Restaurants. Hotels. Experiences
Whilst I think that the security guard was not very happy at our little ones, we had such a good time at the Dubai Garden Centre this morning. Let’s just say good for the first 3 hours, minus the last ten minutes when I had to literally pick a screaming 2-year old who did not […]
Read More
I’ve never been to the Emirates Palace. Seen it from above when we stayed at the Etihad Towers, but that’s as close as I’ve ever been. So when it was heating up this summer (you never get used to the heat…), and I was itching for a getaway with the family – I figured it […]
Read More
So… it’s been a long time since we’ve been to a couples spa treatment. My neck and back has been aching since no.2 came along. I gave the Entertainer App a try, then went onto Cobone… and found this. 60 minutes spa treatment, plus pool and beach access for AED 229. That’s AED 460 for the […]
Read More
This post was written and published in 2017. This specific deal is no longer available. We still go to The Scene regularly. Have a browse through other breakfast spots we have been going with the family. I hope they don’t ban us. I think we kinda took over the area this morning. Playmats out, babies […]
Read More
I haven’t organised a group brunch for a long time….last one was end of last year – City Brunch at the new Westin (which wasn’t all that great, that I couldn’t be bothered writing about it..). So few weeks ago when a friend was organising his birthday brunch, I thought I’ll put my hand up and […]
Read More
As much as I love reviewing food as part of an invitation (i.e free), I will have to admit that you can only truly experience the real deal when you head over as a paying guest. It’s quite upsetting when it’s from a brand close to heart. I sat on the fence on this one […]
Read More
I have always wanted to go to La Serre. Every time we drove along Emaar Boulevard I’ll look over at the double storey floor to ceiling glass facade and it’s always full. From friends, and the bits and pieces of social media that I’ve seen – they do good food. U by Emaar launched a […]
Read More
Ever since Jumeirah Al Naseem opened its doors to the public in December, I’ve always wanted to go check it out ….. and as I do, I waited to see if there would be any deals. They never joined the Entertainer (will they?), and I couldn’t wait anymore (wanted to take mum there) – so […]
Read More
I never thought I’ll put the words posh and breakfast for a blog title. Unless Victoria and David were dining here in Dubai. But when the cost of the bags at the table next to us is worth more than twice of our second-hand Ford Escape, you just gotta use those words. Oh, and yes, the […]
Read More
Since July last year, we’ve been to Gourmet by Kcal numerous times. Citispi organises a breakfast morning for mums with babies, or those who are expecting ( Thanks for that 😉 ) With every breakfast order, you get a complimentary tea/coffee. Then towards the end of the year, Entertainer decided to throw in a 241 […]
Read More
We spent the first two nights of our stay in Romania, in the heart of the city – Bucharest. We figured two nights would do it justice, before we went on our road-trip to the outskirts towards Brasov. Extremely glad that we started our Romanian holiday in Intercontinental Hotel Bucharest – situated just a 10-minute […]
Read More
I loved the atmosphere at Club Vista Mare so much that I told G we should go and check it out on Friday. So off we went to the Palm as a family, parked the car and pushed the little munchkin along the boardwalk. Busy on a weekend, we passed by The Tap House (where […]
Read More
I didn’t get on a good start with The Tap House. When the strip of new restaurants launched in front of Tiara Residences two months or so ago, I went on my handy app to see if any of them have decided to offer a 241. Tap House was there. Ha, time to check it out […]
Read More
Back home from a short getaway to the capital. We used the 2nd, and last of the staycation voucher in our Isme Elite app this time – a “city getaway” – at Jumeirah Etihad Towers Hotel in Abu Dhabi 🙂 It was either that, or Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai (too close to home, the […]
Read More
So after looking around for flights, we decided to stay put in Dubai this long weekend. FOMO at its highest level (I haven’t been on a proper holiday for a very-long-time…. moan, moan, moan), we started browsing through the many apps and promos to see what we could possible use. Isme popped up. Thought we’ll […]
Read More
We’ve been to Trader Vic’s many times in the past over various occasions – casual dinner with friends, lunch on a cool afternoon with guests, or just for a few drinks. So why did it take me so long to decide on this place, when I was hunting down a venue for a very (very very) […]
