I have always felt that salads tend to taste boring and one only compromises on flavor when choosing a healthy salad. But this salad served to be a healthy dose of perspective when I just couldn’t get enough of it. I tried the kale and chicken salad at zaatar w zeit and it was tremendous showcase of health meets flavor.
I shall begin by telling you that I wasn’t particularly happy with the presentation of this as the one shown on their marketing picture was absolutely different. Nevertheless, flavor is what I settle for at the end of the day.
The salad was delicious, especially the crispy fresh kale with zesty dressing and sweet bits of dried apricot in between. Topped with slices of succulent grilled chicken breast that was cooked perfectly. Loved the subtle hints of spices in there. Overall the salad stood out in terms of both quality and quantity.
Also tried their zouza salad with tuna, it was perfect for anyone who likes colorful salad with a bit of this and that. Their fresh carrot juice was wonderful as well.
The salad jar has various outlets all over Dubai and I chose to order from the closest one that is Al Quoz. I liked their menu because its pretty much simpler and detailed so you are clear on what to order and which salad has what inside. They even have clear illustrations to understand each salad.
After being confused over choosing levant or Chicken Levant, I finally went for the latter. The Salad was delivered within 30 minutes and the jar was really cute. I even washed it for later use. The chicken levant salad comprises of dates, couscous, dried apricots, mint roasted chickpeas, lemon marinated chicken, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and fresh parsley. I specifically ordered it because I wanted to have the sweetness from dried apricot and acidity from lemon marinated chicken and that is exactly what I got. But the couscous was a bit dry and I was wishing that it came with something creamy. The dressing options were lime juice, dijon mustard, cumin, honey garlic, pomegranate juice but I think the dry couscous needed some mayonnaise or ranch kinda dressing. Or maybe they could reduce the quantity of couscous in there.
For 47 Aed, I found it overpriced. I mean I could get a full blown meal in this price but hey! I will try them again and if any of you try them, drop a comment and let me know your experience 🙂
There’s a new trend at the breakfast table and everyone seems to be enjoying it. It’s the Acai bowl that’s in fashion. Generally, Acai is a berry that contains antioxidants, fiber and heart healthy fats as well as a lot of other nutrients. It has a versatile flavor that perfectly compliments other ingredients and is usually served with strawberries and other fruits and nuts.
Acai bowl (Samba)
Projeto Acai is a small place in Marina, Dubai where the colorful interiors represent thier menu. Such wide variety of poke bowls. acai bowls, salads, wraps and mocktails to choose from.
I ordered the Walnut and feta salad, it was prepared with such elegance that every bite of this salad was crunchy, zesty and full of flavors. It had dried raisins, caramelized walnuts and red cabbage with subtle hints of balsamic vinegar and feta cheese.
Walnut & Feta salad
For the acai, I chose “Samba” which is their best seller. It has strawberries, mangoes, banana, granola and walnuts. It was a beautiful bowl of goodness that tasted perfect. I think I can give up on ice cream forever If I get this in exchange.
Poke Bowl (Six pack salmon)
While choosing poke bowl, I opted for the “six pack salmon” because the description made a really pretty picture in my head and to my surprise, it was even more colorful. The base of this bowl was buckwheat noodles, wild salmon, edamame beans cucumber, mango, avocado and garnished with sesame seeds, spring onions and coriander sauce. The portion size was so generous, even though I chose the small sized bowl.
I happen to visit the Dubai marina branch of Potato Hut and indulged in some serious potato love that deserves a big round of applause for flavor, creativity, freshness and quality. Its a small place with limited seating but I would recommend you get food from here and enjoy sitting at the Marina beach that’s just some steps away from here.
I ordered the butter chicken baked potato with loads of hot sauce, mayonnaise and bbq sauce. I added capsicum and olives as the veggie toppings. The baked potato tasted amazing. It was a perfect blend of creaminess (as I also added mozzarella) the chunky butter chicken paired so well with it.
Baked potato with butter chicken
Then, I ordered the Sweet potato Indian style which took me back to my childhood in Karachi, Pakistan where in markets, street hawkers used to sell baked sweet potato and it tasted just like that. It was topped with salt, pepper and lemon wedges. Even if you’re not a sweet potato person, I would recommend you try this.
Sweet potato (Indian)
I also tried their bbq chicken sandwich and the highlight here was the potato bread, that was so beautiful. You gotta taste it to believe me. The filling was super creamy with mushrooms and chicken.
bbq chicken sandwich in potato bread
They also have some amazing selection of salads and fresh juices along with different varieties of coffee. I tried their beetroot and orange juices and loved both.
I was hosted by Francis and Yuvette, both were lovely people who took care of me so well. If you’re having major potato cravings; my highest recommendations would be for this place.
Kava and chai is cafe that specializes in tea/coffee variations that are amusingly good. The cafe is located in center of Al-seef where the menu makes perfect sense. Especially when the temperature drops and winters are coming around, it is the best idea to visit Kava and chai and indulge in some serious tea/coffee time along with scrumptious salads or desserts. They even have wide variety of smoothies, detox blends and lemonades, including some rare combinations I’m sure you have never heard before.
I absolutely love the cozy interiors where you can just sit, relax and unwind or catch up with a long gone friend or even schedule a meeting with co-worker. It’s always going to be a good idea.
