Iftar review: Hatun Cuisine, Dubai Marina

Tucked away in the basement of Bay Central in Dubai Marina, is a new restaurant that serves homestyle Arabic food. Hatun Cuisine is a venture by Everest-climbing Saudi woman Hatun Madani. Predominantly Saudi-inspired, the iftar buffet wasn’t what I would say “commercial”. It could have easily been a home-cooked meal served at a dinner party.

From the wheat and meat soup to the creamy meat spring rolls in white sauce to the kabli rice to the savoury Eish Abu Allaham (meat muffins) the food is definitely unlike that found else where.

We skipped the hummus and muttabel as these are abundantly available at all iftar buffets and moved to the hot mezzeh. The earthy soup reminded me of meals savoured during a trip to Uzbekistan a few years ago. My dining companion too felt that it was more eastern European in flavour as compared to the middle-eastern harira soup. The cinnamon-y meat sambousek (filo pastry pockets filled with mince) and foul proved perfect follow ups. What surprised me was the melt-in-the-mouth cheese sambousek. Unlike the traditional preparations, this one uses cream cheese with an extra crispy coating.

The beautifully flavoured kabli was a welcome change from the traditional heavy ouzis and birianis. The roasted chicken was light and tasty while the Eish Abu Allaham, though full of flavour, proved a little dense, said my companion. I skipped both and made my way straight to the dessert station.

The muhalabia harra was milky and creamy, but a little too sweet for me. The date konafe was however perfect with its gooey interior and crunchy exterior. The sweet potato pudding was disappointing and more an acquired taste. Fresh fruit is always available for the health conscious.

After searching for more than half an hour for the restaurant (access to the restaurant is through the parking and the service area of the basement in the building) we hadn’t realised we were actually hungry. But it was definitely worth the trouble except for the excessive sheesha smoking in a closed space.

Details

Where: Hatun Cuisine, Bay Central (next to InterContinental Dubai Marina)

Price: Dh140 per person, including sheesha

Call: 04-5586960