Zen the Spa: A sanctuary in the heart of Deira

Deira is the last place you'd want to be if you were looking to relax and get away from it all. But as I discovered, there's a place in that part of town where you can drown out the noise and get your yin and yang in order.

Zen the Spa is located on the fifth floor of Al Ghurair Rayhaan by Rotana, the hotel chain's newest property in the UAE. It's posh, spacious and conveniently attached to the newly renovated Al Ghurair Centre.

As I sat myself on one of the couches of the spa's well-lit lobby, a very helpful receptionist greeted me and ask me to fill out a form about my medical history and massage preferences.

She then led me to a room equipped with a jacuzzi, a steam bath and a sauna room, where I can spend as much time as I want before my appointment.

After utilizing them all, I was fetched by my therapist and taken to a reasonably sized massage room that had all the trappings of a perfect relaxation nest: dim lights, a faint fragrance to soothe my senses, and an inviting, incredibly comfortable massage bed.

This is obviously not me in the picture, but my experience was similar.

First off, a short ritual to kick off the treatment: my feet were gently washed, preparing me for a full hour of bliss. And then, my 60 minutes. Mine, all mine. Mobile phone off, restrictive clothing off.  The treatment I chose is called the Active Muscle Massage. I told my therapist that I had extremely painful knots in parts of my back, as well as a slight, numb feeling on the soles of my feet, that resembled mild cramps.  I was impressed at how well she listened to me, and how she hit those areas spot on. Within minutes, I was in a deep sleep. The combination of the essential oil she used, the quiet humming of instrumental spa music, and my therapist's expertise was all I needed to get to that REM cycle that I found so hard to reach.

Before I knew it, I was gently being reminded that the treatment was over, but that I could continue chilling out in another room. The room was big and had a sens
e of calm about it. Staying there helped me transition from zen mode to 'real world' mode. It was necessary at it was luxurious.

All in all, my experience at Zen the Spa certainly beats some spas in Dubai. I left the hotel with some peace of mind, a smile on my face, and extremely relaxed muscles.

BRUNCH AT THE DUSIT THANI DUBAI

I didn't know the Dusit Thani did brunch until my friend invited me to it.

Serving Thai food at a brunch is a brave move. Thai food is meant to be served straight from the wok or saucepan, steaming hot and releasing the aroma of chilies, lemongrass and ginger into the air. The thought of it being sat along with 50 or so other dishes for four hours can put anyone off. It's just now buffet food. But then again, Dusit knows Thai food. Very well. It's a Thai brand, and it houses of the best Thai restaurants in the country, the hotel chain's signature culinary powerhouse, Benjarong.

So with that reservation out of the way, I sat myself along with friends at our table on the 24th floor of the Dusit Thani Dubai, right by the entrance of PAX, a restaurant that serves Italian fare. And after ordering a drink, I got up and attacked the food.

First of all, the  food there was, as usual, impeccably prepared. It consisted of menu items from Benjarong, PAX and The Californian, all located on the same floor.

A steaming bowl of Tom Yum, anyone?
Colorful Asian salads that pack a punch.
Fresh seafood including oysters, prawns, lobsters and crabs piling on my plate.
A good sprinkling of crushed peanuts and drizzling of lime juice on my Pad Thai.
A delectable serving of mushroom pasta especially prepared by Chef Fabio of PAX.
Spare ribs with corn on the cob.
Beef and lamb steak with gravy and Yorkshire pudding.
Warm arancini and pizza.
Seven different types of dessert, including my favorite, cream puffs.

I ate my way to partial blindness.

Add to that splendid Thai performances by the staff, complete with costumes and props.

I couldn't believe I was having the full Thai experience within a five minute taxi ride from my place.

Great thing to do on a Friday.

CABARET NIGHTS IN DUBAI

In a bold attempt to convert this huge Filipino night club into an international dining destination, Asiana Hotel's Boracay Night Club is launching the first ever Las Vegas dinner show in Dubai. And I was there at the soft opening, along with discerning foodies and travel industry professionals.

Great food! The flyer said 'international buffet', and more or less, it was. It consisted of Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and a teensy bit of Western fare. I'm talking kimchi, sushi, dumplings, grilled chicken, and pasta.

The cabaret itself was probably the most fabulous night club performance I’ve seen in Dubai. Though I’ve not been to many, I could tell that a huge amount of brainstorming and funding went into the production.

The daily evening show consists of different song and dance numbers, vibrant costumes and multi-talented performers, who I was told were plucked from Universal Studios and Disney. Everything was very entertaining – from the Bruno Mars ballad to the spectacular Burlesque number. The only time I got up to get a drink was when I heard the intro to “My Heart Will Go On”. I thought it was old and tacky, but I looked around and saw all everyone else thoroughly enjoying it. So yeah, i guess that worked as well.

Here’s the best part: It’s AED179 for a full buffet plus the show. Not bad.

THIS TIME, I'M NOT 'SHAYAN' AWAY FROM PERSIAN FOOD

Persian food, anyone? It's not the first thing that comes to mind when I feel like eating out, but I like trying things, and this particular fare deserved my attention. After all, I've been living in Dubai for almost eight years, and it's just not right to ignore it, especially when a lot of people are raving about it.

