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You are here: Home / Restaurants / Dubai restaurants / An Iftar feast at Asateer @ Atlantis The Palm, Dubai

An Iftar feast at Asateer @ Atlantis The Palm, Dubai

by Jeanne Horak on August 17, 2011 14 Comments in Dubai restaurants

Iftar, Asateer @ Atlantis © J Horak-Druiff 2011

 

“Dubai?  During August?  You must be crazy” said my friends.  “Firstly, the heat will kill you, and secondly it’s Ramadan!  Nothing happens during Ramadan – you can’t eat, you can’t drink – what’s the point?”.  I have to say – they were spot-on regarding the heat.  40C heat at 80% humidity is like walking through warm syrup, a passage lubricated by your own perspiration.  Nice.  But they were pretty wide of the mark about nothing happening during Ramadan.

Ramadan is the Muslim holy month, a time during which observant Muslims fast between the hours of sunrise and sunset and offer more daily prayers than usual.  It is a time of spiritual contemplation and charitable works, but also a time for visiting family and friends.  During Ramadan in Dubai, it is illegal to eat, drink, chew gum, or smoke in public during daylight hours (even if you are a non-Muslim, subject to certain exceptions) and even in the resorts no alcohol may be served during daylight hours.  Shops are open (although sometimes with different trading hours) but restaurants outside of the resorts are closed during daylight hours.  However, they usually extend their opening hours at night and night-life during Ramadan is usually lively as people pack all their eating activities into the hours of darkness (although there is no nightclubbing).  And of course, Ramadan is the only time when you can enjoy two unusual traditional meals – Suhoor (a pre-sunrise or late-night meal to see people through the day’s fast) and Iftar (the evening meal at sunset when the day’s fast is broken.

At Atlantis The Palm, you can enjoy Iftar at Kaleidoskope or Saffron restaurants, or (as we did) at the spectacular Asateer, a huge function venue near the beach that draped inside to look like a traditional tent. Asateer can seat 600 guests and overlooks the waters of the Palm and the Dubai Marina skyline, thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows that span an entire length of the tent. In most Muslim countries, Ramadan is associated with lights and I have to say that this was my first imperession of Asateer – so many pretty, sparkling lights!  From the gorgeous backlit silver cutouts that lines the entrance, to the candles flickering around the rose-petal filled pool in the lobby, to the 312 custom-made egg-shaped twinkling chandeliers in the dining area itself – pretty sparkles everywhere.  I was already in love and I hadn’t yet eaten a thing.

 

AsateerEntrance

AsateerLightsCollage

 

Once we were comfortably seated in the airy dining area (the apex of the tent is 8 metres high!) at our intimate circular booth, we were offered the traditional dates and water that Muslim people around the world use to break their daily Ramadan fast.  All around us were what appeared to be local people – so Asateer is definitely not a tourist attraction, but a place where locals come to enjoy an Iftar treat and play chess and backgammon late into the night to the sounds of oud players.  And once we had ordered some fresh fruit juices, we set off to explore the extensive buffet which is mirrored on either side of the serving area, so no tedious waiting for the hummus to be replenished!  The buffet is served at individual can only be described as sumptuous, spanning soups; a fantastic selection of Middle-Eastern salads (fattoush, baba ganoush, dolmades, hummus and more); traditional Indian dishes such as biriyani; more substantial Middle-Eastern dishes (including foul mudammas, fatteh, kibbeh and lamb tagine); and (wait for it)… a tahini fountain.  The tahini is diluted until it is the consistency of melted chocolate and then pumped through a fountain – like chocolate.  You dip falafel balls and spicy za’atar pastry straws in it.  Seriously.

I wish I had been hungrier so that I could have done the buffet justice.  As it was, I had probably the best and silkiest hummus I have ever eaten, ditto the spectacularly good and fresh fattoush salad.  Elsewhere on my plate, the dolmades, baba ganoush, spicy za’atar and sumac pastry straws, wonderful feta, and an intriguing spicy walnut (?) dip found a happy home, followed later by meltingly tender lamb tagine and excellent foul mudammas.

