Republishing articles without permission

January 4, 2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

9th January 2023 Update : We have consequently managed to find the owner of the website and got in touch with him. All republished articles have since been removed from their website and they have agreed not to republish subsequent articles. Happy days.. Original article below There is an online magazine that has been republishing […]

Is the New Year’s Eve bill at Gal Downtown Dubai real?

January 3, 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

Social media went into a little frenzy of its own when Mert Turkmen, a Dubai restaurateur shared a screenshot of a bill from his restaurant Gal from New Year’s Eve. It was a whopping 620,926.61 AED for 21 guests. Even if the decimal points were mistakenly placed, making it 60k AED – this is beyond what […]

Face masks in Dubai Schools – No longer required

September 1, 2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

Updated 26 September 2022 : NCEMA have just announced that indoor face masks rules in Dubai will be removed, effective from Wednesday, 28th September 2022, except for in medical facilities, places of worship, and public transport. The best bit is that – face mask is now optional in schools. What awesome news 🙂 It’s been […]

The Dubai Pool Kids Issue : New Rules have been issued

August 31, 2022.Reading time 3 minutes.

Further to publishing this article, we have been in touch with Dubai Municipality to follow up on the recent regulation where Under 5s were banned from hotel pools. We were so relieved to find out that they have in fact been reconsidering it, and issued a revised circular late last night with new rules.

The Dubai Pool Kids Ban : How does it impact families?

August 28, 2022.Reading time 14 minutes.

31st August 2022 Update : Please note that Dubai Municipality has since issued a revised circular. See updated article here. On the 18th of August – we saw the headlines on ARN News : “Children under 5 barred from Dubai Hotel Adult Pools, ” referring to the new regulation introduced by Dubai Municipality. This consequentially […]

Food Poisoning in Dubai : How it was dealt with

April 25, 2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

I organised my little girl’s birthday lunch at a pizza joint in a mall, not too far from home one Friday. The team were very helpful all throughout – from assisting my many queries beforehand, helping to set the table up, and accommodating the needs of 11 very excited, noisy kids. It was a fabulous […]

The local live music scene in Dubai – One venue at a time.

October 6, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

What do you look for when you go out here in Dubai? Good food, good atmosphere, good deals – they come into the picture, don’t they? What about live music? Does that matter to you? For the last few months, our social lives have been planned around the live music scene. When we do get […]

Dubai Memes – You’ll Understand if You’ve Lived here

May 2, 2021.Reading time 3 minutes.

There is an account on insta that cracks me up most of the time a new post pops up. That account is Dezertmemez , where a lot of the day to day things that we face in Dubai, things that annoy us, things that only someone in Dubai would understand. I’ve put together a few […]

Dubai’s Discount Culture

March 13, 2021.Reading time 5 minutes.

I’m a sucker for discounts. I am that person who swears by the Entertainer. New bar? I’ll wait till they have a ladies night. New brunch? I’ll wait for the 241. With all the many gatherings I have organised, I always thought I was contributing to the hospitality industry. I mean c’mon, this entire blog […]

Dubai Tourism Vs Covid Precautions

January 9, 2021.Reading time 5 minutes.

Dubai is busy, once again. In the last two weeks, most of the resorts in the Palm and Marina area appear to have reached its maximum capacity – whatever that is supposed to be. This is judging simply from the limitations they have introduced to restrict day pass users, and for those that are open […]

#63 Why we return to the same restaurants – Thoughts from a consumer

September 23, 2018.Reading time 6 minutes.

In a transient place like Dubai, it must be hard to get ‘returning customers’ to the same restaurant. I’m talking about ‘casual restaurants’, something that people are happy to spend money at whenever they go out, not the 200AED a piece of steak (sides, extra) fine dining joint. Sometimes I feel that the city is […]

What annoys me most, as an event organiser : This is for the hotels and restaurants

November 8, 2016.Reading time 11 minutes.

Martin Kubler from SPS:Affinity did a really good piece on “How to alienate guest digitally” recently – click here to have a read of it. It was directed to the hotels, on what not to do, in the social media world. I am, ‘that person’ on the other side – the “event organiser” (who absolutely loves her […]

#52 Food wastage in the UAE

March 14, 2016.Reading time 2 minutes.

I’m sure a lot of people have a lot to say about this. We’ve all been to brunches and the many glorious buffets in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or wherever you live in the UAE. My blog focuses mainly on that isn’t it – how to enjoy the ‘luxuries’ that the UAE has to offer… without […]

Smoke-free Bars in Dubai

November 20, 2015.Reading time 3 minutes.

Listing updated – August 2019 So here you go, a little list of bars that are ‘nearly there’ in being smoke–free I.e no smoking allowed indoors. To be honest it was very difficult to get info, because ….there aren’t many of them. A lot of these actually have beautiful outdoor terraces to accommodate the smokers which […]

#49 “Smoking to be banned in all indoor bars in the UAE”

November 12, 2015.Reading time 4 minutes.

Now, if you clicked on this post, you fall into either of three categories : Category A : You smoke, maybe a lot, or maybe just one or two when you’re having a drink, and you don’t mind the smell of smoke in bars. It’s actually quite nice. Category B : You don’t smoke. You […]

#39 How to avoid payment disputes at the end of a meal

April 25, 2015.Reading time 9 minutes.

How many times have you been to a brunch, or group get-together involving the use of vouchers, and when it comes to payment, end up in an unhappy dispute with the restaurant staff? “Can you please call your manager?” A lot of hand waving, you’re half-drunk after having 6 bottles of Stella, trying to argue […]

#29 Dubai – it’s as expensive as you make it to be

November 14, 2014.Reading time 8 minutes.

I stumbled upon an article which basically explains how much it costs to be a socialite in Dubai. One says it will cost about AED40k put into partying and dining out. That is a ridiculous amount of money. I am thankful that we, and the friends that we’ve been blessed with in Dubai (*waves*!), are similar to […]