Read More
So after a not-so-good first impression of Fortnum and Mason last month (read my review here), we decided to give it another try a couple of weeks later. It really was a spur of a moment thing – I was standing at the corner of The Dubai Mall LG level, flicking through my handy Entertainer […]
Read More
Earlier this year, we were in Jumeirah Beach Hotel for a friend’s birthday do at Uptown Bar. After the get-together, we ended up walking along the shorelines of Jumeirah Beach Hotel and found ourselves at a lounge by the beach, right by the Burj Al Arab. Guess what it was called…… in true matter-of-fact Dubai […]
Read More
Dear Sofitel JBR, someone needs to re-look at your website! I’ve just tried to find the details of the awesome breakfast deal that we had yesterday (keywords : breakfast sofitel jumeirah beach residence) so I could link my blog post to it later on, but failed. Click, click, click, click, still nothing. So, you must […]
Read More
Last November, I had organised afternoon tea at Al Samar Lounge with the girls (yes, because it was in the Entertainer, and yes, because it’s always gorgeous in the Madinat). The review never made it live on the blog. Though we had a fabulous time sitting in the terrace overlooking the Burj Al Arab, I was […]
Read More
Been looking forward to checking out Fortnum and Mason since they opened their doors a few years back. So when I saw them in the Entertainer recently, I figured – time to walk in and see what they have to offer. Mum and I, and the little one popped in this morning at around 9:30 […]
Read More
Ooooo, I’m probably going to step on a few toes for this but I’ll write this anyways. Times like this I wish there were more blogs on ladies nights so we could’ve avoided last night. So, we were planning to meet up for a ladies night and I got quite frustrated trying to find a […]
Read More
Coya, colourful Coya. Much love and thought has been put into the interior design, and I’ll dare say the same for their food. Early last week, I met up with blogger friend C from AtoZaatar.com for lunch. I have been to their Members’ Club Lounge early this year, and as we left the venue I […]
Read More
It’s been awhile since we’ve gone to brunch with friends. Out came the handy Entertainer app and ‘Al Grissino’ popped up. I jumped onto social media to see if anyone else has been and saw this from fellow blogger Foodie with Suitcase , and decided – yep, we’re going. Their website had a few more offers and the Thursday […]
Read More
This is one ladies night that a good friend of mine and I have been planning to go for awhile now – Vault, located on the 71st and 72nd floor of the JW Marriott Marquis in Business Bay. G and I have walked through here to ‘have a look’ during our staycation at the Marquis […]
Read More
First “holiday” away from our apartment last weekend. Social media has been driving me a little nuts lately with photos of everyone on their summer holiday (insert sulk face) . So after a lot of research on the newly launched Isme Elite app, we decided that it was pretty worth it, went ahead – bought it, […]
Read More
Early last week, mum and I booked ourselves into a massage date at Shine Spa in the Sheraton Grand Hotel, on Sheikh Zayed Road, giving daddy the chance to babysit (and Little S slept right through the afternoon.. 🙂 ). If you didn’t know ( I didn’t..), all the spas under the Sheraton are called […]
Read More
I’m struggling to find time to blog nowadays. I’ve got Little S in my arms right now as I type away. She’s been a lucky little monkey, as she’s been to so many places lately – of one is Sultan’s Lounge at the glamorous Jumeirah Zabeel Saray in west crescent of The Palm 🙂 As […]
Read More
What do you mean there’s no valet? That was my first impression of Rove, when we arrived there around 11:30am yesterday morning. That’s how spoilt I’ve become, living in Dubai (and not ashamed to admit it, he he!) I actually drove around the hotel three times (no it’s not very big) thinking I had missed […]
Read More
I’ve been meaning to write about Leten since our first visit back in January with mum. It’s one of those places that you add to the ‘to-blog’ list but then get busy. It’s reasonably priced and good so you go back again for the second, third, fourth, fifth time. I think if I put the […]
Read More
Quite a few weeks ago, we were looking around for somewhere to go for a, what people would call a ‘babymoon’. Now most people (in Dubai) would go to somewhere exotic like Thailand, Maldives, maybe Sri Lanka – but I was past my ‘okay-to-fly’ safe date so we opted for somewhere local. A few clicks […]
Read More
So mum arrived on Friday, and with the little girl due on Monday I figured, why not book in a nice afternoon tea at St Regis Dubai since there was a 241 from Timeout Dubai (click here). A little risky you may say – Little S did wait though till the actual day 😉 For […]