My first encounter with Iranian food was made possible by Shayan, a restaurant at Rayhaan by Rotana, a hotel attached to the newly renovated Al Ghurair Centre.  It's a spacious, amply lit and extremely classy inside, but with a staff greeting you at the door and leading you to a table of your choice, it's not intimidating at all.

After handing me the menu, the smiling server didn't leave my table. He had expected to be barraged by a number of questions, mostly about what the dishes were and what they consisted of. And that's exactly what I did. And I must say, I was extremely impressed by their knowledge of every single item on the menu. 

The servers at Shayan are extremely friendly and knowledgeable, but not intrusive.

First off, the appetizers. Shayan does fabulously presented yet fresh and uncomplicated starters. Their Salad Shirazi looks like it's been tossed and plated straight from a vegetable garden - cucumbers, red onions, and tomatoes drizzled with virgin olive oil and lime juice. 

These fresh veggies, olives and bread are part of the appetizer round.

It took a few spoonfuls of the Kashk E Bademjan to convince me that the flavors in the dish actually worked together. It's special aged cheese curd mixed with grilled eggplant and seasoned with traditional Persian spices. I'm a big dairy consumer, but eggplants aren't my thing. But the spices actually do a great job marrying those two ingredients. A nice mix of of salty, spicy and savory.

The Esfenaj Nargesi - or seasoned spinach, topped with sauteed onions and fried egg - rests on a dainty plate, a perfectly sized portion. These are simple food items that I didn't realize made perfect sense when combined. It could even work as breakfast. 

Let's get to the good part. The mains were pretty straightforward. I first delved my spoon into the  Gheymeh Bademjan. It's in no way near "gamy" (Gheymeh, get it?). It's a lamb stew prepared with lentils, tomatoes and fired eggplant. It's something, I imagine, that an Iranian mother would make for her family of eight when there's a special occasion. It's comfort meets festive. Never mind my loathing for eggplant (which I guess is Bademjan in Farsi). The rest of the dish was something I would have over and over again at Shayan. 

A plateful of grilled goodness.

Then there came the enormous plate full of delectable grill items. Let's talk about the first one, called Kubideh Ye Joojeh. It's basically minced chicken breast, onion and saffron on a skewer. It's moist, tasty and healthy. That's a dinner dish I can get on board with. 

I sampled another chicken skewer called Joojeh Kabab Ba Ostokan (won't try to say it twice). It's chicken on the bone marinated with saffron sauce. It's tender, richer and densely packed with the sauce. The bits of chicken come apart! 

I then focused my attention on the beef. Tikke Masti is beef tenderloin marinated with yogurt, saffron and Persian spices. At this point, my taste buds were dominated by saffron. That wasn't a complaint at all. I thought it was good that saffron was one of the common elements in some of the dishes, because it was subtle yet undeniably essential in making the dishes achieve a certain flavor profile.  Tikke Masti isn't massively different from Arabic kebab, but in a way, it's distinctly Persian.

Three different kinds of rice served with the mains

Now I'm no fan of lamb. Some of the lamb kebabs I've had in the past tasted too gamy, over seasoned and oily beyond necessity. But Shayan's Kabab Shishlik was neither of those things. It was as fragrant as a good piece of lamb could get, grilled to perfection and seasoned to my liking. It's the kind of grub you'd have with lots of greens and grilled tomatoes.

The single weird thing I tasted that evening was the Tahchin Ghoosh Mahi. It's basically a savory rice cake flavored with saffron and layered with shrimp, fish and other seafood, topped with sea scallops, barberries and pistachios. Yes, it tastes as strange as it sounds. I was told that many patrons of the restaurant order it. I'm guessing they're all Iranian. I guess it's a really authentic and unique Persian flavor. It's one of those things: one of the Filipino dishes that everyone in my country loves is kare-kare, which is made with peanut butter, veggies and tripe. So this dish is something like that. Not a fan.

Room for dessert? Anytime. I sometimes think I eat a whole meal just to get to the much awaited dessert round. And my meal at Shayan is not exception. I was served traditional Persian ice cream, flavored with saffron and rosewater, adorned with vermicelli. There were many textures in this ice cream. At first I thought it was going to taste like kulfi, but it was sweeter than kulfi, but not as rich as mainstream ice cream, for example. The rosewater put me off, but the string of hardened caramel in the cup kept me going. I finished about 3/4 of my cup.

Trivia: Wikipedia says ice cream originated in Iran. Yup. Here's what it says:

In the Persian Empire, people would pour grape-juice concentrate over snow, in a bowl, and eat this as a treat. This was done primarily when the weather was hot, using snow saved in the cool-keeping underground chambers known as "yakhchal", or taken from snowfall that remained at the top of mountains by the summer capital — Hagmatana, Ecbatana or Hamedan of today. In 400 BC, the Persians went further and invented a special chilled food, made of rose water and vermicelli, which was served to royalty during summers.^[5] The ice was mixed with saffron, fruits, and various other flavours.

All in all, my Shayan experience left me bloated and happy, feeling like I knew more about the world than before I walked into the place. Lots of hits, a few misses. Contrary to my preconceived notion that Persian cuisine was similar to Arabic, it's actually unique. It's less intense but equally delicious. It's rustic in the way it is prepared and presented but complex flavor-wise. And of course, it's been around for centuries, which makes it a piece of ancient Persian culture. That's pretty cool.