There's a new outdoor fish market very close to where we live, right off the beach. It's called Souq Al Bahar, which is confusing because there's a fancy shopping area with the same name next to the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa. Since "al bahar" means "the sea" in Arabic, I'd say the fish market has the more authentic claim to the name.
Places use the same name all over Dubai. People do not seem as intent on branding or as concerned with finding and protecting unique business names as they would be in the United States. It's also the result of having old and new versions. There's the original, old Gold Souq in the old part of Dubai, and then there's several other versions of Gold Souq in the malls and as stand-alone shopping areas. There are two Crowne Plaza hotels (I found this out the hard way). There are three Address hotels. So tourists need to be armed with good information about where they are going to avoid confusion. If you were looking for the Dubai Marina, for example, you would find many confusing possibilities, including several actual marinas as well as that new part of town past the Palm Jumeirah.
The new fish market is right next to a marina (which some probably confusingly call the Dubai marina) and a sailing club (unfortunately, fully booked for sailing lessons). We bought what we thought was hammour the other day and got it cleaned and deboned before taking it home--very economical compared to what we would pay in a restaurant. It was delicious cooked on the barbecue grill on our balcony. We use real charcoal here and the food seems to taste better grilled that way than with the propane grill we use in Pittsburgh. Hammour is now mostly off menus in Dubai due to overfishing, so it's very possible what we bought was something different. Fish don't come with labels. The lobster, which I think were local, were downright scary looking.
For something new and fun, we booked a deep sea fishing trip for a recent Saturday. Dubai has its own fisherman's wharf of sorts, not far from the fish market. There's a special service entrance and lodging area for fisherman, and a guarded entry gate for boaters and tourists. It wasn't very busy when we arrived. All fishing trips had been cancelled the day before due to a bad storm, which caused a huge pleasure yacht to crash at the Palm Jumeirah, not a good sign.
As we headed out into the Gulf, the after effects of the storm were more obvious. It was like riding a very rough roller coaster as we climbed up and crashed down each wave, getting splattered with spray. We couldn't stand up or stay dry. The captain stopped the boat before either of us got too seasick, and we got the rods out and tried to do some bottom fishing. The fish were not biting, and the boat was getting tossed about, so we didn't last long in that spot. The captain suggested heading back closer to shore where the water was calmer, and we readily agreed. But the catch was not so great. The views of Dubai made up for it. The only two fish of any real size were not caught by us. We got them cleaned at the fish market and cooked them up that night--not bad at all. I had a hard time eating, though, perhaps due to having seen them alive or maybe I was still a bit seasick.
Now I can put deep sea fishing on my list of supposedly fun things I'll never do again in Dubai. I'm very happy to find the fish market, which will do just fine for our fresh fish from now on.
Places use the same name all over Dubai. People do not seem as intent on branding or as concerned with finding and protecting unique business names as they would be in the United States. It's also the result of having old and new versions. There's the original, old Gold Souq in the old part of Dubai, and then there's several other versions of Gold Souq in the malls and as stand-alone shopping areas. There are two Crowne Plaza hotels (I found this out the hard way). There are three Address hotels. So tourists need to be armed with good information about where they are going to avoid confusion. If you were looking for the Dubai Marina, for example, you would find many confusing possibilities, including several actual marinas as well as that new part of town past the Palm Jumeirah.
The new fish market is right next to a marina (which some probably confusingly call the Dubai marina) and a sailing club (unfortunately, fully booked for sailing lessons). We bought what we thought was hammour the other day and got it cleaned and deboned before taking it home--very economical compared to what we would pay in a restaurant. It was delicious cooked on the barbecue grill on our balcony. We use real charcoal here and the food seems to taste better grilled that way than with the propane grill we use in Pittsburgh. Hammour is now mostly off menus in Dubai due to overfishing, so it's very possible what we bought was something different. Fish don't come with labels. The lobster, which I think were local, were downright scary looking.
For something new and fun, we booked a deep sea fishing trip for a recent Saturday. Dubai has its own fisherman's wharf of sorts, not far from the fish market. There's a special service entrance and lodging area for fisherman, and a guarded entry gate for boaters and tourists. It wasn't very busy when we arrived. All fishing trips had been cancelled the day before due to a bad storm, which caused a huge pleasure yacht to crash at the Palm Jumeirah, not a good sign.
As we headed out into the Gulf, the after effects of the storm were more obvious. It was like riding a very rough roller coaster as we climbed up and crashed down each wave, getting splattered with spray. We couldn't stand up or stay dry. The captain stopped the boat before either of us got too seasick, and we got the rods out and tried to do some bottom fishing. The fish were not biting, and the boat was getting tossed about, so we didn't last long in that spot. The captain suggested heading back closer to shore where the water was calmer, and we readily agreed. But the catch was not so great. The views of Dubai made up for it. The only two fish of any real size were not caught by us. We got them cleaned at the fish market and cooked them up that night--not bad at all. I had a hard time eating, though, perhaps due to having seen them alive or maybe I was still a bit seasick.
Now I can put deep sea fishing on my list of supposedly fun things I'll never do again in Dubai. I'm very happy to find the fish market, which will do just fine for our fresh fish from now on.
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