Dubai is known for its decadence and the many expats who travel there every year know that fine dining will never be hard to come by, indeed many of the world’s most celebrated chefs, Gordon Ramsey and Nobu Matsuhisa included, have opened up restaurants in this glittering UAE city.
Recently expatriates in Dubai have been offered a culinary treat that may be new to their western taste buds- camel meat. Natives of the Emirates have been known to eat camel meat in a variety of forms, but it has never really been marketed towards foreigners, until now.
The Local House restaurant is now offering camel meat to its mainly foreign clientele, tempting them to take a bite with a sign that reads “Don't miss yummy camel burger”. Local House doesn’t stop at camel burgers though, their menu boasts a cornucopia of culinary camel creations including camel salad, camel steak, camel kebab, camel soup, camel curry, and the enticing camel special. To wash the feast down you can sip a delicious milkshake, made with Camelicious brand camel milk.
The idea of marketing camel meat to the foreign visitors of Dubai is the brainchild of Local House’s owner. The manager of the restaurant, a man known only as Ramesh said: “With this restaurant the owner wanted to introduce that (camel meat) to the world as well. That's how it all started”.
So far the camel meat has gone down a storm, Anna from Canada described it as “Excellent”, French expat Karine said “It was nice, like mutton”, and Finnish tourist Alanen thought it was “good”. Alanen also highlighted the exclusivity of Local House’s menu adding that “my friends say that this place is the only place where we can eat a camel burger”.
Out of all the camel delights Ramesh said that “The most popular is the burger, and the camel special, then comes the steak”. Camel meat is said to be of a tough consistency, similar to well cooked beef, with a tangy, smoky flavour.
With the camel selection proving to be popular Ramesh says they hope to expand the Local House empire, with sights set on opening a branch in the newly unveiled Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.