Dubai Diaries: Day 2 - Busaba Eathai

The London nostalgia has been kicking in a lot lately and this time I had my sister-in-law to reminisce with. We were jumping out of excitement when we found out that Busaba Eathai had opened in Dubai and were ready to head there the very next day for lunch. We were back in JBR, which was to my advantage, because I really wanted to swing by the place during the day. Strolling down ‘The Walk’ became a tad bit fatiguing in the scorching heat but as soon as we arrived our destination, I felt like I was stepping inside Busaba Eathai at Bond Street Station.

JBR Walk

 We were the only customers there, but that may be because it’s hidden in a secluded area in the insides of JBR. Busaba has a modern, contemporary but a very simple layout with long wooden benches around large, square shared tables. The entire kitchen along with the chefs at work is visible through a glass, so you can clearly see what’s going on inside.

Busaba Eathai takes from Thai cuisine but isn’t entirely authentic, so it’s best not to expect nose dripping curries or Tom Yum Goongs. This is more of an eccentric Thai meets Western taste buds sort of cuisine.

We remembered the favorites from London, but our Brady Bunch of seven had varying palates. That’s actually the best part about Busaba, the menu is quite brief but everybody can find something that they like.

We ordered the Thai Calamari and as good as it tasted, the dish was such a pleasure to look at. It was presented with a fine texture and I loved the aftertaste.

Thai Calamari

 From the two curries, Green Chicken Curry and Red Beef Curry, the red one was a bit of a disappointment with not much flavor to offer at all but the green curry made up for it. The ingredients were so well blended together and the taste of coconut mixed spices was a real treat, especially with the delightful sticky rice to complement it. Remarkable.

Red Beef Curry

Green Chicken Curry

 The stir-fry chili prawns were delicious as always and lived up to the reputation of being in the top 5 of “what to order” at Busaba Eathai – this was the only dish we ordered second rounds of!

Stir-fry chili prawns

 My absolute favorite was the Pad Kwetio. The dish looked fantastic and was extraordinarily aromatic and the wide noodles were cooked to perfection, flavored with oriental, tangy spices. The plate was wiped clean as soon as it arrived which is why I was unable to take picture of that divine looking dish. Highly recommended.

We also ordered the Char-grilled Chicken with spicy cucumber salad and sticky rice but it was a complete miss. The chicken was quite dry and bland in flavor and didn't really do justice to the rest of the variety there. Nevertheless, the sauce it was served with was great.

Char-grilled Chicken

Even though it wasn’t required, we didn’t find it courteous to simply ignore the dessert especially when they had Sticky Rice with Mango and Coconut!! The only typical Thai item there lived up to its mark and left us extremely satisfied with our meal.

Thumbs up for the very attentive staff there and the great service we got.

Mango with sticky rice and coconut

Dubai possibly has everything you could ask for from the west and if it doesn’t, it’s probably on its way.

A-mews-ing Day!

After an extremely unpredictable winter and a humid March, this city finally showed some signs of spring today. My garden looked extra colorful in the morning and the calm, cloudy weather filled the air with a rainy sort of smell. That, by the way, has a name- “Petrichor” meaning the scent of rain. Pretty, isn’t it?

I reminisced my two years of college in London and though I moved back by choice, living there did have it’s own aura of pleasure. The old-school buildings, cozy restaurants, being able to walk anywhere, sigh!

A banging knock on my car window totally interrupted my thoughts by someone dressed up like Mimi from The Drew Carey Show who promised me a bunch of prayers for a couple of bucks! 

My father, cousin, her munchkin of a baby and I headed to the now famous “E Street” in Clifton to grab a good lunch after Friday prayers.

Mews… mews, mews, mews, mews, MEWS! It’s a pleasure returning to this thoughtfully set up restaurant. It gives the feel of walking into one of those little cafes set up in the insides of St Christopher’s Place behind Bond Street, London. 

Rumor has it, Feeha Jamshed is opening an outlet right next to it - can’t wait!

My 16-month-old niece seemed to be famous and a regular there as a server popped up right as we got seated with the menus and a board listing the specials of the day.  Little child even won us a complimentary, fresh bread basket!

My stomach, heart and brain had a nerve-wrenching debate over whether I should order their No Fuss Burger or the Korean Beef Bowl. I could live my life off burgers. Really, if I had to choose between lifelong love and burgers – it would be the latter (medium rare with extra cheese… just incase my fiancé decides to use this as an opportunity).

Since I’m being adventurous nowadays and having tried their top-class burger before, I opted for the beef bowl which arrived along with the others’ club sandwiches and hot & spicy flatbread.

The flatbread was so hot and fresh, so easy on the tummy. My cousin, previously a fan of a similar pizza at Xander’s said that she didn’t even go there since Mews blessed us with its existence. I loved the gigantic platter it was served on.

According to my father, a publicly acclaimed foodie, the cold cuts in the sandwich gave it more of a generic club sandwich taste than a signature Mews' standard one. I tried it too, and agreed that maybe it isn’t not the best one in town.

He has yet to eat a good club sandwich in this city – until now, his own tops our list.

I seem to be having a fantastic culinary week, and the spicy Korean bowl did not disturb my pattern. So full of flavors and a very authentic, oriental taste indeed – I thoroughly enjoyed the entire thing with a perfect egg, sunny-side-up.

Paired with the mint lemonade (Sparkling Mint, I think) and the birthday milkshake our food was a pleasure on the taste buds.

Mews is the pandora’s box of goods in Karachi’s food scene. From the ambience, to the food, and contrary to popular belief – the service was pretty good too.

PS: Don’t be buzzkilled when you exit the London zone and instead of a tube station, you collide with an eager beaver valet guy arguing with a Sindhi security guard in Pashto! 

Aakhir, Karachi toh phir Karachi hai hee…..