Al Farooj at Deira City Centre (UAE, Dubai)

We went back to Deira City Centre again for lunch as we could not find any other eateries nearby for lunch. 

Al Farooj is an international fast casual restaurant chain started by an Arabic family in 1994. The chain specialises in serving Shawarma using their own secret bend herbs and spices prepared in Arabic, Mexican, Italian and Lebanese recipes. Today, it has 40 outlets in United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Kuwait, Libya and France.

Arabian Shawarma 19 AED (S$6.51) & Shawarma Wrap 16 AED (S$5.48)

I ordered Arabian Shawarma 19 AED (S$6.51) while the partner ordered Shawarma Wrap 16 AED (S$5.48). We waited 20 minutes at the counter for our food. So much for being a fast casual restaurant especially since there was no crowd.

We both ordered Shawarma as Al Farooj was famous for it. The Shawema is a fast food commonly consisted of a pita bread sandwich with meat and various toppings in it. 

Shawarma Wrap 16 AED (S$5.48)

The partner's Shawarma Wrap was served with fries and a soft drink. 

Shawarma Wrap 16 AED (S$5.48)

Personally, I felt that there were too much mayonnaise in the Shawarma Wrap. So much so that it masked the flavour of the spices and meat. In addition, the pita bread was too chewy. 

Arabian Shawarma 19 AED (S$6.51) 

Arabian Shawarma 19 AED (S$6.51) 

The Arabian Shawarma fared better. This time there were less mayonnaise. The fragrance and tenderness of the chicken left an impression; well seasoned and grilled chicken meat! The wrap was crispier too. Oddly, the lettuce were replaced with fries coated with mayonnaise which made it soggy. There were fries given as sides.

Many have said that this was an authentic place for Shawarma. But I am not too sure how true this is since they have fries. This is because I associate fries with western culture/cuisine. In addition, having fries in a Shawarma made me doubt the authenticity. Just my 2 cents.

Having said that, anyone knows where Sultan Kebab (Peace Centre) has shifted to?

Al Farooj at Deira City Centre (UAE, Dubai)

Food Court
Deira City Centre

Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Website
Location

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Cafe Italia Express at Dubai Mall (UAE, Dubai)

A visit to Dubai is not complete without a trip to the famous Dubai Mall which is the largest shopping mall in the world! Located in the heart of Downtown Dubai, it has a total internal floor area of 5.9 million square feet (50 football fields) with over 1200 shops of which 120 are restaurants and cafes, 95 elevators and 150 escalators! There's even Laduree and Galeries Lafayette. In addition, there's a five star hotel, Olympic-size Ice Rink, Oasis Fountain Waterfall, WaterFront Atrium, 22-screen Cinema, SEGA Republic (indoor theme park), Dubai Aquarium and Under Water Zoo in the mall! The locals have said that if you really want to explore and shop here, you would required 3 days to explore the mall. 

Clockwise from bottom left: Dubai Directory, Oasis Fountain Waterfall, different themes of the mall.

We got lost several times in the mall as it was huge and were so tired that we had to sit down to rest. The mall had many Concierge counters to help direct tourist and locals. 

Ok, back to the food. The prices at Dubai Mall seemed to be steeper compared to Deira City Centre mall. If only we had changed more Dirhams. We walked around and in the end settled our dinner in a food court as we all wanted to try different cuisines. The food court was huge with many different cuisines. There were fast food (e.g. Mc Donald's, Burger King, KFC), a restaurant and even a kids playground in the food court! 

I walked one round around the food court before deciding to settle for Italian food at Cafe Italia Express. Cafe Italia Express was the first to introduce traditional Neapolitan pizza in the gulf region. It first started making its presence felt in Bahrain in 2000. As the name suggests, Cafe Italia Express specialises in Italian cuisines such as pizza and pasta. The pizzas are baked in ovens that are fueled by wood. 