Salad Options:
These guys have an amazing choice of salads to choose from but I wasn’t really happy with a few things about both of my salads. I chose date and spinach salad along with a classic chicken ceaser’s salad. While the spinach and dates salad was pretty nice, the baby spinach leaves were not chopped that caused difficulty while eating. Whereas, the chicken ceaser salad was really bland, the dressing had no flavors either and the chicken was plain boiled.
Spinach & Date saladChicken caeser salad
Sandwiches:
I chose spicy sojuk sandwich and a chicken & mozzarella sandwich. The spicy sojuk sandwich was absolutely spot on! beef mince was cooked in tomato sauce with some really subtle spices that tasted so nice in the sandwich. However the chicken mozzarella sandwich wasn’t really good because the chicken inside it was exactly the same as the one in the salad.
Soicy sojuk sandwich and chicken mozzarella sandwich
Caffiene fix:
I opted for their aromatic cappuccino and Kava & Chai latte, both were perfectly balanced cups of happiness. The cappuccino was pure, strong and luscious while the chai latte was a winner. It had a slight touch of cinnamon that worked its way to my heart.
Kava & Chai LatteCappuccino
They serve their hot beverages with some freshly baked buttery cookies that puts a giant smile on my face anyday.
Detox blend:
My heart was set on the thyme lemonade but I ordered the passion fruit ginger blend instead. And I was so happy with my drink as it was beautifully composed with fresh ingredients. I was afraid that it will be too sour but it was pretty nice.
Passion fruit and ginger lemonade
Desserts:
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I tried their red velvet cake and I was so impressed with it. I have never had a red velvet cake that is covered in thick chocolate before, it tasted so nice together and I was totally fighting over the oreo on top with my plus one 🙂
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Thank you for having us Kava & Chai, your service was commendable since it was full house when we were there. I look forward to visit you soon.
I am so impressed with the food here that I am trying to find a perfect blend of words to compile this blog post. Barbecue Delights is a buffet based on staple Pakistani dishes along with some Indian meals too. Their ambiance is soulful and filled with different colors and wall art that basically represents Pakistani truck art. Their service is extremely amazing and this is one buffet where you don’t care “how many” dishes are there, simply because each and every dish is genuinely packed with bags of flavor and stands out. Also, the food is super quality wise, its always steaming hot no matter which dish you look into.
Starters: (Chaat)
Speaking of Pakistani buffets, one may never start their meal skipping the chaat and I am basically referring to myself here because chaat works like an insight into how good the others meals would be.
So, I got the basic pani puri which was served with sweet and sour chatni. The sweet chutney was intense and lusciously thick while the sour one was diluted to perfection and their blend in the pani puri tasted absolutely amazing.
Paani puri
Salad selection:
There were numerous salads along with the famous Baingan ki burhani that’s actually spiced yoghurt where egg plants are cooked in tamarind chutney floating on top. This area included fresh hummus, beetroot salad with sesame seeds, coleslaw with sweet corn, Tabbouleh and freshly sliced cucumbers/lemon wedges.
Mains:
I will start with the bbq items and then gradually walk you through the rest of main courses available. The bbq items that caught my attention first were the fried fish and fried prawns that looked so beautiful because of their color, they had a lovely golden coating and you won’t believe me when I tell you that they tasted even better than they looked.
The fish was marinated in just the right amount of spices, it was not tossed in extreme flavors which helps give you the usual flavor of fish along with the subtle spices. The prawns were super too.
Fried Prawns
Fried Fish
Then I lifted the mutton and chicken reshmi kebab dish and the smoke that came out of there was aromatic and tempting. I had unlimited kebabs, so much that I didn’t even kept a count. They were tender, juicy and full of flavors.
Mutton seekh kebab
Then I jumped on the opportunity to gobble up some delicious beef haleem and mutton karhayi. Haleem was so amazing, usually in most buffets they over spice the haleem and it looses its original taste but here it was just perfect. Mutton Karhayi was state of the art. The blend of spices in it were spot on!
Haleem and mutton Karhayi
Coming from Karachi,Pakistan; one has awfully high standards of chicken biryani. It just breaks my heart when I order biryani and see coriander leaves or curry leaves on top of it. If you wanna know what a Pakistani biryani looks like, look no further but below.
chicken biryani
kabuli pulao
The kabuli pulao was comforting and light. Perfectly seasoned.
Beef nihari and Butter chicken
A Pakistani buffet without nihari simply does not exist. We eat nihari for breakfast, lunch and dinner all year long. Their nihari was so amusing for the tastebuds and the meat was so tender that one can not resist.
Lahori soda
Obviously, you are going to need a tangy drink to settle all these spicy delicacies. I chose the lahori soda and I’m so glad I opted for this one (as recommended by our serving guy) it was exactly like a spicy candy I grew up having called “Churan Chatni”. Despite of its strong flavor, it also aids in digestion.
Desserts:
With respect to the occasion of Diwali, there were fresh mithai with my favorite moti chur laddoo and besan k laddoo.
Also, there were hot jalebi and gulab jamun (please excuse me while I drool a little)
If you’re thinking this is it, then nope! there are more desserts like shahi tukray, fruit custard, egg pudding, badami kheer (this one was my favorite) and jelly for kids.
We ended our meal with a cup of karak chai that blew us away with how lovely it tasted. Thank you so much for having us over Team Barbecue Delights, we loved every bit of our dining experience here and we promise to keep coming back for all of these extraordinary dishes.
To all my readers,
Barbecue Delights cater large events and parties, it is highly recommended to you from me.
Captain Lychee 