One thing I was looking forward to doing in Dubai was trying plenty of Middle Eastern food. When I celebrated my landmark birthday earlier this year, Kevin and I were inspired to visit Singapore after watching Crazy Rich Asians and seeing its famed hawker stalls with Michelin star creds. And one of our favorite things to do in LA is going on food road trip adventures — finding unique spots like the thriving Basque culinary scene in Bakersfield. As soon as I read about Frying Pan Adventure’s walking tour in Dubai, I didn’t hesitate to sign up. After seeing all this food, you’ll see why!

Walking Tour in Dubai: The Perfect Way to Work Off All That Food

Dubai is very much the cosmopolitan crossroads of the Middle East. You’ll find just about every cuisine imaginable including lesser known dishes (at least for westerners like us) from Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and Iran. Frying Pan Adventures takes the guesswork out of where to go and what to try. It should be on every traveler’s bucket list — along with going to the top of the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world) and strolling through Dubai’s historic Al Bastakiya district. It’s that good!

Meet Up Spot: Getting Off-the-beaten Path 

We highly recommend Frying Pan Adventure’s signature “Middle Eastern Food Pilgrimage” tour. The 4+ hour tour includes tastings of 10 Arabic and Iranian foods along with stories about the dishes and culture. We met up with our guide Arva Ahmed, who launched the company as a way to show visitors the food she loves as well as the places she visited while growing up. It’s like having your own insider taking you around the best joints in their neighborhood — places that you’d likely just walk by without noticing. The perfect example was the first stop on the tour where we tried the best falafel I’ve ever tasted.

The star dish here is the Falafel Mashshi, or stuffed falafel. Arva recommended adding sumac berry and hot chili sauce to top it off. We had two choices — either hot or the Sultan Dubai version, aka the “mild” option. Let’s just say, Kevin and I tried the mild sauce and drank nearly all our water! Yes, we’re not afraid to admit that we’re complete whimps when it comes to spice. We followed Arva’s lead, stuffing fresh pita bread with falafel along with hummus, pickled vegetables (and yes, even the “mild” chili) to make a tasty sandwich.

Now full disclosure… We typically can’t stand falafel. In the US, most of the falafel that I’ve tried consisted of dried out chickpeas or overly greasy balls that have no flavor. But we had a hard time holding back here. This was our first stop and we pretty much helped ourselves to three servings. Arva gave us updates along the way on how much food we’d eat. After this stop, we were just 12 percent into the food journey. Whoops!

Next Up: Trying the Weird and Wonderful Kunafa

There is no easy to describe Kunafa and make it sound all that appetizing. In short, it’s a dessert made with massive amounts of cheese, clarified butter and either thin noodle-like pastry or fine semolina dough that is soaked in a sweet, sugary syrup. Think of it as cheese covered in sugar sauce. So yeah, not even remotely healthy!

Before coming to Dubai, I never even heard of this dish. Yet, I was totally drawn to it. I first saw Kunafa at Dubai’s Global Village (an Epcot-like theme park in Dubai showcasing mostly Middle Eastern countries). While it’s an acquired taste, I totally love it. I mean what’s not to love when it comes to cheese and sugar?

Slamming Down the Dishes…Glad We’re Doing a Walking Tour

Continuing the theme of sweets, we next hit up a pastry shop that Arva has visited since she was a little girl. After chowing down on several kinds of baklava, we tried some Arabic coffee, which is surprisingly mild and more like a tea. Arva explained the custom and culture of Arabic coffee in the Middle East as a form of hospitality.

In fact, serving Arabic coffee is a ceremonial act of generosity. She explained, a host would never serve a cup to the brim since it would rush your guest to drink it before it cooled. The cup is continuously filled part-way until you indicate you no longer can drink it. Dates are often served as well. For our tasting, it included our choice of pastries along with Natef, a type of meringue similar to the texture of marshmallow fluff. But what could this vegan dip be made of? After several incorrect guesses from me and the others, Kevin actually got it right. It was a product derived from a cleaning product (or the soapwort plant). We were eating a product from soap! It’s a dessert topping… No, it’s a product to clean Persian rugs. Wait, it’s both! OMG. Well, clearly we didn’t die from eating it.

Feeling Pretty Full: Rounding out our Food Walking Tour in Dubai

Next up, we tried Feteer, an Egyptian hybrid of a French crêpe, Italian pizza and Malaysian roti. The process of making it is pretty theatrical — as the baker spins and slaps out the dough until it’s so thin it’s translucent. The fillings are far from gourmet — in fact some are highly processed like Kraft cream cheese or canned meat. But they make a great late night comfort food. I thought it tasted similar to the Italian Stromboli that I loved so much as a kid.

At this point, Arva explained we should be about 75% full. What? I clearly wasn’t pacing myself at the pastry shop earlier as I tried every type of baklava…twice. Kevin loved the next stop — an Iraqi restaurant that specialized in smoked fish called masgouf. 

When we were polled at the end of the tour, Kevin picked this as his #1 pick (based off the crunchy skin). Masgouf is traditionally made with carp or barbel found in the Tigris River in Baghdad. It’s prepared by slitting the meat along the backbone, then flattened and cooked over fire.

Wrapping it up: More Dessert. I’m Down with That

This was the final stop on our food walking tour in Dubai. And we were plenty full. It’s here where we tasted a delicious Iranian frozen dessert: faloodeh. Faloodeh is made with sweetened frozen noodles (typically rice or cornstarch). It’s covered with a combo of rose water, sweet rose syrup and sour fruit syrups like lemon or sour cherry. I was a big fan. The shop also sells a variety of other Iranian snacks. Be sure to sample the lemon cashews and flavorful dried mulberries.

What a journey! But we still had more tastings to go. Arva sent us all home with goodie bags that included figs dipped in camel milk chocolate and other tasty snacks. Let’s just say, they didn’t make it out of Dubai. I chowed down on them the next morning for breakfast. Hey, figs are fruit, right?

THE LOWDOWN:

• Are you a big foodie? Then this city tour is the perfect one for you.
• Frying Pan Adventures is the first company to offer food tours in Dubai.
• Each tour aspires to tell stories you wouldn’t normally hear if you went by ‘the book.’
• We highly recommend their Middle Eastern Food Pilgrimage Tour, held in the evening. Tours cost $107 USD per person. Duration: 4+ hours.
• Each tour includes a variety of street food, and top restaurants featuring tasty Dubai meals and snacks.
• Other walking tours are offered such as Little India on a Plate and Creekside Food, going through the Deira district and Bur Dubai.
• To make a booking, go directly to their website here.

Looking for other travel ideas through United Arab Emirates, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi? Check out our full coverage here.