Ramadan Iftars Archives - Undefined Declarations

UD Ramadan Iftar Review: Moroccan Restaurant at Four Points Dubai

I don’t know if some of you had to face the situation of looking for a place in Dubai for a short-term stay, because you were still job hunting or unsure about your future plans for living in the city….but I was there when I first moved to Dubai and so are many people that I have met. I even had someone ask me for advise about where to stay for a short-term period recently. Obviously, not everyone likes to share their private space with others. So for all of you individual souls out there, I have a new property that you can consider moving into if you were in town and were looking for a short-term rental place. Four Points By Sheraton on Sheikh Zayed Road actually has apartments fully equipped with a washer, fridge and other essential facilities. And most importantly, the hotel is located on a prime location only a few minutes walking distance from Financial Center Metro Station.

What’s more is that the hotel has a number of cool restaurants, in addition to a roof top lounge – with the best views of Sheikh Zayed Road….I can’t believe I’m letting this secret out! Honestly, I found out about the roof top location when I was looking for a spot to take a photo for my University photography course. And this is what I was able to get:

Slow Shutter Speed Photography Technique on SZR

A few months later, I get to try out the Iftar menu at the Moroccan Restaurant and Lounge at the Four Points By Sheraton SZR. What makes this venue worth a try is its authentic Moroccan fare presented by a purely Moroccan chef 🙂 Check out their Iftar set menu for AED 175:

Iftar Menu at Four Points By Sheraton SZR

Starters

The traditional Moroccan harira soup was absolutely divine…the taste was just right and it wasn’t too heavy like what you get at some Moroccan concepts. It definitely didn’t fill you up to the point that you can’t have your main course or any more food.

We had two types of salad: one was made with eggplants and the other with capsicum in a rich tomato sauce. Again, the salads were light, healthy and full of flavor.

Main Course

The infamous Couscous was made to perfection, complimented by the vegetables traditionally added to the healthy dish. To add richness to the Couscous, there was a wonderfully cooked lamb Tagine. The tagine had some nicely toasted almonds and glazed prunes for a more healthy and rich taste.

Couscous and Lamb Tagine at Moroccan Restaurant and Lounge

Dessert

Continuing with the healthy and nutritious take on Moroccan food, we had a mildly sweet rice pudding and some fresh fruits with ice-cream on the side.

Dessert at the Moroccan Restaurant and Lounge

What’s so special about the Moroccan Restaurant and Lounge?

It offers a healthy, light and nutritious Iftar set-course menu, created by a real Moroccan chef!
It doesn’t allow over-eating like what usually happens with the typical buffet-style Iftars all around town.
It’s a well-balanced meal at a comfortable setting. Not too formal or glamorous like most hotels in the city.
It’s easily accessible by car or by metro as it’s within walking distance from the Financial Center Metro Station.

Final Notes

The Four Points By Sheraton is a Four-star property under the Starwood hotel group.
It’s suitable for both the business traveler and families with kids on vacation or a short trip.
It offers short-term or long-term stays with fully equipped hotel apartments.

So there you have it, three hidden gems in one place!

You can opt to stay at the hotel rooms or apartment rooms, visit the roof top to take amazing photos of the city streets and lights (after getting permission from the PR team), or dine in at one of their cool and top-quality restaurants and lounges!

Contact:

Check out their Facebook Page, web site or follow them on Twitter 🙂

@fourpointsdubai

The View from the Roof Top at Four Points By Sheraton SZR

Dubai Ramadan Iftar Review: Mizaan at the H Hotel Dubai

I had visited The H Hotel once for the University of the Arts London’s alumni and Dubai short courses event at the uber cool Okku restaurant and lounge. You can read all about that event here. Yesterday however, I was back to The H Hotel Dubai for a different type of socializing. Me and my friend Lianne had gone there to check out the Ottoman inspired Iftar at Mizaan all day dining restaurant.

The H Hotel is located at the unique address: One Sheikh Zayed Road. So you can’t miss it as it’s the first property building on the road. Although I must admit that me and my friend actually missed the hotel while we were coming out from a parallel back street! but eventually found our way and arrived just in time for Iftar.

The Iftar buffet at Mizaan includes contemporary Ottoman and Arabic signature dishes. With a number of those dishes prepared by Celebrity Chef Silvena Rowe from the BBC Food show Saturday Kitchen.

