Dubai: If you are planning to give your visiting guests a taste of Ramadan in Dubai, head to Medley at the Pullman, Deira City Centre.
There’s a lot more to the name of this plush looking restaurant offering an exhaustive mix of international cuisines in its daily iftar buffet this holy month.
To begin with, those fasting can end it with an array of premium dates lined up on a table or served by the ever smiling waiters. Do also help yourself to a glass of one of the traditional juices. There’s Kamar Al Deen (dry apricot) from Egypt and Airan, a very salty Turkish yoghurt drink besides regional favourites like jallab (made of carob, dates, grape molasses and rose water), tamerhindi (tamarind) and karkadi (a form hibiscus tea). As a nut lover, I just couldn’t have enough of Kamar Al Deen.
There’s a cheese and pickles section as well that includes sliced feta cheese plain and cubes in olive oil with herbs and other Arabic picks. Try them with hot mezzehs from sambousseks, kibbehs, various quiches to even cheese fatayers for vegetarians and assorted mini pizzas for kids. The beef kibbeh made of bulghur and minced onions though stood out for me.
Spare some time for their salads from mesclun greens to rocket leaves to frisée and even pickled mushrooms – all with the sauces of your choice. You could, like me, also try their “composed salad” of marinated grilled vegetables with ricotta cheese. If not for anything else, the generous presence of the lovely creamy white Italian cheese makes it amazing.
There’s an assortment of cold cuts in their “charcuterie” (meats section) but their smoked salmon and mackerel are worth a bite. A range of soups including a very special harira and lentil soup is there to warm you up for the main course, if you aren’t already.
The line-up of main courses changes every day, but the day I was dining, the list of their “chafing dishes” was exquisite. Their butter chicken and jhinga masala (prawn with masala gravy), both cooked Indian style, were great but it was their baked summan fish (hamour) delicately flavoured with black pepper that I absolutely adored.
Their Moroccan chicken tagine with almonds and lemon pickle lived up to its billing while their Bathinjan Shaikh Al Mahshy or butter-rich eggplant casserole stuffed with pine nuts and ground beef stole the show (minus the calories of course).
Slightly guiltless is their baby marrow filled with juicy mince lamb in yogurt sauce. With seasonal local vegetables and lamb with oriental rice from their ouzi station, my main course was as good as it got. Roasted baby potatoes with herbs were great company on the plate.
You could get some Arabic bread and crepes to taste from the live cooking station as well as a bite of their large chicken or lamb shawarma (depending on the day).
Cap it all off with some of the choicest Levantine sweets.
Details:
Location: First floor, Pullman Dubai Deira City Centre
Timing: 7 to 9 pm
Price: Dh155, Dh70 (kids 6 to 12 years)
For bookings: 04-294 1222
Our recommendation: ‘Kamar Al Den’, ‘baked summan’, ‘Bathinjan Shaikh Al Mahshy’, ‘Kunafa Nabolsia’
