Caramel

Today I had the most amazing lunch! My good friend Angela's husband Derek is an executive chef and for the last 6 months or so he has been working on opening a new restaurant in Dubai. Yesterday his new restaurant "Caramel", located in the DIFC, opened. Angela's parents are in town and so she invited me to join them for lunch to try the new restaurant. I was really excited because we've been dying for Derek's restaurant to open (you know my love of good food) so Jared and I could go.

The interior of the restaurant is all cozy leather and caramel colored. It has a fun looking bar and a patio area outside that looks just delightful with teak furniture and wooden latticed arbors to sit under. We sat inside because it was a little hot out. Derek came out of the kitchen to greet us almost immediately, and then promptly ordered almost everything on the menu for us to try. The restaurant is owned by a company in Las Vegas and so a lot of the menu is American food, which I was extremely excited about because good American food is hard to come by here.

For Starters we had a sampling of almost all the apps: lobster tacos with mango salsa, crabcake sliders, black cod lettuce wraps, and my personal favorite, chicken "lolly pops" (ie, delicious buffalo wings with real blue cheese. I immediately had to brag to Jared about getting to have actual wings in Dubai).

Then for my main I had the sliders (Derek insisted that I try them, complete with Vlasic Pickles, which I'm actually not a fan of, but appreciated the American-ness). Angela had half a roasted chicken with mashed potatoes, her dad had sea bass over risotto, and her mom had salmon with white bean salad and lemon buttered asparagus. All delicious. And Derek also insisted that we try the side dishes, so had garlic and parmesan pomme frites and mac n cheese sticks with truffle dipping sauce (amazing!).

Then, when I didn't think I had any more space in my stomach, Derek brought out all the desserts for us to try. Apple crumble with vanilla ice cream, molten chocolate cake with coffee ice cream, and a bowl with mango and lemon sorbet with berries. Absolutely the most amazing lunch I've had in Dubai! I can't wait to bring Jared back to try the wings, although unfortunately, now that the restaurant is open, Derek is leaving the company... They will definitely miss him.