This Ramadan, we head down to Dubai Mall, and check out The Market, the neighbouring restaurant of the popular Huqqa lounge. Both venues are a bit of a walk to get to, but you’ll understand why they are located all the way at the edge of the mall when you get there. They have an incredible view of the city, the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall Fountain. Sit outside if you’re okay with the warm weather. But we found that in the night time, with a little help from their air conditioners that it was quite pleasant to sit on their terrace.
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If you’ve booked an iftar, then expect to arrive to a table full of a selection of cold Turkish mezze dishes including fresh honey, dates, dried fruits, milk-jam, cheeses, vegetable muhamara babaganuj, mashed grilled eggplants, probably the most requested dish at The Market, as well as a toasted bread basket. There was also some Yaprak Sarma, stuffed grape leaves with seasoned rice and pine nuts and olive oil. And the centerpiece, the king of traditional Turkish salads, the Gavurdagi Salatasi, a combination of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, parsley and walnuts, served with pomegranate sauce. In addition to a table full of food, you get to choose between tomato and lentil soup. I basically devoured the cheese platter and had some honey to go along with it. I then enjoyed the tomato soup with a piece of toasted Turkish bread.
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The next course was a selection of warm Turkish appetisers, including cheese and leak pide, a thick doughy pastry stuffed with leaks and feta cheese or Turkish kashar cheese and a plate of stuffed mushrooms, which may have been my favourite of all the appetisers (apart from the cheese, as I am a fiend).
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They mains came by as a large sharing platter, which included Turkish steaks, Kasap Kofte a mixture of ground beef and lamb seasoned with spicy peppers, tomatoes and Kuzu Pirzola, which are lamb chops with herbs, and some tender grilled chicken with a side of bread, rice and vegetables.
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Finally, for dessert we shared something called, Irmik Helvasi, a traditional semolina dessert shared and cooked in every household in Turkey, and the dessert for weddings and birth celebrations and the Firin Sutlaç rice pudding with ice cream and crushed pistashios.
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The desserts were served with famous Turkish “Çay”, a rich black tea that accompanies almost every meal in Turkey. There is a famous quote in there that says, “Conversations without tea are like a night sky without the moon”. Tea culture is clearly huge in Turkey. At both Huqqa and the Market the tea is imported from the Turkish city of Rize, an area known as the jewel of the black sea. I was happy that the dessert was not overly sweet, which sat really well with me, since I don’t want to end my meal with a huge amount of sugar. Both dishes were light and a perfect way to finish up iftar.
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They have a selection of 40 different tobaccos that you can use with your shisha post, or during iftar, and a shisha sommelier who can make you the perfect shisha to wind down with after ending your fast.
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Location Dubai Mall, Fashion Avenue, Downtown Dubai
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Cost Iftar set menu Dh187 per person
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Timings Open Daily from sunset onwards
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Contact 052 173 3376