Dubai: Festive Media Dinner at Galeries Lafayette

// I was invited to the dinner. Food and drinks were complimentary //

In Dubai, the expat population makes up around 85% of the city’s inhabitants, and with all the different cultures present down here, there’s always a holiday to look forward to, whether it’s Diwali, Eid, Chinese New Year or Christmas.  

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Christmas starts earlier and earlier in Denmark, but it also seems to be the case in Dubai. In the stores, there are already Christmas decorations (mostly Christmas trees and elves, no baby Jesus for obvious reasons), and even though most places will use other names such as “the Holiday Season” or “the Festive Season” there’s no doubt among Christmas lovers like me: Christmas is definitely here.

Monday evening I was invited to a Festive Media Dinner at Galeries Lafayette in Dubai Mall. The food is always good at Lafayette and the dinner was a great opportunity to catch up with old and new blogger friends, but I also wanted to attend the dinner for nostalgic reasons. Poul and I moved to Dubai during spring 2012 and the first media event I attended in Dubai was in fact the Christmas Menu Tasting at Galeries Lafayette. Time flies!

First we had some delicious small appetizers including Scotch eggs, lobster and scallops. I had missed that we would also be served a proper dinner afterwards, so I went all in on the scallops. You should have seen my face, when they brought in the turkey roast. It was my OMG-face.

The turkey at Lafayette Gourmet is delicious. During November and December you can purchase a whole turkey with condiments for home delivery for around 700AED. It’s enough food for 6-8 persons, so it’s both a very affordable and tasty way to secure your Christmas dinner. I haven’t been able to find the menu and exact prices on the Lafayette website, but it’s something they offer every year, and you’ll need to order in advance. Even though we usually eat goose for Christmas, I actually considered ordering a Lafayette turkey this year, because I didn’t want to stress about cooking on Christmas eve. Though turns out that Poul and I will be spending Christmas in Singapore, so we’ll probably be having chicken rice or chilli crab instead.

I don’t like white turkey meat, as it tends to get dry. My favorite piece is the thigh, but I had to go to the restroom outside Galeries Lafayette, and when I made it back, they had already cut most of the turkey and the meat left was primarily white. Fortunately, the chef stole some thigh meat from another table, so I ended up with a pile of juicy turkey thigh. It was amazing!

Usually, Christmas pudding is made with alcohol, but due to local restrictions, the Christmas pudding at Lafayette was a non-boozy version. I don’t like Christmas pudding, and even though the Christmas pudding at Lafayette Gourmet looked very pretty, I didn’t like the sticky-sweet taste of it. The Christmas log was really good with a distinct chocolate flavor. It tasted homemade (like Christmas food is supposed to) and it wasn’t too sweet either.

Where will you be celebrating Christmas/the festive season?  What’s your favorite turkey piece?

Galeries Lafayette Le Gourmet, Dubai Mall, Dubai