It's mall-icious

40 Carrots

check out 40 Carrots, which is actually part of Bloomingdale's. The Dubai Mall outlet is an import from the store's NYC counterpart and well worth checking out if you want a light and easy lunch just a step away from the ladieswear department.

The CEO of Bloomingdales, Michael Gould, told me the must-trys here included the frozen yoghurt and the carrot soup (Dh25), which was his grandmother's recipe. So I kicked off the meal with a warming bowl of orange purée, which came topped with foccacia croutons. I also added some carrot bread (Dh5) on the side.

The menu has plenty of options — including a great lunch deal of soup, half a sandwich and a mini-frozen yoghurt for Dh65 — but I went for the full turkey sandwich (Dh45). It comes in the form of two crisp little sandwiches packed to the brim with fresh, moist, roast turkey, a red pepper sauce and crisp salad — and some tangy pickles on the side. The salads are flavourful — the Salifornia salad (Dh45) brings together smoked salmon rolled with cream cheese, asparagus and avocado. We finished with a slice of delicious cheesecake (Dh25).

— By Natalie Long Editor, tabloid! on Saturday 

Orchestra

Gentlemen, chances are you'll be roped into accompanying the missus to the shops, as she'll be spending even more time in malls over the coming month. Don't panic — take her to Festival Centre and when she's trying on her fourteenth pair of jeans, escape to The Orchestra.

If it's a quick getaway you're making, head for the cascading waterfall staircase, dodge the children in and around the play area, through the doors, over the canal, and there it is: freedom.

Here, at the marina's edge, you are sheltered from the mayhem of the mall. Your better half won't be too concerned, since you're close enough to take over your credit card.

If watching the boats is just too relaxing for you or something you prefer leaving for island holidays, they show football inside, too. Flop down on a couch and enjoy the game. The restaurant also has functional tables inside, where your significant other can catch her breath — and the gossip — after trawling through the mall.

The menu features Arabian favourites next to Italian staples such as pizza and pasta but the Orchestra mix grill (Dh75) is a real man's dish. Shish taouk, lamb tikka, kebab, lamb chop, arayes and shrimp are served with a small mountain of fries. The best part is that flame-grilled taste that permeates everything. They serve the usual soft beverages, milkshakes and the like, besides a range of mocktails.

— By Eduan Maggo/Staff Writer

Wild Ginger

Like the department store it's housed in, Wild Ginger is the funky one of the bunch. This pan-Asian eatery on the second floor of Iconic, the youth-oriented multibrand store at Deira City Centre, is done in orange and green, and serves dishes from across the Far East, including ramen soup noodles and sushi from Japan, nasi goreng from Indonesia and Thai curries.

Pick a spot in the booths near the windows — although on the day we went it was pretty grey outside, it's nice to walk from a mall interior into the airy and outdoor-facing restaurant. We started with the chicken dim sum dumplings (Dh16), which are steamed and fried, and were tasty, if a little greasy.

Next up was a Japanese favourite, a great one-plate meal that will fill you but won't weigh you down for the rest of your shopping expedition (and trying on clothes): chicken katsu curry (Dh32), listed on the menu as Tori Don. It's chicken thigh (the tastiest bit!) beaten flat, breaded and fried, sliced and served with Japanese-style curry sauce, which isn't spicy as much as it is sweet and earth (thanks to the addition of potato and carrot). Mop it up with the rice, pickles and small salad before moving on to the must-try dessert of banana fritters (Dh16). They're lighter than one might expect because the banana is encased in filo pastry before being deep-fried and topped with chocolate sauce and a very good vanilla ice-cream.

— By Natalie Long Editor, tabloid! on Saturday

Zafran

Stylish, light and airy, Zafran, serving "contemporary Indian with a twist", is a good venue for a break while shopping at Michael Kors or after a mani-pedi session at N-Style. We started with tomato dhaniya shorba — tomato and coriander soup seasoned with thin juliennes of green apples — which was simply stunning. Hints of fruit and coriander lingered in every spoonful.

For the main course, you have a choice of kadai jhinga (prawn curry), murgh kali mirch (chicken curry with freshly pounded black pepper and fennel) or rogan josh (lamb curry) served with biryani and dal makhani. I opted for a more conventional fare with a "twist"; ragan josh came in the form of a hearty falling-off-the-bone-lamb shank topped with avocado chutney, while my husband, tired of carrying my shopping bags, opted for murgh kali mirch. The beautifully cooked chicken packs a punch with fragrant spices. We ended the meal with dollops of goodness — malai kulfi. Nothing comes close to this one, just slurp it up.

— By Suparna Dutt D'Cunha/Copy Editor

Tribes

Tucked away at the far end of the new extension of Mall of the Emirates lies an African experience. The first thing that struck us was the attention to detail — from the hide-stitched wooden chairs to the Shaka Zulu-esque faux animal skin throws and the Xhosa music playing in the background, Tribe couldn't be more authentically African if it tried.

The food ranges from West African curries to southern African polenta and poijke (cast iron) pots. We started off with an African grilled sausage platter — that ranged from beef and chicken to camel sausages — with a sweet chutney sauce (Dh40). We also ordered an Arabian bread and dips platter (Dh25) mainly because the descriptions of the dips was unlike any Arabian dip we had heard of — carrot, beetroot, roasted vegetables with cream cheese and eggplant — were all puréed into submission. Word to the wise — the mains are filling so don't follow our lead and fill up on the starters.

For mains, we sampled tender but slightly bland snapper on a bed of vegetables and potato cake (Dh85). The basic beef burger was tasty. The west coast chicken breast stuffed with soft cheese and drizzled with a tomato and vegetable sauce on a polenta base (Dh65) was great. The highlight was the calamari (Dh80). Stuffed with soft cheese and drenched in a pesto-like sauce, it was delicious. You'll roll on to the rest of your retail therapy refreshed and very well fed. A must do!

— By Sarah Kilalea/Special to tabloid! on Saturday