Downtown Dubai Archives - Undefined Declarations

When my expat friend told me that she wanted to try a traditional Ramadan Iftar, I wasn’t sure where to take her. I had been to a few Iftars over the course of the three years that I had been living in Dubai. And being someone who always likes to try new things, I was certain that I didn’t want to go to any of the places that I had already been to in previous Ramadans. That’s when I remembered the most recent addition to Dubai’s Ramadan tent scene: Emaar’s Ramadan Tent; also known as “Downtown”.

The spacious glamorously decorated tent is setup across three main seating areas:

Large indoor area, also known as courtyard. This section has regular dining tables and is surrounding the buffet.
Private Majlis; this seating offers a semi-private dining experience with dim lighting and majlis style low seats and tables.
Glass Garden; the seating here is also majlis style. This area offers great views of Burj Khalifa and Downtown Dubai.

Buffet Options

If you are a vegetarian or only eat seafood like my friend, you could be disappointed as most of the main course meals are meat based or contain some type of chicken, beef or lamb. That left very limited options for my friend to take from. Those included pasta, a seafood dish and some vegetables!

However, if you are a meat-lover then you are in for a great treat. Traditional Arabic dishes were served next to International cuisine favorites.

You can expect to see Arabic dishes such as Lamb Ouzi, Chicken Muloukhia, Dawood Basha, Kebba bel laban, and many others.

Entertainment

A talented oud player gave the iftar a chilled and relaxed ambiance by playing classical Arabic tunes. This added a cool vibe to the whole Iftar experience at this elegantly decorated tent.

What Needs Enhancement

Despite the great food and ambiance at this modern tent, the service towards the end of the iftar was agitating!

Ten minutes before they were going to close the Iftar (it ends at 8:30), the waiter informed us that they will be removing the food trays from the buffet at 8:30. My friends and I agreed that an hour and 15 minutes is not enough time to eat a three course meal (especially after fasting the whole day). This lead to me rushing into my dessert plate right after I finished my main course. Resulting in a bad stomach ache afterwards and having difficulty to walk straight! 😀

Another offensive gesture that the waiters did was bringing the check to our table without us asking for it! They were pretty much in a rush to get us out of the place as soon as possible and were not attempting to hide it! It seemed like they had to clear the table quickly to make it ready for the next batch of clients coming for Suhoor at the tent. We all understand that this is a business in the end of the day, but customer service makes all the difference in any dining experience.

Tip

Don’t miss out on the apple crumble tart! It’s simply divine!

Price

Iftar Buffet costs 170 AED per person.

For Bookings

You can send a private message to their Facebook Page, since the lines are usually busy.

https://www.facebook.com/DowntownDubai

Personal Tip

The best thing that we did after our rushed Iftar was to walk all the way to Dubai Mall. That really helped me feel better after my bad stomach ache, and I would strongly suggest that you do the same!

It was one of those days when almost nothing seems to be going right. I was tired, but I had to attend “Design Days Dubai”; an exhibition on interior decor and art pieces held annually. It was the last day of the event, so I decided to go and create a blog post about it. Not realizing that what happened during my day of casual and random incidents was far more interesting than the exhibition itself! And that’s what made me get excited about writing this post on a Friday night. When most of my friends are chilling at home and asking about my plans for the evening.

First, we had trouble getting to Emaar Boulevard in Downtown Dubai, where the event was being held. Until this moment I can’t comprehend how the sign that says “Emaar Boulevard” has disappeared from the face of the earth! I always used to see that sign when I wanted to go to The Pavillion, Downtown Dubai, and so didn’t think it would be a big deal to find the location for our design event. Sadly I was wrong, that sign was no where to bee found last night. And we spent an entire hour or more trying to get to the Boulevard! And even when we finally found our way there, there was no clear sign as to where the exhibition was! Apart from some street light banners and ads, there was no sign of a crowd or an event in the area! After my emotion-packed day, I went up to a security guard in a neon vest and asked: “where is Design Days? we’ve been looking for it since a long time!” As if it was his fault that the event was hidden and tricky to get to 🙂

When we finally made our way into the exhibition tent, we took a quick round at the stands and snapped some pictures of some cool design pieces. before heading out for our next “unpredicted” adventure. Our next stop was a birthday party celebration at a new chic patisserie in Souq Al Bahaar, next to Dubai Mall. Since we were already in Downtown Dubai, you would think that finding Souq Al Bahaar should be a piece of cake, right? Well, you were wrong. I still can’t understand that either! Dubai Mall is like the second home to most people who live in Dubai, or at least their second home when they have visitors in town. So whenever my dad is visiting, we would spend a lot of time at malls and Dubai Mall and Souq Al Bahaar are no exception. But last night, for some reason, I was disoriented and could not make out how to walk to Souq Al Bahaar from the Burj steps (OK, it was my first time at the steps honestly, but still). So as me and my buddy were trying to find our way to the birthday place, we see a guy riding a buggy-bike! yes, it was a facility for the area, and we asked the guy to give us a ride to Souq Al Bahaar! For your information, it wasn’t for free (it cost us 25 Dirhams). But it was so much fun! the weather was fabulous for a bike ride, we got so much attention from tourists and residents, and most importantly, we made it to the birthday party! (two hours late, but we made it!).

The cafe where we met our friends and birthday girl had a relaxed and elegant vibe to it. The outdoor area has a great view of the Burj Khalifah, and the weather was perfect for sitting outside.

I guess it’s always fun to do something spontaneous every once in a while. Even if it’s just a simple buggy ride in Downtown Dubai 🙂