Work through the list in order. Hide the notes when you know what to do.
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Try machboos
Rice cooked with meat or fish, dried loomi lime and the bezar spice blend — the central Emirati dish for guests and celebrations. What sets it apart from pilaf is the dried lime and its sour note.
Look for it in Emirati restaurants and the old town's cultural centres rather than in malls. It is served on a communal platter and traditionally eaten with the right hand.
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Try harees
Wheat cooked down with meat into a smooth, sticky mass and finished with ghee. Austere to the point of plainness, and eaten especially during Ramadan at the breaking of the fast.
The texture should be uniform, with no whole grains left; it is pounded for hours. Its relative is jareesh, the same idea with the grain left coarser.
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Eat shawarma in Deira
Chicken or lamb shawarma in thin bread with garlic toum, pickles and chips inside. Levantine school, and in the old town it costs almost nothing.
The wrap is always pressed on the grill, which crisps the bread. The toum here is white and whipped rather than mayonnaise-based.
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Have manakish for breakfast
A flatbread from the oven topped with zaatar and olive oil, or with akkawi cheese. Levantine bakery breakfast, folded in half and eaten walking.
Zaatar is a blend of thyme, sumac and sesame, tangy and herbal. It goes with a glass of ayran or mint tea.
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Order mezze
A spread of cold starters for the middle of the table: hummus, smoky mutabbal, tabbouleh, fattoush, kibbeh. Ordered in quantity for the group rather than one each.
Hummus is eaten with bread rather than a spoon: tear the flatbread and scoop. Good mutabbal smells distinctly of smoke from aubergine charred over flame.
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Eat a South Indian thali or dosa
A thali tray of rice, dal, vegetables and breads with free refills, or a dosa, a huge crisp crepe with potato filling. Lunch in Karama costs less than a coffee in a mall.
It is eaten with the right hand, mixing rice and dal on the tray. Refills of rice and dal are offered unprompted and are not charged for.
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Try biryani
Layered rice with meat, spices and saffron cooked in a sealed pot. Dubai serves Hyderabadi, Sindhi and Malabar versions, and they differ noticeably.
Raita, yoghurt with cucumber, comes alongside to take down the heat. The rice should be loose with grains of different colours rather than uniformly yellow.
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Try Iranian chelo kabab
Koobideh of minced meat or saffron chicken joojeh, with a mound of rice, a roasted tomato and sumac. Deira has dozens of Iranian places, and this is its own school rather than an Arab one.
You sprinkle the sumac on the rice yourself; it is sour and works as seasoning. Raw onion and basil arrive alongside and are eaten between bites.
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Eat grilled fish from the market
Hammour, sultan ibrahim or kingfish picked at the fish market and grilled on the spot for a small fee. The pick-and-cook format works in Deira and at the Waterfront.
Agree the price per kilo and for cooking before the fish is taken away. Hammour is the local grouper, though stocks are limited and it is better skipped in spawning season.
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Try balaleet
The Emirati breakfast: sweet vermicelli with cardamom, saffron and rose water under a thin omelette. Sweet and savoury on one plate is the local norm, not an experiment.
Served warm, usually in Emirati cafés before noon. The combination seems odd exactly until the first spoonful; the sugar level is restrained.
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Eat luqaimat Desserts and pastries
Crisp balls of fried dough drenched in date syrup and sprinkled with sesame. They stay soft inside and must be eaten hot, before the syrup soaks in.
Date syrup, dibs, is thicker and less cloying than honey. During Ramadan they are sold everywhere; otherwise look in Emirati cafés and at markets.
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Buy dates by weight Desserts and pastries
Khadrawi, sukkari, ajwa, medjool — the varieties differ as much as apple varieties do, and markets let you taste before buying. Fresh dates are soft and do not stick together in a lump.
Dates come with Arabic coffee as a gesture of hospitality, and refusing is not done. Stuffed with nuts or candied lemon peel, they are a local confectionery staple.
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Try kunafa Desserts and pastries
Stretchy cheese under a layer of crisp kadaif pastry, soaked in sugar syrup and dusted with pistachio. Served hot and eaten immediately, while the cheese still pulls.
The Nabulsi version with smooth pastry and the shredded one are two different schools. It is cut from a large tray, so ask for an edge piece if you like it crisp.
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Drink karak chai Non-alcoholic drinks
Strong tea boiled with evaporated milk, cardamom and sugar, sold to take away from cafeterias for a few dirhams. The national drink in practice if not on paper.
Sold in small cafeterias, often with a street window and delivery to your car. Ask for less sugar if you do not like it very sweet; the default is generous.
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Try Arabic gahwa Non-alcoholic drinks
A pale, lightly roasted coffee with cardamom and sometimes saffron, poured from a copper dallah into tiny handleless cups. Served with dates as a gesture of hospitality.
The cup is filled a third of the way and refilled until you wobble it side to side, which signals enough. No sugar goes in; the dates provide the sweetness.
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Drink jallab Non-alcoholic drinks
A dark syrup of dates, grape molasses and rose water, diluted with iced water and topped with pine nuts and raisins. The summer drink of Levantine cafés.
The nuts and raisins float on top and are eaten with a spoon at the end. Its menu neighbour is mint lemonade, whipped here until frothy.
