Dubai: Can't decide what to have for lunch? How about a little bit of everything?
The Staircase restaurant in Dubai's Samaya Hotel serves a daily international buffet - Arabic grills, Indian curries, Chinese noodles, Italian pastas, and much more.
The starters and appetisers are the same as you would find just about anywhere in Dubai, with dips, soups and salads from the region and beyond.
But it's when you go for the mains that the belly starts to rumble with eagerness.
The chicken mandi is placed first in the line and for good reason, it's one of the best items here. The traditional Yemeni meat-with-rice delicacy won't let you down. The rice is soft and aromatic while the chicken is juicy and tender. Though it isn't cooked the traditional way - in a hole in the ground with charcoal - the mandi here tastes just as good.
We couldn't help but have the Iranian-style sheesh tawook (skewer-grilled boneless chicken) with the mandi rice as well. The sheesh tawook is good, but not exciting enough on its own. However, put the two together and you have your own fusion Middle Eastern cuisine.
Another cultural dish is the baked hamour. The fish is slightly salty and has that hint of "sea flavour" hamour fans will recognise straight away. But this traditional item also has a twist - a dry herbs treatment. A crust of rosemary, basil, oregano covers the fish, sitting pretty on an open hot plate. The mix has a strong mint taste so use it sparingly.
The food has been kept easy on spice, oil and salt to appeal to a wider guest profile, the chef says. He added that customers these days are more conscious about health than before. But that is not to say variety or flavour has been compromised - there's plenty of this floating about. There is the tomato-and-meat-stock-rich Lebanese kofta (minced lamb), creamy Italian béchamel spaghetti, herb-sautéed Bolognese potatoes, and peppery Chinese stir-fried beef.
The light food has another advantage - it leaves room for dessert. And you'll need plenty of that for baklava, the heavyweight in sweets from the Levant (countries like Syria and Lebanon). The small pastries are layered with chopped pistachios and thin sheets of crispy bread drenched in sugar or honey syrup. One bite and a wave of sweet sensation overtakes you.
Another must-have is the fruit pulp. Topped with cream, the sweet comes in a small cup, half-full with a sugary, pulpy syrup. Whatever it is, it's good. You can easily have a couple before your healthy side wakes up.
