Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Jalan- Jalan Dubai: Street Food - Karama & Deira

After a few days of eating at Dubai mall restaurants, we were craving for some real street food. Cheap and good eats... was told by a taxi driver that Karama area is the place to head for and the place opens early for breakfast. So one of the days, we decided to try Ravi's Restaurant opposite Burjuman Mall at Karama for some rotis. The restaurant got good reviews on tripadvisor but I neglected to see that most of the reviews are for lunch and dinner.


dubai street food
Breakfast at Ravi's Restaurant @ Karama, Dubai


Breakfast at Ravi's is definitely different from breakfast at any indian stalls in Malaysia / Singapore. For once, their prata are different, thicker, oilier. I ordered puri since I wanted something light and fluffy and guess what? everyone went for that when the dish came instead of the prata. Keema (minced meat) was ok, shaksuka (something like scrambled eggs with tomato) was a bit bland but the dhal was fine. I think we got complimentary "halwa" some sweet dessert that tasted like semolina but we are not accustomed to very sweet dessert for breakfast -errmm.. well.. malay desserts are an exception :p - Teh tarik? sigh.. nope.. only strong tea with sugar overdose.


makan murah dubai
Street Food Dubai : Eat where the workers eat


So, really, Ravi's? I am pretty sure that it's the same Ravi's that is reviwed on tripadvisor but breakfast didn't really impress me that much. You might want to check it out during lunch or dinner instead.


On another night, we wanted to check out Deira Souq and grab dinner somewhere at Bastakiyyah after taking the Abra tour but we were stuck in the traffic and arrived at Deira Souq at about slightly past 8pm and were ravenous. So, we asked the people hanging around for some good restaurant and they pointed to the other direction (away from the Deira Souq entrance) and said "just walk straight, you will see an Indian restaurant (which is not what we are recommending), walk past it and you will se a Yemeni restaurant serving delicious Mandi Rice" and we did just that. Walk straight ahead opposite the direction of Deira Souq entrance and the place didn't disappoint.

deira souq
Jalan Jalan Dubai : The Deira Souq - walk in the same direction of the man in the white robe to head to Aden Restaurant

The place is called "Aden Restaurant" and it has two levels, lower level for men and the upper level for ladies with family rooms too. The flight of stairs were quite high though. The restaurant is simple with a view of the  dubai creek and Bur Dubai (old dubai). It was nice. We ordered Lamb Mandi and Chicken Mandi with some "shurbah" i.e. soup since we are not accustomed to eating our rice dry. We also added some fresh salads and drinks were Arabic Tea. The dinner at Aden restaurant was our simplest so far but it was the most memorable and satisfying. Our Yemeni waiter was also very friendly and especially nice when he knows that we are Muslims and we can converse in -partial- arabic :)

dubai cheap restaurants
Cheap Restaurant Dubai : Aden Restaurant serving delish Mandi Rice


We spent quite some time there that by the time we went back to Deira Souq it was already near 10pm and most of the shops are nearly closing. I didn't manage to look around so I just went in to one shop and asked for some Abayas, was also quarrelling with the shopkeeper since I keep asking for a smaller size and he went "This is your size, if it's too big just alter the size later" and I am like "Why can't you just give me 2 sizes smaller so I don't have to alter it???" Until it dawned on me that the sizes are because of the "length" they don't care about your body proportion, they just want the length to fit you and you can alter the fitting later"  and with that I accepted the size he recommended and lo and behold when I tried it at the hotel the abaya actually fits nicely with no need to alter haha! Sorry Mr Shopkeeper!

It was already a quarter to 11pm and had my mother-in-law be up for it, hubby and I would have really liked to take the Abra tour, the big ships were brightly lit and the sights of Bur Dubai especially was nice against the Dubai Creek.. on a different occasion with different company, I would have taken a leisurely stroll down the sidewalk and just go crazy snapping pictures. This to me is the Dubai that I want to see and appreciate, not the shopping malls, not the modern tall buildings that is about the same in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong... hopefully.. another chance will come.  

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