 

AsateerBuffetCollage

 

AsateerFoodBuffet

 

AsateerLightsTahiniFountain

AsateerPlateCollage

 

The dessert table proved to be too tempting to turn down, and soon we were clustering around the buffet for syrupy, nutty, flaky Middle-Eastern desserts as well as markedly more Western treats such as the chocolate fountain; the macaron topiaries, and the strawberry and chocolate ganache topiary.  We were also intrigued by the hand-made and very pretty traditional Middle-Easten sweets that were being made to order on the spot and could be bought in boxes to take home

 

AsateerDesserts

 

AsateerSweetst

 

And when we had eaten our fill, what better way to walk off the meal than a stroll back to the hotel along the beach (although even at 11pm it was still well above 35C!!), snapping a few pics of the hotel and the spectacular view across the water towards the Dubai Marina? A few extra pics are available in my Flickr album.

 

AtlantisByNightt

 

AtlantisViewByNightt

Although Asateer is available year-round to rent as a venue for weddings, parties and corporate functions, the spectacular Iftar decor and buffet (165AED per person including water and juices) which we enjoyed is only served for the month of Ramadan, which runs until approximately the end of August.

 

DISCLOSURE: I enjoyed this complimentary meal as a guest of the Atlantis The Palm resort. Click here to read about my meal at Ronda Locatelli at Atlantis, and stay tuned for more posts on the resort and a spectacular dinner at Nobu.

 

Asateer
Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah
Palm Jumeirah
Dubai

Tel. +971 (0) 4 426 0800
E-mail  [email protected]

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  1. Christine says

    August 17, 2011 at 2:12 pm

    Really nice post with awesome photos! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  2. Andrew says

    August 17, 2011 at 5:49 pm

    You have made it look all rather magical…

    Reply
  3. Hannah @ Love to Dine says

    August 17, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Wow, what an experience! Those macarons look absolutely amazing!
    Hannah @ Love to Dine
    http://lovetodine.wordpress.com

    Reply
  4. Jyoti says

    August 18, 2011 at 12:01 am

    Great pictures, thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  5. Michele says

    August 18, 2011 at 6:25 am

    Hi Jeanne
    This post is inspiring & the photo’s are great. I have been to Dubai but this makes me want to go back.I only joined your blog yesterday & I am definitely looking forward to more. Thanks

    Reply
  6. Firefly says

    August 18, 2011 at 7:30 am

    Not your typical South African food, but still very interesting. Must be an experience being in Dubai during Ramadan.

    Reply
  7. giz says

    August 18, 2011 at 11:24 pm

    What a wonderful post Jeanne and an incredible experience. I loved the whole thing.

    Reply
  8. meeta says

    August 19, 2011 at 9:37 am

    Yeah Dubai in August is mad – but I always have enjoyed Ramadan time. The city comes to life at night. I am going to admit that having been to the Atlantis a few times I was not always very pleased with the food there. Still the post makes me think and miss my parents who live across the Dubai Marina! We need to do Dubai together so I can take you out to some other great places!

    Reply
  9. PinkPolkaDot says

    August 19, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    Great review, as alwaysand the pics are magic!

    Reply
  10. arcadia says

    August 20, 2011 at 8:11 pm

    Daardie baklava lyk orgasmies. En hoe lus is ek skielik vir ‘n bakkie fattoush…

    Reply
  11. Barbara says

    August 22, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    What a wonderful experience. I would have over indulged at the dessert buffet. It looks very inviting.

    Reply
  12. Kavey says

    August 27, 2011 at 11:48 am

    Ha haaaaa ha ha ha loving the tahini fountain!

    Reply
  13. buy baklava says

    February 20, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    The pictures are amazing. It conveying us about your wonderful experience in life.The dessert table seems to be very tempting.

    Reply
  14. Brahim says

    January 1, 2017 at 12:20 pm

    Hi Jeanne. I discovered your blog on New year 2017 thanks for following instagram @the_London_cake_boutique. Let me start by wishing you a happy new year. Just want to comment that the fasting in Ramadan starts at the beggining of dawn usually about 2 hours before sunrise. I love your blogs I found them very educational. Thank you

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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