Read More
With the doctor telling us that I’ve got ‘a few days to go’ before the little girl makes her debut, we decided to bring forward our date night at the Burj Al Arab. Anytime now, she says. I found out about the deal a few weeks ago when I could not sleep, and decided to […]
Read More
We watched as this new cafe slowly appeared behind the Marriott : Counter Culture Cafe, hmm. It’s a 5 minutes walk from home, yet over the last two months since it has launched there was never any talk about it from friends, nor did it ever appear on my Entertainer App or any other deal […]
Read More
Our relationship with this place has had its ups and downs over the last few years. I’ve lost count how many times we’ve been back here, sometimes with groups of friends, with family, and the occasional schoolnight date – just the two of us 🙂 I waited a long time to do a proper post […]
Read More
Few weeks ago I was struggling to find a ladies night spot for Wednesday, so I jumped onto this site and out popped Shades. Ah ha, since when did Shades have a ladies night? 🙂 I emailed them ( as the sceptical person in me does ) to reconfirm, and they repied to say it’s on, woohoo! […]
Read More
He he he. The 1st of the month is always exciting for liloneoftheashes. That’s when the Entertainer gives its monthly deals. This morning I woke up, and had a flick around the app and guess who’s on – Bussola Italian Restaurant, at The Westin Mina Seyahi 🙂 We’ve seen this place from the outside many […]
Read More
Here’s one for those who’s looking for a party atmosphere type of brunch, with good japanese food 🙂 It’s the last Friday for March so you would probably have missed out on the 241 deal the Entertainer was offering for their Disco Sushi Brunch, but hey, you never know when they’ll choose to join in […]
Read More
I’ll start off by saying that I am no expert when it comes to Mexican food. This was just one of those unplanned Thursday nights where we flipped out the Entertainer and wanted to go to somewhere in the Souk Madinat Jumeirah area, having just spent a lovely babymoon at Dar Al Masyaf the weekend […]
Read More
When the press release popped up in my inbox, I went into crazy sharing mode. Dropped it into group chats with friends and we were set, booked for the weekend after 🙂
Read More
Found another great ladies night in Dubai – this time, at Tesoro in Taj Dubai, Business Bay 🙂 Many thanks to Bonita for attending to my many emails prior to the night, for getting the balloons tied up, for being patient with us moving from outside to inside back to outside again (because it’s just […]
Read More
We all watched as the hotel got built adjacent to Sheikh Zayed Road, and when it was all done I’m sure as with the rest of Dubai, we were all a little curious – how is it like? In true liloneoftheashes style, I rang them up a month ago to ask them what restaurants they […]
Read More
This I’ll say. It’s pretty, it’s very pretty. We had a great time. However, food was just – alright. Here’s a detailed take on what we got for 200AED (for two, with the Entertainer 😉 )
Read More
Back in November, a dear friend of mine told us about this new japanese bakery in Al Ghurair Centre. Now, we don’t normally venture to the other part of town in the weekends because weekends are usually spent lazying around home and the neighbourhood in the marina. She mentioned that it should be good, so […]
Read More
I woke up early on Thursday morning, eventhough I had taken the day off work. Last day with mum before she flies home! Rang a few hotels that served breakfast and was in the Entertainer and most don’t accept vouchers for their brekky deals. Finally found one – Ala Turca in Rixos The Palm. Yay! 🙂 […]
Read More
Few days ago I was not well, came home after work and was laying in bed, resting. My nose was running, my throat was sore, and my body ached 🙁 I started going through all the 241s in my HSBC Entertainer and couldn’t find a single massage suitable for my ‘current state’ i.e pregnant. O […]
Read More
Problem : It’s the weekend. You and your mates want to go out for an evening brunch that’s not too expensive. You wanna go for karaoke as well after, and you just don’t want to end up spending a fortune. Where, oh where shall you go? Solution : Here’s an easy answer for ya, if […]
Read More
It’s Thursday, time to head for lunch 🙂 I ended up choosing Medzo in Wafi Pyramids, because of a few simple reasons : a) They do pre-orders, which was very critical to us lot as we don’t have a very long work lunch break (and don’t like to wait for food….) b) I’ve been there […]
Read More
Hope y’all have had a great long weekend 🙂 Been getting lazy to blog lately. Here’s a mini post on one of the more active things you can do other than the highly recommended nature and wildlife drive (click here for info). Archery G got into it, I decided to be photographer / supporter / […]
