Going to be in Dubai for 2 full days. go the activities planned, visits to souks, Khalifa, Desert Safari etc.
got 2 lunch and 1 dinner to think about. any recommendations? Food quality is key, price is not a factor unless it’s outrageous. Wine is secondary but if there are cool wine bars that are fun places to check out after dinner, would love to hear about it.
Thanks!
Good luck with all that in Dubai. You don’t go there for the drinks, that is for sure, and have to work at it to get quality food. You can get liquor in the western resorts, but it is incredibly expensive and not all that great. You can’t get local food, which is all that’s really interesting, and drink in those restaurants. The western resorts are like Vegas, in my opinion - a parade of high-end everything, but none of it feels authentic. We found some great kebab hole-n-the-wall places, and one Emirati restaurant in one of the malls, Al Fanar, that was good. We went a second time and brought the food back to our hotel room so we could drink the wine we brought with the food. I can’t say I’m an expert with just one trip there under my belt, though. I know there are some food tour companies which are supposed to be good for finding the best local cuisine, so you might do some research on that.
Honestly, enjoy what’s interesting and different about the culture, but don’t expect too much from the food or drink.
I would consider Tim Raue’s new restaurant http://www.dragonfly.ae/ I seem to remember they are not licenced for alcohol but have interesting non alcoholic drinks.
You can take a few bottles of your own wine, or Le Clos is ok in the airport on arrival.
I have never been out for dinner in Dubai!
Where are you staying? Downtown, difc, a resort like jumeirah madinat?
I know nothing about the city but I saw some really nice looking food in a Tv special featuring Old Dubai
If you’re there on a Friday check out the brunch scene… splurge for a good one and have fun with the people watching. Al Qasr was fun a few years back but I’m not sure how things might have changed.
AFAIK any wine/alcohol scene, to the extent that it exists, revolves around the hotels.
Well we are doing research for you. Staying in Dubai for a couple of nights. We enjoyed a drink at the Armani hotel lounge overlooking the fountains then dinner at Dragonfly, it does a pretty good job of replicating the food of Tim Raue in Berlin, but it’s a funny spot, on a rare busy pedestrian street area with lots of cafes etc. Casual style service and decor but very decent food, with the heights being pretty high. The non alcoholic plum and herb drink was actually very decent, we settled on it after trying a few. We also made up our own tasting menu.
With Brunch you have to pick carefully, I’d certainly avoid the messier ones.
Thanks everyone. Looks like a food/wine being secondary kinda visit. Which is fine. Good to know 
Thanks again!
To Burj Al Arab tonight which is either the epitome of taste and class or the end of humanity as we know it.
But the Nathan Outlaw provides a decent fish based restaurant and the wine pairings are fairly priced and generously poured vs the competition.
Went to sea fu at the 4 seasons jumeira tonight. Pretty good in a nobu style. Noticed that they had a coya nearby. If it’s anything like the one in London then that would be worth a dinner trip.
Well for f-sakes. Now flying out of Dubai this weekend I gotta check my laptop and camera… ugh.
Looking forward to this visit tho.
Expect chaos at the airport.
I’m not sure who’s they intend to implement this.
Switch to a flight via London. You can keep your laptop and camera and probably save some money!
Was hoping for trip notes. Typing this from the pool bar at the Le Meridien Mina Sayih.
Haven’t ventured out much, but have dinners planned the next couple of nights. Le Meridien shares all of their facilities with the Westin next door. Reminds me more of the beach bar at the Westin in Orlando - islander cocktails/iced drinks at ~$14-$16 a piece. Enjoyed a Yellow Boat tour around the city today; not a bad side activity if you have 90 mins to kill and are on the southern end (Dubai Marina). Similar to what Sarah said - manufactured vibe.
Got out to “The Beach at JBR” last night - massive complex of international restaurants, stores, etc. Restaurant scene had everything from Shake Shack and a trailer selling burgers to Laduree, and a Cheesecake Factory in between. Go figure. Zero alcohol outside of hotels and the guy hosting us didn’t even want to be seen coming out of the hotel bar - “zero tolerance for any level of drinking and driving and it’s an instant deportation.”
http://www.thebeach.ae/dine/ has a list of the restaurants, but it has that Singapore MBS feel in the sense that you’re wondering wtf all of these places are doing HERE.
I enjoyed dinner at “Pots, Pans and Boards.” On the bright side, the bill was shockingly low for five people, coming in well under $300.
Will ask around if we can find anything more traditional tonight.
I always think of that place as more of a lunch visit but it’s good fun. The inflatable obstacle course in the sea looks great. We’ve done a similar one along at Jebel Ali.
It depends what you mean by traditional. Traditional Emirati restaurants don’t exist. There just weren’t any before the 50s or 60s. So you can find great Lebanese or Egyptian places. Some hotels have created ‘modern Emirati’ food but more historically the food is just a big mix of Yemeni, Egyptian, Persian etc. Mostly just a big place of rice cooked with lamb or mutton.
