Iftar of the day: Sanabel, The Pullman Dubai

For those who eat out most nights during Ramadan, heavy food can be your worst enemy and the waistline often ends up expanding.

Luckily Sanabel restaurant is on hand with what has to be one of the healthiest iftar buffets in Dubai.

We could not resist trying most of the salads and starters. Our highlights were the Portobello mushroom salad, the roasted beef pasta salad with sundried tomatoes and the potato and bacon salad.

A whole table with different kinds of delicious-looking cheese was laid out, with a juice bar in one corner.

The main courses were also well-balanced and consisted of more vegetables than your average meat-loaded variety. Traditional Arabic dishes like mehche (eggplant and squash filled with rice and minced meat) were surprisingly light and left us room to try other dishes like an equally light chicken makhani and our highlight, shrimp marinated in lemon and coriander with vegetable couscous.

When time came for desserts, there were lots to choose from. The light home-made scoops of ice cream and an excellent chocolate mousse were our favourites in addition to bite-sized baklawas and pistachio mafroukeh.

• Where: Sanabel, The Pullman Dubai, Mall of the Emirates
• Price: Dh150
• Call: 04-3772000