Sink your teeth into delectable Dubai

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High up in the sky, gently ensconced in the luxurious arms of my Emirates flight from Toronto, I gaze below at what looks to be miles of brown dust, with nary a building in sight. We will be landing in Dubai shortly, and I’m curious to see what this ancient part of the world is all about.

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Years ago, I was invited to check out Dubai’s food scene, but the pandemic put a stop to that. Yet, Dubai has been a bucket-list longing for years, so when I was invited to attend the 10th anniversary of its iconic food festival, I couldn’t pack my bags fast enough.

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The 17-day event called Etisalat Beach Canteen involves dozens of food trucks featuring delicious offerings from all over the world, along with entertainment, music and plenty of kiddie fair fun. During our visit, the evening air was warm and the aromas wafting from the various food stations intermingled with the heady fragrances of local wildflowers while hordes of people, many with small children, enjoyed the food and entertainment.

The whole Dubai experience was profound: From the moment I left Toronto, flying Emirates’ legendary Business Class (which was jaw-dropping on its own — until flying home on the even more astonishing upgrade to First Class that included everything from a good shower to one of the coziest beds ever with Michelin-star offerings available throughout the 14-plus-hour flight. More on that adventure later!).

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For the next six days of my journey to Dubai, I found myself fully immersed in a world of bigger, bolder, brighter and beautiful — from the skyscrapers to the cars to the scenery to the sparkling lights, not to mention hundreds of different food scenes that ranged from traditional to exotic to Michelin-star to plain, rib-hugging food trucks on a beach.

And the people: I met hundreds of citizens — from locals to those who have made Dubai their new home — and everyone I spoke with was friendly and engaging. I witnessed a sea of young, enthusiastic urbanites from all around the globe working in the areas of hospitality and entertainment, and even our driver, the remarkable Ornell Gonsalves, proved to be a gem not only as a seasoned tour guide but also for making everyone feel like family.

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The food scene is vibrant with chefs who have come to make their mark in Dubai — including home-grown Chef Kelvin Cheung, of Scarborough, who has worked all over North America, Hong Kong and India before settling in Dubai to open his award-winning flagship restaurant. At Jun’s, he celebrates a fusion of tastes, flavours and memories from back home — and a mean cocktail that tastes like you just bit into a fresh peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“I love it here,” Cheung said in an interview. “I can take my child skiing in the middle of the day, and to the beach in the early evening. I can’t think of a better place to live.”

We took a sustainability masterclass with famed Michelin-star Chef Carmine Faravolo (a native son from Naples and a protege of Rome’s Chef Heinz Beck) who recently took over the helm at Social restaurant, located in the Waldorf Astoria in Dubai Palm Jumeirah. Faravolo, along with chef Eugenio Mauriello, has taken Social’s menu and injected it with playful passion, and an homage to the history of Italian food with a decided sustainability slant — and it was all delicious. It was fun chatting away in Italian with the two seasoned chefs, who delighted in presenting jaw-dropping presentations that burst with flavour with every bite.

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And the foods we tried — Jamaican fare at Ting Erie, a traditional breakfast at the Arabian Tea House and fantastic Lebanese seafood at the award-winning Ibn Albahr, where we ate under the stars. We toured Bustanica, the world’s largest vertical farm and one of Emirates’ newest culinary ventures.

After six days we had but a small taste of Dubai’s massive food movement that continues to grow and evolve with each new food trend.

Dubai can be a bit overwhelming with all of the buildings and sights and sounds, but you just want to take it all in.

You simply want a big slice of Dubai.

Some of my personal highlights:

HOTEL: We stayed at the W Dubai – Mina Seyahi, in the heart of the Dubai Marina area, akin to a modern-day bazaar full of colour and warmth, and a restaurant that adhered to sustainability messaging with a menu that burst with juicy flavour.

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DUBAI FRAME: One of the most iconic buildings in Dubai, it’s a massive “frame” that visitors can take an elevator up one side, walk across a massive glass floor before exiting on the other side. There are more than 15,000 square metres of gold cladding — making this frame sparkle for kilometres in all directions. Dubai Frame divides up the city into Old Dubai and New Dubai, depending on which part of the frame you look out from. I personally loved looking over the Old Dubai.

DUBAI SOUKS (Markets): You need a solid week to visit the hundreds of specialty markets, or souks, throughout Dubai — they range from spice to perfumes, to textiles and the biggest gold markets. Lavish, at times overwhelming, but you just wanted to see more and more. The experience is colourful beyond words — and fascinating, as bargaining is not only accepted but insisted by the merchants. And it’s fun! I spied tea made from gold and precious stones at a fraction of the cost one would pay anywhere else. Meeting the locals was the best — friendly and accommodating.

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AURA INFINITY POOL: Situated 50 floors in the sky, the Aura Skypool Lounge is considered the world’s highest 360-degree infinity pool, where the views of the Palm Jumeirah will leave you breathless. And if you think this swimming experience is not for the faint of heart, think again — there was something so relaxing and comforting swimming right up to the edge of the pool and surveying the view. Entrance is through the St. Regis Hotel and tickets are a must. This is the mother of all rooftop pools!

THE BURJ KHALIFA SKYSCRAPER: Right in the heart of Dubai, this soaring skyscraper is considered the tallest in the world, and a must-see for visitors to Dubai. You must purchase tickets ahead of your visit. I took one look straight up … and went to check out the bathrooms at the elegant Armani Hotel nearby. The bathroom visit was free!

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SKI DUBAI: Fascinating to watch all the enthusiastic skiers taking to the slopes of this indoor mountain in the famous Mall of the Emirates, where skiers have a choice of five runs that go up close to 25 storeys — while outside the temperatures were inching up to 34C. Of course, you don’t have to ski, there’s so much shopping to take in at the Mall of the Emirates — one of my favourites was a sort of super-sized Walmart, about the size of six soccer fields!

FLYING EMIRATES

Without hesitation, I’d fly the Emirates experience without leaving the airport. It truly is an extraordinary affair.

Emirates network services more than 137 destinations across six continents, and it currently operates daily flights from Toronto to Dubai.

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Flying Emirates starts the moment you leave your home — Business and First Blass passengers have a chauffeur pick them up and drop them off, both ways. I flew the Emirates Flagship A380, the world’s largest passenger airline. Both flights — Business flying out and First Class flying home — offered exceptional service beyond anything one could imagine, where the floors in the first-class bathrooms are heated for your comfort while you take a shower and jump into the complimentary PJs and slippers to make your sleep a memorable one.

Your Business Class seat turns into a comfortable bed, while your First Class seat comes with its own door, turning your spot into a tiny condo in the sky. A variety of snacks, drinks and spa amenities — and gifts to take home — are also provided.

Flight attendants were exceptional and made the whole experience truly special. And, if you still have time, after surfing the hundreds of films and noshing on the plethora of food offerings (including caviar and Dom Perignon on tap!) throughout your flight, you can always visit the famous Emirates A380 bar, situated behind business class, where you can sip cocktails, munch on snacks and rub shoulders with like-minded passengers — all at 40,000 feet up in the air.

IF YOU GO

Find out more at visitdubai.com and emirates.com/ca.

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