food and travel

Monica Kapila and Mark Lloyd broadcast every FRIDAY on DUBAI EYE 103.8 at 1.45pm repeated on the Sunday Brunch at 1.15pm

Missed the live broadcast on Dubai Eye? Don’t worry just listen again here. Here’s last time’s till this week’s is uploaded.

Eating AT HUTONG in DIFC – Business Lunch

This week we’re having lunch at Hutong in DIFC. Hutong actually means a little back street in Beijing that has single story houses built around a courtyard! Hutong Dubai also has a little courtyard but it’s got a super cool interior for an authentic style Business Lunch in this heat at the moment!

If I see Chinese lunch there has to be dim sum, well there is on the Hutong Business Lunch menu! But you get a good bowl of hot and sour soup before that!

After soup and 2 dim sums you get to choose a main course, I recommend the Yu Xiang tiger prawn dish served with rice. 3 gorgeous giant prawns, I requested a more spicy sauce than usual as my friend knows my taste she said it’ll be slightly on the sweet side for you!

We loved our crystal vegetable dumplings, one of the dim sums and my friend liked her mushroom and truffle bao, she told me it had 4 kinds of mushrooms in it! It even looks like a giant mushroom!

We also ordered some dim sum off the a la carte menu and we both highly recommend the tofu smoked tea dumpling, think fresh spinach and bits of smoked tofu wrapped up in a thin vegetable skin, like a Chinese ravioli. Gorgeous!

So 3 courses that’s a soup, a choice of 2 hot starters plus a main course so that’s plenty of food, remember the main is served with rice. All for AED 110, not bad for a fancy restaurant in DIFC.

If you’re pushed for time or want something smaller then pay AED 88 for the soup and a hearty main course. The mapo tofu was a great choice for a vegetarian main course and very authentic with Sichuan pepper too!

The chef is from Sichuan! Know any other Hutongs around the world? I know there’s one in Miami and I think London as well?

Outing with Break Bread – Eat, Meet and Connect over supper

This week we’re chatting with new friends at a super Supper Club venture called Break Bread Dubai! Break Bread is an umbrella platform that brings together people who have a love of food, eating it and cooking it in a very social setting.

So supper clubs aren’t a new concept in other parts of the world. It’s often a home chef who shares their expertise in a private home setting over a table with good food and foodie led conversation mainly with people who’ve never met each other before!

I think this is a very good idea, we’re spoilt for choice when when it comes to restaurants in Dubai, but it’s great having this authentic, alternative experience around not just food but also having that opportunity to meet people with whom you already share quite a lot!

So how does it work? You go on to the Break Bread platform and have a look at all the foodie related experiences that are coming up to that appeal to you, see what dates suit you, book your places, buy your ticket and then you’re pretty much all set.

There’s definitely quite a range in terms of speciality of cuisines and budgets. So for example you could opt for a fun, relaxed but gourmet pizza evening with a chef called Kamil Sayah, around AED 150 a head in what looks like a very elegant home setting, right up to the AED 400 a head which is what we tried giving you an 8 course Vietnamese themed dinner at Haus of Vo with Madame Vo in DIFC!

And that’s a proper sit down tasting menu with some beverages as well. But Madame Vo herself is super organized, knows how to do ice breakers to get conversational juices as well as the gastric juices flowing!

And you never know who you’re going to meet! We met Dave, his instagram is Food Fixes Feelings! Well it does, sometimes!

Have a look at Break Bread and try something new to eat and someone new to meet too! It’s a fun, friendly, foodie experience and Dubai’s better for it!

It’s also worth remembering if you’re doing a little celebration as well, take all the hassle out of hosting at your own home but you still have a home cooked, personal environment without the organizing and clearing up! I like it!

NOTE Madame Vo collabs with other foodies to bring you tasters of things like these delicious HAZLENUT MAPLE OAT brittle bars from Varak Dubai! Give them a try and buy a little jar of 8 bite sized bars for a mate as well as yourself using our discount code of MONICA10 for 10 % off! Use the code at the check out cart. Bet you can’t eat just one bar!

It takes 2 to Tango or does it? At La Casa del Tango this SUNDAY in DIFC

This Sunday why not try some tango dancing followed by an authentic plate of Argentinian snacks and a beverage. We’re at a place called La Casa del Tango in Gate Avenue bit of DIFC. I have been there and tried some drinks and snacks there.

It has a very warm but smart interiors, a bar, a restaurant bit and a small dance floor! So this SUNDAY go along anytime between 3pm and 7pm. So you get a proper 20 minute Tango lesson, assuming there are 2 of you as I reckon it takes 2 to Tango!

Then after your lesson you get to immerse yourself in all things Argentinian as far as food and beverage is concerned. So expect a nice Argentinian platter to share that’s got traditional empanadas, croquettas and calamari among other things.

And you get a classic Argentinian beverage each as well.

All of that for 2 people costs just AED 249! So that’s good value for your lesson, your snacks and a drink, go with some mates and try something new for a Sunday afternoon!

Not sure they give you a rose for between your teeth though! That’s at La Casa del Tango DIFC in Gate Avenue. Details for how to book below on their website and on the poster above.

La Casa del Tango

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