Travelling is incomplete without trying out different cuisines. The common perception is that there are limited options for ‘Vegetarians’ but its quite the opposite. Lets explore all the great Vegetarian options is Dubai ranging from Modern Indian to Pan Asian and Middle Eastern takes on vegetarian food. This list of some of Dubai’s best vegetarian dishes will help you go green!
Veg Mezze At Arabian Tea House
Bastakiya, opposite Musalla Post Office, Al Fahidi St, Bur Dubai
This typical tea house in the Al Fahidi district in Bur Dubai is well known for its quaint allure and exquisite Emirati design. It is the perfect place for a casual rendezvous with friends or family. Mezze (main image) is the perfect choice for such a gathering, of course. One of my favorites here is the hummus, which has pomegranate added for an additional bang of flavor. The cheese sambousek are stellar and so are the moutabel and other dips that go amazingly well with the freshly baked tandoor bread!
Saag Aloo Shepherd’s Pie at Tandoor Tina
25hours Hotel One Central, Al Mustaqbal Street, off Sheikh Zayed Road
You’d think a shepherd’s pie could not be vegetarian. I have no clue what the iconic British shepherd’s pie has to do with saag aloo, but, to be honest, after tasting it, I really couldn’t care less. This dish is a sheer delight; the curry-flavored spinach goes so well with the potatoes on top, which are not an afterthought but rather are moist and flavorful and integrate beautifully with the rest of the pie in every bite. Oh, and the Stilton gravy on top is just perfect.
Vegetable Pomelo Salad At Sea Fu
Four Seasons Resort, Jumeirah Beach Road
Picture this: sitting in a brisk sea breeze with a fresh and crunchy pomelo salad on the table… I didn’t mind being vegetarian just for this salad at this authentic Pan-Asian seaside restaurant. Each ingredient in the salad, from the cabbage, pear, pomelo, greens and shallots to the Asian herbs, is perfectly treated and crunchy, and the peanut dressing is the icing on the cake.
Kashke Bademjan At Enigma
Palazzo Versace Hotel, Al Jaddaf, Jaddaf Waterfront
Just a little thicker and brinier than yoghurt, kashk is a Persian dairy product that gives this sweet-smelling eggplant dip its scrumptious texture and sharp zest. Bloomy saffron, fried eggplant, and more kashk speckle the top, making this dish look so beautiful that you (almost) don’t want to disturb it. It goes amazingly well with kuboos. The restaurant offers stunning views of the waterfront, an added incentive to eat here.
Assorted Seasonal Vegetables Tempura At Mimi Kakushi
Restaurant Village, Four Seasons Resort, 23 A Street, Jumeirah
While several restaurants serve battered and fried vegetables that are crunchy but sometimes oily, the recipe at Mimi Kakushi produces a tempura that’s distinctly light. The secret to good tempura lies in the batter. Here, tempura sauce doesn’t come in a bowl on the side; instead, you get a full serving of the light, house-made chilli sour dashi broth. Deep-fried food is not exactly healthy, but this might be the nearest you can get… Dip and enjoy!
Vegan Taco At Mercury Lounge
Four Seasons Resort, Rooftop, 2 Jumeirah St, Jumeirah, Jumeirah 2
Going vegan, even if just for a meal, might get a bit easier if you hit the Mercury Lounge. Here’s where you will discover plant-based foods that will hit the spot where textures and tastes are concerned. And who doesn’t enjoy a taco? Soft shell tacos, piled high with guacamole, crunchy cauliflower and bell peppers, slathered in spicy salsa, and smothered in vegan cream… Forget (vegan) tacos on Tuesday, you’ll probably go back for these tacos on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday until Friday… You get the idea.
Sticky Toffee Pudding At Gordon Ramsay Hell’s Kitchen
Caesars Palace, Bluewaters Island
It’s getting hot in Caesars Palace, and for good reason. Hell’s Kitchen, by admired British food expert Gordon Ramsay, threw open its doors some time ago, and draws inspiration from the international hit reality television show of the same name, featuring Ramsay himself. The Hell’s Kitchen style of sticky toffee pudding, a traditional British sponge-cake dessert, is drenched in salted caramel and comes with speculoos ice cream. That is a pairing made in paradise – highly recommended if you’re a Ramsay food fan. As you make your way out at the end of the meal, it’s certain you will be back.
Guacamole At Zoco
AL Habtoor City, 260, Sheikh Zayed Road, The Atrium
Avocados’ superfood status and year-round accessibility keeps it in high demand. Packed with locals and tourists alike since it opened, Zoco is a hit. The Latin American eatery offers what could well be the best guacamole in town: vibrant, garlicky and hot with raw chilies, if you like. A mortar of guacamole, pounded tableside with a pestle, appears with salty, house-made tortilla chips. This combination, paired with a margarita, is the making of a good evening.
Jackfruit Serradura At The Crossing
The H Hotel, 1 Sheikh Zayed Road, Trade Centre
Serradura, a cool Macanese-Portuguese pudding, is classically made with layered compressed biscuits (they taste quite like Marie biscuits) and whipped cream, and is a great way to round off a meal. The Crossing’s version reflects the dessert from the Portuguese outposts Goa and Kochi in India and literally feels like a trifle or tiramisu, but it is not. The twist here comes from ripe sweet jackfruit lightly folded into cream cheese, and thin arrowroot crisps giving it that inimitable texture. Even if you do not have a sweet tooth, you will want to lick the glass clean. It’s so forking good!
Mushroom And Vegetable Dumplings At Din Tai Fung
Nakheel Mall
This Taiwanese restaurant franchise specializes in the iconic xiao long bao, aka soup dumplings, and is famed for its 18 folds to a dumpling, which Din Tai Fung terms the ‘golden ratio’. That said, equally amazing are the steamed mushroom and vegetable dumplings, packed with a perfect mixture of glass noodles, bok choy, dried bean curd, and shiitake mushrooms. Freshly-pressed spinach juice is turned into the signature dumpling skin to give these flavorsome dumplings their green tone.
So, next time you visit Dubai you know exactly what to try and where to head to when you crave your favorite Vegetarian dish.
