Dubai Haute Cuisine

The typical (Hindu) Indian restaurant in Dubai has what is called thali, which means all the vegetarian curry, rice, and bread you can eat, for around €1.75 (€2.00 with tea). (Actually, that's curries, since there is a selection of at least seven, one of which is sweet, but all of which taste like curry.)

Of couse, one can spend much more than this in Dubai: sub-continental cuisine is by far the cheapest around.

Some Muslim Indian restaurants offer a thali with meat, but the price is a bit higher. Most Pakistani restaurants sell by the dish, not a thali, for as little as €1.00, or a mutton sandwich (in the form of a Greek giro, in Arabic shwarma) for €0.50.

Friday, I ate in an upscale Egyptian restaurant, where the meal was €35.00 per person, not including a few puffs on a hooka, which would have added €5.00.

In the (Western Oriented) hotels, meals can easily cost €100.00 or more.

But in the small Indian restaurants, not in a mall or hotel, €2.00 buys more food than one can comfortably eat^*.

And, since I normally spend €2.50 on ingredients when I cook for myself, I don't see how they do it.

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^*Actually, both my parents agreed that, curry being curry, €0.02 buys more curry than one can comfortably eat, but my tastes are a bit broader than theirs were, which is fortunate, since my pocketbook is a good deal narrower.