There’s an Emirati heritage centre offering meals. Look at http://www.cultures.ae
It’s a communal meal on the floor though. Not fancy!
The Westin Brunch on a Friday is legendary, Bubbaliciois. Not my scene but people love it. Can get messy by 4pm.
Brief trip notes. Got in Friday night pretty late… got a rental car (debated this but glad i did). The roads are easy to drive.
Saturday - morning drove to Abu Dhabi to see the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. Fascinating place, and an injection of culture in an otherwise rather hollow place I found Dubai to be. Loved the mosque… and the drive was fun. Infrastructure is top notch… 6 lane highways narrowing to 4 lanes in some areas (each direction). I was going about 90-95 mph and being passed frequently… easy directions to follow (used my phone’s googlemaps).
After the mosque, it was around 1pm. Headed to the gold/spice markets - not bad… but i wasn’t in the market to buy gold or spices… so more checked it out to see what it’s like… Parking was hard to find.
I think if you stick to Dubai, u can just uber, and no need for rental car. But the rental car was justified with the drive to Abu Dhabi.
Headed over to the Dubai Mall after… grabbed a quick bite to eat opposite the aquarium tank. Solid pasta (forget the name of the place). No liquor/beer being served… Overall the mall is noisy, large, and busy. a bit exhausting frankly. Finished lunch around 3:30pm so kinda late.
Post lunch went for some photos outside of the B.Khalifa. Walked around mall. and eventually 5pm ticket to go up the B.K. Stayed up there for 2 hours, getting photos of the day time, and night time combo (kinda why u pay the extra fee to go up between 4-5pm). Loved the observation deck… huge, and the outdoor part was excellent. The view was just average, as Dubai really doesn’t have much of a ‘skyline’ like nyc/chicago types of skyline. there’s a lot of highraises and cool looking buildings, and then there’s nothing/desert…
I should mention. heavy rain storm throughout the day. I got a travel advisory from my work travel booking site… SOS heavy rain in Dubai, beware of driving conditions. and indeed some of the smaller streets was like driving through a river. dubai can not handle rain
Headed down and walked around the lake taking photos of the fountain. impressive indeed. fun to see.
Skipped my dinner reso there and headed back to hotel.
Hotel: JW Marriott Marquis - not surprisingly this is in Dubai - the tallest hotel in the world at 70 residential floors, 72 total floors. i was on floor 66 and it was indeed quite high up there… had a nice view.
Went to the exec lounge for bite/drink, wasn’t too hungry, and went back to my room to catch up on some work emails.
Sunday
Took it easy and had a giant breakfast in the lounge. the food in the exec lounge at the JWM was great. late morning drove to Jumeriah beach. rain subsided! freakish driving there as the streets were still flooded.
walked around the beach… went to Medinat Jumeriah, walked around the shops there, took an abra tour and snapped some photos.
Noon - went to the Burj Al Arab. had a reso for tea. Got in, snapped photo like most tourists that are there. walked around the pool area, the back of the hotel, went up to the spa level snapping more photos… When i was done, i was neither hungry, nor feeling up to sit through a high tea, so i just left. I guess this way i didn’t have to pay $200 for high tea and still go to see the hotel. Their cancellation policy said they’d still charge you some fee but i didn’t care, and i don’t think they had my credit card info to begin with? i’ll monitor my card but i doubt they’ll charge, but even if they did, i wasn’t feeling like eating.
Quick stop at Mall of Emirates just to see the ski hill… indoor ski resort… wasn’t as impressive as i had imagined… popped out back to the hotel.
3pm desert safari tour… 40 min drive… dune bashing… photos in the desert… photos with a camel… dinner… dancing show…etc… a bit ‘staged’ as there were huge groups of people doing it, but still enjoyable.
Mon morning flight out. Had quite a bit of time as i left myself time to return the rental car. turns out super smooth. The airport lounge in T3 is quite nice… plenty of food/drinks.
Overall impressions. i closely align with several friends/colleagues who have gone to Dubai (discussing it after i got back). Quite fun and almost a MUST visit once in your life… but in no rush to go back. manufactured environment… going big everywhere… impressive but my feel is it’s a thin layer of PURE GOLD/DIAMONDS wrapped around a rather hollow/standard desert town, a bit low on authenticity for my liking.
Caveat of course is with any 2 day visit, it’s a first impression, not a deep understanding/study of a place.
One place i missed i’d like to see - the Yellow boat tour!! it was that or the Mosque… but i’d like to have seen the palm… it’s such ridiculousness that i wanted to see in person 
Should have given me a shout Mark, we live a couple of hundred yards from the Grand Mosque.
For anyone interested you can hire a luxury car (Audi A6/8) and driver for around $200-300 for an 8 hour period. More than hiring a car but the drive can be a bit dodgy.
Russell. Oh bummer. I always had the impression that you were from the U.K.? And just travelled to UAE a lot.
It would’ve been nice to get some local flavor for sure!