bu qtair restaurant

Having no plans at all one Thursday night, our family decided to try a restaurant near Jumeirah that our friends recommended which was a mix of a carinderia-type place and the restaurants in Dampa, similar to the ones in the Philippines.

Upon arriving at Bu Qtair Restaurant, we saw that there were already a lot of people sitting on the plastic tables and chairs outside, having their fill of the food they ordered. Considering it’s practically a shack, I had expected to see only Indians and Pakistanis as the customers, but surprisingly, there were Serbians, Russians, and Koreans there as well. It was still pretty early, so even though most of the tables were full, we were able to get a table as soon as we arrived. Hubby then went inside the portacabin and ordered half a kilo of shrimp and a fish. Then we waited for his name to be called, which took about 30 minutes. Our food was cooked like all the rest of the other diners’ food: deep fried.

Once it was served, we were asked how many rice we wanted (2), how many bread/paratha (4), what we wanted to drink (1 big bottle of water), and anything else (yoghurt, vinegar, and slices of lemon). And since we were sitting outside (practically on the beach) in the fresh night air, we decided to live it up and use our hands to eat. Good thing we always have a pack of moist tissues in Caila’s backpack whenever we go out.

The food was good (not great, though), because, well, you can’t really expect much from a place like that. But there isn’t any doubt that the fish and shrimp were fresh. They were a bit spicy, but my and Ate Cel’s mouths were able to tolerate it. Both of us shared a serving of rice while Hubby finished the other. Caila didn’t want to eat anything, except for the paratha which she thoroughly enjoyed and kept asking for more of. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any price lists or menus anywhere so there wasn’t anything we could refer to when the server told us the total bill was Dhs130. However, it’s still a nice place and a totally different experience compared to the places we normally eat at here in Dubai (you know, restaurants in malls and fast-food outlets).

Would we try it again? Definitely! It has a very laid-back, low-key and relaxed atmosphere…and eating with our hands while breathing in the salty air made it feel like we were at one of the provinces in the Philippines. We just have to remember to bring some soy sauce/liquid seasoning next time to help make the food taste better according to our Pinoy palates.