feast cultural
Don’t judge Dubai just by its glitzy cover and be sure to pack loose-fi tting trousers when you visit, says Laura Gelder after her ‘diverse Dubai’ trip to the emirate
T
here’s something intoxicatingly fabulous about Dubai and the sense of wonder the emirate triggers is something I
always relish when I’m there. My third and most recent visit was no exception. I cheerfully and gratefully accepted the invite to the ‘Diverse Dubai’ press trip, but in truth I wasn’t expecting anything that ‘different’ (sorry, Dubai Tourism!) Now fast-forward a month and I’m staring, bleary-eyed, out of the car window, at the futuristic buildings fl ashing past, with a familiar feeling of anything’s possible. Hell, by the time we reach the hotel I might even consider moving out here. Why not? It’s diffi cult not to get excited in Dubai, a
place that is the living embodiment of the ‘anything’s possible’ cliché. Fifty years ago it was a dusty desert town relying mainly on pearl diving but now it’s a mega-rich metropolis, sprouting from the desert like something out of a superlative magic mushroom trip. Our itinerary tells me I can ski next to penguins in a shopping mall at lunch and still reach the desert in time for a sunset shisha.
The world’s tallest hotel My home for the week is the new JW Marriott Marquis, the world’s tallest hotel- only building and home to a veritable buffet of restaurants and bars that could keep you entertained for a fortnight. Indulgence is something every visitor should
expect in Dubai, something we discover on our fi rst night with a dine-around dinner taking in three of the Marquis’ restaurants. We start with sushi at Izakaya, where the alarmingly green-haired ‘Wasabi Girl’ serves us the spicy paste with a smile. Next is Tong Thai for fresh, zingy starters like papaya salad under the soft glow of its red lamps, and lastly Rang Mahal by Atul Kochhar, headed by the fi rst Indian chef to receive a Michelin star. The melt-in-your-mouth curries are served in what feels like a cross between a classy lounge bar and a temple.
New heights But the meal to end all meals is the Marriott’s prohibition-themed Friday brunch. It’s only half-way through this epic three-hour feast that I
realise we are going to be served everything on the A4 menu: a selection of salads with vodka-laced iced tea; meats paired with Manhattan cocktails; Wagyu meat balls with cosmopolitans; three kinds of steak with…oh who cares? Just drink it! At our next venue, stuffed to the gills, we all laugh nervously as we’re served a platter of mini-cakes in Atmosphere Bar, which crowns the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. The wood-panelled bar sits 442 metres in the sky, overlooking downtown Dubai, which from up here looks like an alien ant city. It’s an astounding view, and the fresh- tasting juicy cocktails aren’t bad either. I’m feeling slightly stressed at this point
because it is just three hours until dinner and I want to do justice to the only Middle Eastern restaurant on our itinerary. New restaurant, Qbara, is cool. Dark, packed and pumping with music, it’s like a magical Aladdin’s cave, where ludicrously glamorous Emiratis share Middle Eastern classics like tagine, surrounded by what looks like ancient walls made from a patchwork of intricately carved Arabic doors which appear
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