Taste of Dubai 2011

March is a happening month for Dubai, and what better way to hit it off than with Taste of Dubai. My favorite nibblefest annually turns Dubai Media City amphitheatre park into a smorgasbord of delicacies from all over town.

With DMC towering all around, chefs and restaurants offer their distinctive culinary icons in sample-sized but hearty morsels.

VIP Lounge

One of the fine dining courts

Jun Tanaka demonstrating preparation of venison and monkfish (audience allowed to sample, yummy-yum-yum)

ToD version of Iron Chef

Satay Gai for starters

A bit of Peking Duck

Grilled grouper cooked savory with vegetables

Scotch Egg

Vegetable kofta with rice

Braised lamb with beans and mash

Beef cheek with horseradish

 

Taste of Dubai 2010

Taste of Dubai is here again, tickles the 'buds in 2010. An annual event for the last couple years, this year's ToD (17th - 20th Mar) saw the heavyweights of Dubai's restaurant scene and F&B-related industries converge on DMC Amphitheatre to sell teaser morsels and hopefully brands as well.

Few freebies to be found - just samples of cookies, coffee and iced lemon. Hats off to the Fair Play Projects for some more-than-fair playing of music.

We did catch a free demo of the preparation of sea bass baked in a salt/herb crust with asparagus risotto, courtesy of the Tefal Chef's Theatre. A demo by none other than Atlantis' Giorgio Locatelli AND his mother.

Enough free stuff! Time to cough up big heap "dellah" coupons for little heap food. For starters, pea gazpacho, from Magnolia.

Then melt-in-the-mouth fish & chips with a pea mash, from Rivington Grill.

Followed by delicious tenderloin with black bean sauce and pepper, from Zheng He's.

Topped off with absolutely dreamy iced strawberry with clotted cream, from Gary Rhodes's restaurant Rhodes Mezzanine.