Around Dubai

We are pretty lucky to have FL along: he has worked and lived in the Middle East for many years, and he is very knowledgeable about things Arabic. He also knows where all the great restaurants are. One night he took us to Fish Market, an incredibly edible place in some really nice hotel, and it overlooks the Dubai Creek. Once you get settled at your table, and drinks have been ordered, you go with your "hostess" to a very large display of all kinds of fish and seafood. You point to the appetizer you want (shrimp, prawns (large shrimp), tiger prawns(EXTREMELY large shrimp, TLO would think she had died and gone to heaven at this point), mussels, clams, lobsters, squid, octopus, scallops, and the hostess puts it in a basket, and you then decide HOW you want it prepared. Steamed, fried, sauteed, whatever, with different sauces and herbs and things. On the other side of the young lady in the picture is where you pick the fish you want for your main entree. Grouper, hammour, other fishies I didn't recognize, snapper, etc. Same deal: you point to what you want, then tell them how to prepare it, and what sauces and/or seasonings you want. Finally, there's a salad-getting bar and vegetable-getting bar. I gave this place two thumbs up.

You have to wear bibs at The Fish Market. I wished that I could have kept mine.

(L-R: moi, Principal, Submariner, Princess, Fearless Leader)

Flowers are few and far between in Dubai: it's an arid, hot climate you know ...

This is the circular stair to the upstairs dining room at Shakespeare and Co., an excellent business lunch place. It also serves a FINE cup of coffee. The Accenture Dubai office thought that coffee meant providing us with Instant Nescafe Gold and hot water. Yuck. I sniffed this place out within two hours of arriving at work.