Food Fridays: Food in the UAE

The foreign born population in the UAE is massive in comparison with the native Emiratis. As a result, there is actually a fair amount of variation in the food, with great Indian and Pakastani restaurants all over the place as well as Lebanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Western style cuisine. My friend and I tended to end up at Lebanese places or other restaurants serving kebab or shawarmas, but here's a run down of some of the different inexpensive (and good) places that we ended up trying. No meal here was more than $15.

The Riviera Restaurant: Nicely presented and tasty, but also slightly touristy. Some of the other lebanese places we went to felt like they were more authentic.

The standard spread, plus muhammara and hammos.

Muhammara: A slightly spicy paste with the same consistency as hummus. The dark drizzle is a pomegranate syrup that gives it some sweetness as well.  

Food Fridays: Fauchon in Dubai

Dubai is something of a Disneyland. A place where money flows (even now after the crash) and where the luxuries of the world are found in the malls beside buildings unburdened by pesky details. One of the places I was surprised to see available in the Mall of the Emirates was a friend from Paris: Fauchon.

Fauchon is known as a trendy and upscale Parisian pâtisserie that focuses on high quality breads and sweets. Given their reputation for high quality, the allure of French desserts, and the expendable income here, Fauchon is a natural fit for a place like Dubai. Chocolates, cookies, mousse, and cakes are all on the menu, but my favorite are their macaroons.

All flavors are wonderful, but for the UAE they have added a flavor I haven't seen elsewhere. Across the UAE an extremely popular and refreshing drink is lemon with mint, and at the Fauchon here they have a macroon that is exactly that. I give to you, the lemon-mint macaroon from Fauchon, Dubai (along with a raspberry macaroon and their Number 6 chocolate truffle).

Abu Dhabi: Other Scenes from Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi: The Grand Mosque

A few photos from the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which opened in 2007. It's a massive complex made out of marble and has cost more than $500 million to build. This is the definition of opulent.

Abu Dhabi: The Autopia Captial of the UAE

Ford Prefect: Didn't you think it was strange I was trying to shake hands with a car? 
Arthur Dent: I assumed you were drunk. 
Ford Prefect: I thought cars were the dominant lifeform. I was trying to introduce myself.

-From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

A few weeks ago I wrote about Amsterdam and how transportation choices hundreds of years ago shaped the city that we know today. When it comes to transportation there is no technically "right" answer, but the transportation choices that we decide upon have distinct trade-offs. Abu Dhabi is an example of a city that is heavily invested in the automobile. Ford, an alien in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, mistook for our cars for local sentient species on earth. During the day in Abu Dhabi, it would be easy to make the same mistake. 

What you see here is shot from Google Maps and each of those white dots is a car. Two eight lane roads (four lanes in each direction) meet and define the super-block within which we more cars sitting in wait. Most of the inner city is like this, although there are parks and open space elsewhere, especially along the waterfront.

In the area that I was staying in, this was the scene. The traffic in Abu Dhabi, a city of about a million people, does flow smoothly, but this is the cost: Every major street is at least four lanes wide and here we have two seven lane one-way roads to move traffic. Driving is stressful, but at the end of the day traffic does move. Outside of downtown, traffic is less hectic than here, but in Abu Dhabi one thing is for sure: The car is the king.

More urban pictures and transit talk after the break...

Dubai: The Burj Khalifa from Bottom to Top and Top to Bottom

At 2,717 feet (818m), the Burj Khalifa is pretty spectacular! This picture above was taken on the bridge that is visible in the picture below which was taken from the observation deck on the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa (of 162 floors). That tall building there is The Address Hotel, which is a "mere" 63 stories and 1,004 feet (306m). 

Flight Report: To Abu Dhabi with Lufthansa for $130

Two nights ago I touched down in Abu Dhabi, so visit a friend who is working on the regional rail system that's being planned. The only reason I could afford to come out here on such short notice was that my round trip ticket was a grand total of $130 for taxes and fees.

I used my miles (earned from my trips back to the US last year) to come here, which is why it was so cheap. An award ticket between Europe and the Middle East is only 35,000 miles, which is a steal when you consider that a regular ticket at such short notice is $616 right now. That means a redemption value of 0.014 cents per mile, which is a above average. In short, it's a good deal thanks to the mileage game. If it wasn't for mileage programs I simply wouldn't be here. :)

But how were the actual flights? Well, read on!

Where am I now?

More soon....