Tonight we celebrate the Dubai Food Festival, joining Chef Haya for her Palestinian Street Food Tour. The tour is organised through the Splidu platform, an online events and booking platform for endlessly delicious experiences.
Our tour’s deliciousness hones Palestine’s diverse tastes and flavors. From Gaza’s seafood delights to Nablus’ sweet treats, we’re in for some treats of our own.
We meet at Sallet Al Sayad Seafood Restaurant. Once everyone arrives, we’re seated at a long table with high expectations for our first course.
Sallet Al Sayad Seafood Restaurant
Sallet Al Sayad translates loosely to ‘seafood basket’. However, here your cup runneth over, this is not your run of the mill deep fried basket of beige. As Chef Haya explains the history of the restaurant and the fact that the family run business has been keeping Palestinian flavors alive in Dubai since 2008.
We begin with a Gazawi salad, a simple yet flavorful mix of tomato, lemon, parsley, chilli, onion. This is accompanied by fresh buttery garlic bread, made in the traditional clay oven.
Seafood is a staple of the southern city of Gaza. The red snapper is described as a radiant red beauty with sweet, nutty undertones. The Hamra Red Snapper, with its delicate seasoning, somewhat similar to a lemony tandoori, is certainly sweet and succulent. Immaculately prepared and presented, it has been butterflied and de-boned and is certainly worth returning for.
We experience our succulent Hamra Red Snapper, with our hands, picking flavorful chunks up with pieces of garlic tanoor bread and Gazawi salad in true Palestinian style.
Zahrat Al Quds Restaurant
Our next stop, after a traffic filled bus transfer, is Zahrat Al Quds in the Hor Al ‘Anz district of Dubai. Here we move to a dish called kidra khalilyeh. Although it’s cousin, lamb kabsa, is a well known dish throughout the Middle East and particularly the Arabian peninsula, this version comes from Hebron City. Zahrat Al Quds makes their version with the most tender lamb, fragrant spices and freshest ingredients but the distinguishing feature is the addition of chickpeas. The rice is cooked along with the meat which means that the whole thing is fragrant and particularly delicious when paired with the yoghurt accompaniment.
Pickles and the mandatory salad also compliment the main dish.
Sultan Dubai Falafel
Another transfer, this time into the heart of Deira, Dubai’s old souk district and we arrive at Sultan Dubai Falafel. Here the traditional and stuffed falafels are front and centre at this bespoke falafel restaurant where they have been honing their recipes since opening in 2003.
We huddle around the tiny counter to watch as the falafels are moulded in a copper falafel maker. You know it’s the Palestinian version because of the greenness of the mixture (packed with herbs!).
After watching the process we’re seated outside on a warm May night. We’re able to watch the old town crowd wander by and take in some of the delicious smells wafting on the light breeze as we await out Sultan Dubai Falafels.
And once they arrive, they’re completely delicious. After explaining the falafel making process, we are in for another treat. Chef Haya and Splidu have procured some special kaak bread from Falafel Al Rabiyeh. Kaak bread, also known as Jerusalem bread (or Jerusalem bagel), is a particular type of bread, made with a hole and enough resting and rising to make the process somewhat laborious! By tradition, the oven is supposed to be blessed with incense from the church, making ‘real’ Jerusalem bread impossible to find outside of the city itself. Nevertheless, we try ours, stuffed with falafel, humus and Chef Haya’s own shatta (chilli mix).
Sitting outside and enjoying the buzzing evening vibe while we munch our third street ‘bite’, I’m almost full enough to fall asleep at the table.
But soon we’re told we’re to pop next door for some dessert! The Dubai Food Festival continues…
Qwaider Al Nabulsi Sweets
Abu Ahmad, at Qwaider Al Nabulsi Sweets, is a master of knafeh at this traditional sweets shop & restaurant. We stop in for some dessert and after practically drooling over the offerings on display, I still can’t help but fall for the drama of Abu Ahmad’s knafeh cutting. After all, Nablus, in the north of Palestine, is the home of knafeh.
Known for its sweet treats and special blend of cheese used in desserts, I can smell the knafeh before I see it. Rich, oozy cheese and syrup, topped with crunchy noodles and layered with the traditional pistachios.
The stretch of the cheese is stretched with a pause while Abu Ahmad pauses for photos. Next he shifts gear and in the space of half a minute has cut and served a dozen or more portions of the dessert out to the tour.
We sit at the table and, though already full, make some extra room for this special treat.
Traditionally knafeh is a celebratory dessert, eaten at weddings, funerals, birthdays, anniversaries and, well, tonight. I don’t need another excuse.
I also fall for the qwaider (little sesame biscuits) to take away…
Good To Know
Splidu has certainly hosted a whirlwind tour of Deira and Karama’s culinary hotspots in honor of the Dubai Food Festival. We have been witness to (and guinea pigs for) a quartet of culinary hotspots and have learned and tasted some exquisite Palestinian cuisine.
For more Dubai cuisine, try some of these:
Would I Return?
Yes. I can taste it now!