As we toured around the city of Dubai, my friend told me that there were excellent examples of cuisine, both Middle Eastern and International, to be found here. We were determined to sample as many as possible different cuisines in the limited time we had. The three restaurants I visited in Dubai were Wafi Gourmet (featuring Lebanese cuisine) in Dubai Mall, Zheng He's Restaurant featuring Chinese fusion cuisine in Madinat Jumeirah and Khan al Murjan restaurant (featuring Egyptian, Lebanese, Moroccan and Turkish cuisine) at Wafi mall.
Wafi Gourmet at Dubai Mall
This meal was with our group of 7 DancersAtSea cruisers who took an afternoon tour with a guide from Arabian Adventures. We had dinner at Wafi Gourmet at the Dubai Mall opposite the spectacular Dubai Fountain.
On my second day in Dubai, I was lucky to enjoy being shown around the city by my friend Laila who lives in Abu Dhabi and came to Dubai to take me to Abu Dhabi for a visit with her family. Our plan for the day in Dubai was to spend some time in the Jumeirah area and in the afternoon to visit the Gold and Spice Souks in the older part of the city.
The Madinat Jumeirah Resort is a spectacular resort location which features three hotels, Mina A' Salaam (Harbour of Peace), Al Qasr (The Palace) Hotel and Dar Al Masjaf with rooms arranged like courtyard houses.
We spent some time wandering around the Madinat Jumeirah Souk. I found some bracelets and a small jeweled camel to buy for my grand-daughter.
The Abra (water taxi) tours through the waterways of Madinat Jumeirah are 20 minute rides that leave every 20 minutes from the Souk Abra stations near the restaurants of Toscana and Barzar.
It was scorchingly hot which gave us a great excuse to indulge in some ice-cream from the local vendor.
Dockside Restaurant at the Granville Island Hotel is a favorite place of mine for pre-show dining and as you can tell from my last two reviews (Dockside and Dockside:Take 2) I have generally really appreciated the food there. So I was very interested to learn that Chef Simon McNeil has taken over as Executive Chef, and to find out what he plans for the menu. at a Meet the Chef event.
I thought that on this dance cruise I would experiment with the structure of the Travelblogue with respect to the Sipping and Supping aspect of my posts. Instead of interspersing the food talk and pictures with my dance and travel experiences, I plan to keep a Culinary Sampling of the meals, mainly dinner, aboard the Queen Mary 2 on this trip.
Since my firm resolution on this trip was not to gain a pound, and to lose inches by virtue of all the hip and core work I would be doing during my Dance Boot Camp, my culinary choices obviously represent a somewhat slanted view of the range of dishes provided at each meal - my sample is appetizer rich and dessert poor. But here goes:
Smith,
553 Church Street,
Toronto, ON
Ph: (416) 926-2501
After a really busy day with lots of walking around downtown Toronto, four of us met for dinner at Smith on Church Street. It is the sister restaurant to Wish that we had visited earlier.
With our meal, the four of us shared a bottle of the 2010 Geretto Delle Venizie Pinot Grigio.
I was intrigued by the Foie Bone item on the appetizer menu. It turned out to be a blend of the bone marrow with foie gras, replaced in the bone cavity and roasted. It was rich and delicious but really just enough to get an idea of the flavours.
Wish
3 Charles Street, Toronto, ON
Ph: (416) 935-0240
On our second day of rambling through Toronto downtown neighborhoods we headed north towards Yorkville. Again on a recommendation of a friend, we dropped in to Wish on Charles Street, to see if we could get lunch.
Although all the outdoor patio tables were taken we were comfortably seated at an indoor table right at the open door and joined the fresh air. All three of us wanted a light lunch but or definitions of light lunch differed somewhat.
Caplansky's Delicatessen,
356 College Street,
Toronto, ON
Ph: (416) 500-3852
On a short visit to Toronto, we had three days to explore three downtown neighborhoods. Our first choice was to walk down College Street and then walk around Kensington Market and Chinatown. Knowing that for me a rare treat is lox and a bagel, while my friend loves the Montreal-style smoked meat sandwich, Caplansky's Delicatessen was recommended to us.