I ordered the Pizza Barbecue Combo 35 AED (S$11.97). After ordering, the chef went about his task of preparing a pizza. 

buzz

As the pizza had to be prepared and baked, issued a buzz that would activate (shake) to inform customers that their orders were ready. First time seeing a razor shaped buzzer. The more common ones I had seen in Singapore were round shaped like a land mine. 

Pizza Barbecue Combo 35 AED (S$11.97)

The Pizza Barbecue Combo 35 AED (S$11.97) consisted of a 10 Inch BBQ Chicken Pizza, choice of Soup or Salad and a Soft Drink. 

Minestrone

Minestrone

For soup, I chose Minestrone. Although there were lots of small chunks of vegetables in it, the soup was a tad too sour for me. 

BBQ Chicken Pizza

The BBQ Chicken Pizza was just average. Thin crisp crust with chicken, onion, BBQ sauce, cilantro and mozzarella. At 35 AED, this was relatively cheap. 

Dubai Fountain

A must do when visiting the Dubai Mall is to watch the Dubai Fountain performance. It is the world largest dancing fountain. The fountain is 275 metres long and can shoot water jets up as high as 150 metres (50 storey high). With Burj Khalifal at its background, the performance was captivating! You can watch the show at half hour intervals from 6pm to 11pm from Sun to Wed and 6pm to 1130pm from Thu to Sat. The fountain is located just outside the Dubai Mall on Lower Ground Waterfront Promenade. 

Cafe Italia Express (UAE, Dubai)  

D-5, Level 2, Food Court Area

Dubai Mall

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Tel: 04 3253629

Opening Hours: 11am to 11pm
Location

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Shamiana Tandoori & Indian Cuisine at Deira City Centre (UAE, Dubai)

At Dubai, we stayed at Copthorne Hotel Dubai which is sited just 5 minutes walk away from the Deira City Centre (shopping mall) and the Deira City Centre Metro station. In addition, the hotel is located just 10 minutes drive away from the International Airport. To sweeten the deal further, we were upgraded to the Dubai Suite. As it was already past 2pm by the time we check in, we decided to quickly pop by the Deira City Centre for lunch. There are many restaurants located in the mall and the food there was generally quite expensive. (The cost of living here is very high too!) As we wanted something quick, we headed over to the food court. 

There were many stalls offering different variety of food in the food court such as Western, Italian, Middle Eastern and even Chinese cuisines! In the end, I decided to patronise Shamiana. Shamiana specialises in serving a wide variety of Indian cuisine such as tandoori, curry, biryani, kebab  and naan. I found out later that it is also available in food courts at other shopping malls such as The Dubai Mall, Dubai Festival City and Mall of the Emirates. It then occurred to me that it may not be so authentic after all. If I really wanted something authentic, I should have gone to explore the 'street food'.  

Chicken Tikka Biryani 28 AED (S$9.44)

I ordered the Chicken Tikka Biryani which cost 28 AED (S$9.44) and was served with a yogurt. 

Chicken Tikka Biryani 28 AED (S$9.44)

Three pieces of chicken tikka were served along with the biryani. The chicken tikka with its aromatic blend of seasonings were outstanding - soft fragrant tender meat. Whereas the basmati rice was just average. Some parts of the rice were in lumps and were not fragrant enough. 

Yogurt

The Yogurt was watery and sourish. It had a very weird taste as if it had turned bad. We took a sip each and left it untouched. I wonder if this is their version of raita which is made from yogurt and complement as a sauce to the biryani.

Overall, I thought this was just average. The chicken tikka was great, however the basmati  rice (an essential component of a biryani meal) was disappointing. Even though this was a food court, I thought that the prices here were on the high end compared to Singapore.

ps: the currency used in Dubai is called Dirhams (AED). Not all money changers in Singapore carry this currency.

Shamiana Tandoori & Indian Cuisine (UAE, Dubai)

Food Court

Deira City Centre

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Tel: 04 2954393

Website
Location

The locations are as follows:
A - Copthorne Hotel Dubai
B - Deira City Centre Metro station 
C - Deira City Centre Shopping Mall

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