Sheesha under the stars

The Ramadan tent at Metropolitan Hotel, Dubai, is friendly, welcoming

What is better than sitting on a trimmed, grassy lawn on garden chairs and looking up at a blemishless, starlit sky? Nothing, unless you can add a sheesha to the moment. I did.

True, I coughed. True, I spluttered. True, I blew away almost all of my apple flavour. But four puffs down the line, I was smoking efficiently, my sheesha burbling merrily. And enjoying every minute of my visit to a Ramadan tent.

We were at the Qaser Al Shouk Ramadan Tent sprawled on the grounds of The Metropolitan Hotel, Dubai. We had ordered sheeshas and fresh juices. While our sheeshas were getting fired, we took a quick walk around, peeping into tent-stalls that formed an "oriental bazaar".

There was a stall selling haircare products and wigs from the Nefertity ladies salon. Another tent sold pretty Dubai key chains and porcelain plates, crystals and brassware. "We have products from the UAE, Egypt, Turkey, Syria and India," said the vendor.

Yet another tent lined up a pretty range of pashmina shawls and scarves, plus embroidered cushion covers, table cloths and wall hangings. "These products are from Kashmir, India," said the shopkeeper. "Our pashmina scarves are selling well."

We came back to our table for a good round of sheesha smoking. Then we made a beeline for the buffet. The buffet begins at Iftar and is cleared at 9.00pm. The menu changes every day and it costs Dhs 55 a head, including traditional drinks such as karkadeh, kamereldin and galab.

We began with some good hommus, moutabbel and babaghanoush, all eaten with triangles of Arabic bread. We didn't try the lentil soup, preferring instead to have a second helping of hommus.

Our main courses were well-cooked and filling. We first had some Arabic rice with a sour-tangy lamb made with chopped okra. Next we tried some soft, creamy grilled hammour and some pieces of a chicken kebab. We had the spicier and succulent tandoori chicken with Arayas, a fried Arabic bread stuffed with mince.

I just had a slice of delicious chocolate cake and one little mound of neat caramel custard for dessert, determined not to overeat.

We smoked some more sheesha and then thoroughly enjoyed hearing the oudh and tabla players. There was a Ramadan quiz too, with spot prizes given away. There is also a henna lady, I was told, during the latter half of the week.

The Ramadan tent seats 450 - 250 outside and 200 under the pretty white canopy made impressive by a cutout of a giant khanjar pinned to the side. Lovely red carpets line the lawn right up to the tent and there is a little tableau of "men" drinking coffee in a tent on the way to the larger tent. The trees in the lawn glitter with golden lights, creating a welcoming and friendly ambience.

The tent remains open till 2.00am. Visitors can order from the a la carte menu right through the evening.