Before visiting Dubai, I always thought of it as a playground for the rich and famous, not unlike Las Vegas in the US (minus all the gambling) or the South East Asian country of Singapore. If you had money, you could find any number of ways to spend it while being treated like a celebrity in the process.After coming to the city, I can safely say that my thought was absolutely correct.
Since we don't have the money to stay at the "7-star" Burj al-Arab ($1,800+/night), ascend the tallest building in the world (~$65/ticket), and are not trying our hand at the indoor ski slopes (~$83/day pass), we have found another way to splurge in this incredibly massive city: catch up with "home".
Everything We've Missed, and Then Some
Since we've been on the road for just over five months, there have been a lot of things we have missed. Restaurants that don't exist in Europe, small snacks that we have always taken for granted, and other simple relaxations that world travel simply clashes with.
...and Dubai has them all.
It all started when Angie went through an incredible Reese's Cup withdrawal after around 4 months of travel.
After a long conversation, we remembered a certain candy store on Sentosa Island in Singapore that was comparable to a museum of candy. The mental light clicked on: "Dubai must have one too!"
They did, and after that quick internet search we began wondering how many other things Dubai has that we can try before they're lost again in the next year of travel.
An Endless Barrage of Chain Restaurants
After filling Angie's Reese's fix, which ended up being incredibly easy as the corner store by our hotel sold them, we started to discover a long list of restaurants and food types we have missed since leaving.
Our first lunch, Thai food! That one is simple. Make me go 5 months without a curry and I go into withdrawal.
Afternoon drink to refresh after constantly sweating? Mountain Dew, because that is hardly available anywhere in Europe.
Dinner? A stop at another mall where we randomly found a Papa John's pizza serving an incredible dinner special.
That was just the first day.
Don't get us wrong, the list of chain restaurants in Dubai scares us like everyone else. You won't be catching us in a Red Lobster, PF Chang's, or Cheesecake Factory much like you wouldn't be seeing us frequenting them at home. Okay, maybe the I-Hop, but that's it!
But the few simple pleasures we do enjoy? Well, those are hard to turn down when we've been away from them for so long.
The things Dubai doesn't have? Bacon, as there is very little pork in the country. Taco Bell, which we can do without that. Chipotle, a meal I am still craving even as I write this.
Hard to Get Away From It All
As Dubai is a city that is built around the mall culture, with most of the tourist attractions actually being inside the malls themselves, the chains are hard to avoid.
In fact, we'd go as far as saying that finding restaurants other than these chains is an incredibly difficult task.
The problem in the whole situation is due to the urban sprawl of the city, which makes getting to the local restaurants quite difficult. You may see them as you pass on the metro or in a taxi, but in most everyday walking conditions you will not pass them unless expressly seeking them out or if one is magically placed by your hotel.
Of course, you're probably only going to be near your hotel are times when you are not hungry anyway, making those restaurants somewhat worthless to you.
So while we had such great hopes to get into the local food scene in Dubai, we were let down by the inability to actually get to the local gems during our stay in the city. But while this would make us upset in any other destination, in Dubai we were not. We got a little quality time with the things we missed from home, and that is something worth being happy over.