Read More
Came back to Bu Qtair again last night with our friends, and man, was it good. Bu Qtair has been mentioned by a lot of other bloggers as one of the recommended cheap eats in Dubai and we were actually introduced to it through a good friend. It’s an experience that you don’t really get […]
Read More
We slept at 3am last night. We got back to Dubai past midnight and although I did think it was a good show, we felt….. unsatisfied. Spent the next two hours watching Bon Jovi’s old concert videos, particularly the one in Wembley back in 1995. How I wish we could get a time machine, jump in […]
Read More
Off we went to World Trade Centre last night to catch 30 seconds. We haven’t been to concerts there for a long time now, and it sorta reminded me why. Imagine every one in five person has a cigarette in hand. Ugh, it was disgusting. To be fair it really is just a ‘Dubai situation’, […]
Read More
When you start researching for somewhere to stay in the Amalfi, you could literally spend hours looking at where to base yourself, then after you’re done reading all the blogs, reviews, and recommendations, you’ll need to figure out which exact hotel you want to stay. It’s not cheap in Italy – I’m sure you already […]
Read More
It’s 12:16am. I didn’t follow the troupe to Q43 because I wanted to go to bed. But as I got into the apartment, I felt like I wanted to do very quick write-up, just cause I felt like it 😉 That’s why I love writing. You might say that it’s probably not the best to write after […]
Read More
Back in Dubai, woohoo. Hello, sandstorm. How I missed you so. So this morning, whilst in discussions with a friend on where to go for late brekky, she had suggested Sushi Art in The Beach. As I always do, I took out the app and checked if there were any vouchers. None? O no, we […]
Read More
Been here in Manila for a week now for work. Didn’t think I’ll find time to blog, but here I am, sitting in my hotel room here in Makati, typing away 🙂 Here’s Mr Mustard’s rare appearance today while I was walking to work. Pretty nice place ay, this area. It’s my 6th visit back […]
Read More
So there’s a new kid on the block, and our dear friends had suggested a dinner get-together as it was offering 50 % off the bill till the end of August. Why not 🙂 I’ve always had a soft spot for Media One Hotel. We walked over and took the lifts upstairs to the 9th floor, […]
Read More
Lots of new ladies nights launching around town, and R had suggested that we check out the one next to our workplace, credits to Shortlist’s recommendations here 🙂 So off we went last night to La Residence in Raffles Hotel – 5 girls, one table, topped with good food, great cocktails, and a pianist with […]
Read More
Early June – C had organised an evening brunch , and Latest Recipe came into choice as it was in the Entertainer Monthly Offers. ( PS – and it still is! ) Evening brunches to be honest are not that easy to find, and we tend to go back to Channels as the easy, value-for-money last-min […]
Read More
Credits goes all to the sister-in-law for picking this dreamy castle-like restaurant for our first meal in the Amalfi Coast 🙂 Thanks M! Now, you’re staying somewhere in the Amalfi and you don’t where to go for dinner. If you’re based not too far from Maiori, I recommend you book yourself a table in Torre […]
Read More
Onboard Emirates, en route from Venice back to Dubai. Hello everyone 🙂 I usually just pick a handful to write about after a holiday, and since we have two more hours to go before we land in DXB, here’s my write up of one of the highlights of our trip – our stay in the […]
Read More
And to end a busy week of work (no Ramadan hours for me…) – what better way than to complete it with another spa date in the palm – a lil visit to Waldorf Spa 😉
Read More
Few weeks ago, our dear friends M and C went to this newly opened Cat Cafe in Jumeirah. I was too tired to join, so they sent me videos of them playing with one of the cats. It was sooooo cute, the lil kitty was chasing after the shadow of … one of those… cat […]
Read More
From August 2023 onwards, Salero will be having live entertainment five days a week. See Salero’s website for more details. Original review, published in May 2015 Spending an evening at Salero Tapas Bodega on their Flamenco Nights makes you wonder why have we not spent more time enjoying good live music in Dubai. You could […]
Read More
You have a flight at 6am in the morning (say, to Santorini? 🙂 ) and you don’t want to stress missing the flight. Stay here. It’s nothing exceptional but it’s a 2 minute walk from the hotel door to the airport. It’s comfortable, proper bathroom amenities, and you will get a good night’s sleep.
Read More