Lucien
36 Wellington Street,
Toronto, ON.
Ph: (416) 504-9990.
It was a balmy evening in Toronto and we took a leisurely stroll down Yonge Street to Lucien. We were a little early for our reservation but I had just arrived in Toronto after an early morning flight from Vancouver, and was really hungry.
I was happy that we were seated immediately, and ready for my first glass of wine in a couple of weeks. While we were perusing the menu I sipped a glass of Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.
There are a number of specialty restaurants, cafes and a bistro on the Eclipse. The one I knew we just could not miss was Qsine. As it turned out, the time went by so fast we did not make it to dinner in either Murano or the Tuscan Grille though I heard glowing comments about the food from other diners. We did get to the Champagne Tea in Murano on the last afternoon of the cruise.
But I am glad we made a point of trying Qsine. The dinner at Qsine was definitely the most interesting and innovative dining that I have enjoyed in any specialty restaurants aboard during my recent cruising experiences. The variety of tastes and textures was simply fantastic and the novel way each dish was presented was exciting to see.
Wafi Gourmet at Dubai Mall
This meal was with our group of 7 DancersAtSea cruisers who took an afternoon tour with a guide from Arabian Adventures. We had dinner at Wafi Gourmet at the Dubai Mall opposite the spectacular Dubai Fountain.
On my second day in Dubai, I was lucky to enjoy being shown around the city by my friend Laila who lives in Abu Dhabi and came to Dubai to take me to Abu Dhabi for a visit with her family. Our plan for the day in Dubai was to spend some time in the Jumeirah area and in the afternoon to visit the Gold and Spice Souks in the older part of the city.
![showing off the "bling"](http://www.reviewfromthehouse.com/sites/reviewfromthehouse.com/files/P1030129-w220-h220.jpg "showing off the "bling"")
The Madinat Jumeirah Resort is a spectacular resort location which features three hotels, Mina A' Salaam (Harbour of Peace), Al Qasr (The Palace) Hotel and Dar Al Masjaf with rooms arranged like courtyard houses.
Dockside Restaurant at the Granville Island Hotel is a favorite place of mine for pre-show dining and as you can tell from my last two reviews (
Caché Bistro and Lounge
I have dined twice at Caché in the past couple of months month and both times enjoyed both the excellent food and the good service.
I thought that on this dance cruise I would experiment with the structure of the Travelblogue with respect to the Sipping and Supping aspect of my posts. Instead of interspersing the food talk and pictures with my dance and travel experiences, I plan to keep a Culinary Sampling of the meals, mainly dinner, aboard the Queen Mary 2 on this trip.
Smith,
After a really busy day with lots of walking around downtown Toronto, four of us met for dinner at Smith on Church Street. It is the sister restaurant to 
I was intrigued by the Foie Bone item on the appetizer menu. It turned out to be a blend of the bone marrow with foie gras, replaced in the bone cavity and roasted. It was rich and delicious but really just enough to get an idea of the flavours.
Wish
On our second day of rambling through Toronto downtown neighborhoods we headed north towards Yorkville. Again on a recommendation of a friend, we dropped in to Wish on Charles Street, to see if we could get lunch.
Caplansky's Delicatessen,
Lucien
It was a balmy evening in Toronto and we took a leisurely stroll down Yonge Street to Lucien. We were a little early for our reservation but I had just arrived in Toronto after an early morning flight from Vancouver, and was really hungry.
There are a number of specialty restaurants, cafes and a bistro on the Eclipse. The one I knew we just could not miss was Qsine. As it turned out, the time went by so fast we did not make it to dinner in either Murano or the Tuscan Grille though I heard glowing comments about the food from other diners. We did get to the Champagne Tea in Murano on the last afternoon of the cruise.
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