Japanese diners excelling at nostalgia—the Dubai Food Festival 2022 justified the city’s status as one of the world’s premier food capitals

- Prannay Pathak

Al Nafoorah A fetching Lebanese restaurant overlooking the Burj Al Arab, designed to resemble the Berdawni Riviera in Lebanon

LEVANTINE DAZZLEMENT

Flavours Lebanese

Feel Luxurious Middle-Eastern

Sitting on the lower ground level of the Jumeirah Al Qasr hotel, Al Nafoorah is a fetching Lebanese restaurant with a terrace that has a direct view of the Burj Al Arab, and is designed in the fashion of the restaurants lining the Berdawni Riviera in Lebanon. I’m here for their Dubai Restaurant Week Menu, which includes a succulent hot mezze with picks such as moajanat moshakala and lamb makanek. The cold mezze is equally breathtaking, the star of which is the enlivening fattoush. The restaurant also offers set menus themed around four cities in Lebanon—Beirut, Byblos, Tripoli and Sidon—one of which I would want to try on my next visit, along with Chef Fouad Ali’s Teta’s tabbouleh.

DANCE, DRAMA, DESERT

Flavours Mediterranean

Feel Desert Camp 

Sonara Desert Camp enjoys a dramatic setting in the heart of the burnished desert landscape in the Dubai Conservation Reserve. Speckling the expanse are private sit-outs for groups and hammocks, and fairy lights ready to twinkle as the sun drops below the dunes in distance. The restaurant, witha performance arena and al fresco seating stretching in the centre of a barebones setup, specialises in Mediterranean cuisine (think lamb chops marinated in kaffir lime, Nile perch served in a banana leaf and chicken shawarma in a cone), and live entertainment. I’m not a huge fan of fireworks, which captivate here, but the clutch of attractions leading up to supper lend it the winning edge.

BREAKFAST OF BARONS

Flavours Continental

Feel Plush Seafront