Every now and then I come across some good food, the kind you know is good! T, our Chef de Partie gave me the other day a tin of German “Leberwurst“, liversausage in a tin. The tin it self looked like one from the last war in Europe, certaintly no e-mail or even a web address printed on the lid. “Klaus Hambel Leberwurst“, that’s it!

This morning I sampled the “Wurst” with my bakers; they are the only ones who eat pork. 50% Pork meat, 30% Pork liver and 15% Pork neck, the rest onion and spices certainly was heaven considering we are in a muslim country with very limited pork products. Our hotel does not serve any pork dishes however some Dubai hotels like the Jumeirah group does.

The sausage was very coarse but smooth in taste with a slight hint of being salty. I know in northern Europe food contains more salt than perhaps in Asia. Some malls do sell pork products but never such delicatessen from the Pfalz in Germany.

Metzgerei Klaus Hambel, Hintergasse 1,  Wachenheim, Germany

 

Everybody wants, needs, likes a good croissant, like me! We produce ours at the hotel from scratch and bake them three times during the morning. Then there are others who relay on companies like Hiestand, the Swiss Gourmet Bakery. F, my old good friend, MD of Hiestand Malaysia came into town for the re-launch of Hiestand Products here in Dubai. This event coincided with the 4th Birthday of Heidi Chef Solutions, a supplier here in Dubai and Hiestand’s distributor in this Emirate. Chefs and not-so-chefs where invited for a German dinner at the JW Marriott’s Hofbrauhaus in Deira. F prepared the wide range of his products to sample and Hofbrauhaus chefs served Knoedel, Gulasch, Opatzen, Kartoffelsalat, and much more.

I was very much surprised of the high quality of Hiestand’s Gipfel like we call them in Switzerland; buttery and crispy.

Hiestand Malaysia, Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

Heidi Chef Solutions, Dubai, UAE, Tel: +971 4 3404770

Hofbrauhaus Dubai, JW Marriott Hotel Dubai,  Dubai, UAE

Ever since I lived for a very short time in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia I always wanted to experience a Eritrean coffee ceremony again. Years back then in KSA my neighbors where a mix couple, she from Eritrea and he was from the UK. During the weekends she used to come over to my villa and prepared coffee for the afternoon. Now, if you never experienced such a ceremony I strongly suggest; do it! As you know I am a coffee lover and I am sure with my years of support Starbucks stock had risen through the roof. Nowadays I settle for Nespresso as mentioned in a previous post. I have experienced many tea ceremonies in Sri Lanka and especially in Kyoto, Japan where Maiko-sans had the skills perfected over hundreds of years. So Ethiopia or more precisely, Eritrea where coffee is originating. These people take out some time in preparing you a cupa; like Heaven on Earth!

My brother P arrived in Dubai on his way back to Switzerland to celebrate my Birthday. The night before we spend some considerable time doing this at the Park Hyatt, killing wine bottles after another. However for this birthday I wanted to experience something completely different, something which would stay in my memory forever. L and H, both from Eritrea invited us to experience their national food in a small restaurant in Deira, Dubai which served dishes from Ethiopia and Eritrea. This restaurant is mainly visited by the local Eritrean and Ethiopian community, hence barely seen foreign customer and for sure not; two Swiss! The menu was easy to read, made up with pictures of the dishes. We ordered a couple but the interesting part was when it all came to our little coffee table; a huge round platter covered with Eritrean bread called “Enjara”, more like a large oversized pancake. All the dishes where then poured onto the bread and curd scattered around. While dipping a piece of the bread into spicy yet aromatic sauce one took pieces of chicken called “Tsebhi Deroh” and “Tsebhi Sega”. Interestingly for us greenhorn Eritrean food newbies was that you got fed by the host, meaning portion of food was given to you by hand to eat, something which is completely lost in our culture but practiced in this part of East Africa. I loved the dishes for its aromatic flavor and at times, crunchy texture and by the end P and myself had to call the quits as we where stuffed to the rim.

Next on the menu was the obligatory coffee ceremony, restaurant style as we where educated by L. A tray concisting of little coffee cups and insent was served with a piping-hot-pot of coffee. To our surprise a plate of Popcorn was served and again we learned that popcorn is eaten with coffee in Eritrean culture, not in cinemas like ours! As you could have imagine, the coffee was strong and full of flavor, sadly with plenty of sugar! Thank you Heaven!

Al Habasha Ethiopian Restaurant, Deira, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 

Pakistani Bakery

 

While stepping out of Al Habasha for a smoke I noticed across the road a bakery, very much in memory of other Middle Eastern countries. By getting closer I found out that it is indeed a Pakistani Bakery where they still bake the bread in a Tandoor like oven! Talk about contrast.