Karkade (Hibiscus Tea) served in a unique style

Salad Buffet

There were two salad buffets available at the Iftar. One had a selection of Western salad options and the other included a variety of fresh Middle-Eastern salads and mezzas, such as the usual hommos, motabbal and others. But what was remarkably unique were the many variations of the labneh bites. These were mixed with Sumac spice, Zaatar, pistachio, and black seeds to name a few!

The Mizaan Iftar buffet had a good variety of main course options for both vegetarians and meat-lovers alike. If you’re a seafood fan, you won’t be disappointed either. As there was a spicy Hammour fish fillet dish and grilled jumbo prawns on display. I loved the combination of Moroccan tagines (chicken and vegetable options) next to other signature Arabic dishes (lamb ouzi). And best of all, everything served was cooked to perfection with great attention to detail and culinary quality and authenticity.

Desserts

You could choose from a selection of gourmet dates, traditional Arabic sweets, or the more popular Western desserts.

Entertainment: Live Arabic Band

After our superb Iftar, we headed to the Majlis area to have our coffee and tea while listening to the wonderful Arabic tunes played by the two piece band in the lobby.

Iftar Buffet Cost

The Mizaan sumptuous Iftar costs AED 180 per person. But since we had the Entertainer voucher, we only had to pay for one Iftar and got the second one as complimentary 😀

Conclusion

I personally have found the Iftar at The H Hotel Dubai as one of the best Iftars in town. Considering the quality level of the food served, the variety of the buffet selections, the friendliness of the staff, and the entertainment and ambiance. I would love to go back to this Iftar next year and experience it all over again 🙂

Have you been to any Ramadan Iftars or Suhoors this year? If so, which ones and how would you rate your experience?

That’s it for our Iftar reviews for this year. But stay tuned to our page for another type of review coming soon!

Till then, enjoy the rest of the holy month. Whether you are observing the fast or not 🙂

Dubai Ramadan Iftar Review: Abd El Wahab The Fisherman

I must admit that it was a strange day full of awkward moments and situations for both me and my expat friend! Walking towards the newly opened Abd El Wahab The Fisherman restaurant at Pier 7 in Dubai Marina felt like a competition of who had more weird stories that day.

I couldn’t wait to tell her about my – hair salon appointment gone mad – story while she was showing me the cat bites on her foot! yes, it was one of those days when nothing seems to be going right I guess.

Despite our frantic and manic Monday stories, we still managed to have a great time at Abd El Wahab and were also rewarded with freshly prepared sea bass fish for our main courses. In addition to an extra fish that we couldn’t dream of having because we were simply too full.

My friend thought that the food served was enough to serve three more people. And was amazed at how our table was completely full of a spread of delicious Lebanese mezza plates.

The restaurant has a nice view of the Dubai Marina skyline…

Iftar Menu

The Iftar at Abd El Wahab The Fisherman comprises of a set menu that includes Ramadan drinks, soup, Lebanese Mezza, Main course, and Dessert. For the main course, you get to choose between a plate of mixed grills or a daily dish. Today’s daily dish was “kharoof mahshi”.

Since my friend is vegetarian and can only eat seafood, and since we were both looking forward to trying the seafood at this new Lebanese seafood eatery, we asked the supervisor if we could have fish for our main course instead of the grills or daily dish. To our surprise, we not only got two sea bass pieces of fish for our mains, they even served us an additional fish 😀

Lebanese Mezza at its best at Abd El Wahab The Fisherman

If they could work on enhancing one thing, what would that be?

My friend was beyond shocked when a waiter took away her starter plate while she was still eating her hummos! throughout our Iftar, the servers seemed to be in a rush to clear our plates or the table, bring in the next course, or simply offer us some refreshing napkins!

I repeat, during Iftar, it is highly important for the servers to take into consideration that us clients have been fasting all day and would need to take our sweet time in eating and taking breaks between courses! It’s even more agitating when you can sense that there is someone watching over your shoulder to see if you are done with your plate, so that they can take it and bring in the next one! It really takes away from the whole – meant to be relaxed – dining (or in this case Iftar) experience!

So please have some mercy on us and let us take down our meal slowly and with ease.

Cost

The Iftar set menu at Abd El Wahab The Fisherman is at 135 AED per person. It includes soft drinks, Ramadan drinks, soup, starters, a main course, desserts and coffee or tea!

Conclusion

After our superb Iftar, we had a short stroll at nearby Marina Mall before sitting down at Cafe Nero to chat. To help us digest our huge Iftar even better, a live band were playing the Oud at the mall’s main lobby. The chilled tunes helped us relax and unwind after a long and unusually awkward day!