As part of my rediscover Dubai campaign I recently travelled along the Al Khail road to Festival City, something I often do during the day but not normally in the evening. But, I had heard that on Wednesday evening they have “live” music on the waterfront and thought this would be interesting. The weather was great and the setting superb, there are some great looking boats in the Harbour, granted it’s not quite St Tropez but it is considerably nearer.

The musicians were playing on a stage set in the water and the atmosphere was great with people lounging around on bean bags, taking in the ambiance.

 

Festival City has many dining options including licensed at the Intercontinental but we decided that given it was a “school” night we would go somewhere that was non licensed for a change. The Tanjia restaurant caught our eye as it had both indoor and outdoor dining, and a Shisha area. The decor was beautiful with Moroccan lanterns and furniture. The restaurant had only been open a matter of days and the staff were really friendly and welcoming.

 

As suspected the food was Moroccan with a good selection of reasonably priced items ranging from salads through to kebabs and of course Taglines. Upon arrival we were given cold towels and a very refreshing lemon and mint welcome drink; this was so good that we all ordered more of the same to accompany our meal.

 

As a non meat eater I often struggle with Arabic food as whilst it normally offers great mezze, the main course is always a different proposition and I tend to stick with starters only. But, there was a good selection of options for both meat and non meat eaters providing you eat fish. Pure veggies would struggle. Interestingly, the chef is a lady which is always good to hear and fairly rare in the UAE.

 

We started our evening with a selection to share including Moroccan Salads which came flavoured with garlic, parsley, coriander and lemon juice, Pastilla which are little pies made of filo pastry, seafood and vermicelli and Briouattes which were similar but filled with minced meat. Other options included Calamari and Seafood Salad and some wonderful sounding soups including the traditional Harira Fassia and my favourite Chorbat Al Adas, better known as lentil soup.

 

Our waiter was very knowledgeable about the menu and was able to not recommend special dishes but also advise which was the better option. And, so we let him lead the way for our main courses as opinion differed on what we should be sharing.

 

This resulted in a good selection of food and lots of different tastes.  We of course had to have a Tagine and in fact had two, one being Lamb with Prunes and the other a Beef Tagine served with vegetables, both were excellent. To accompany this we had Vegetable Couscous which came with seasonal vegatables and chickpeas. And, Grilled Sea Bass which was a fillet marinated in charmoula sauce which was truly delicious and served with peppers, courgette and aubergine.

 

In addition the meat eaters tucked into Tanjia Marrakchia which was braised lamb shanks cooked in an earthenware jar with spices, garlic and preserved lemon, which my husband declared succulent.

 

By now I was truly sated and wanted nothing more than an Arabic coffee (medium) but, the waiter said we had to try some of the Arabic desserts so we succumbed and had some delicious Sweet Briouat which were fillo pastries stuffed with crushed almonds and topped with honey to accompany the coffee.

 

Healthier options on offer were a lovely sounding orange salad flavoured with orange blossom icing sugar and cinnamon and a fruit platter.

 

Tanjia is great for an informal evening with friends and great value for money. And, if you are a Shisha fiend even better as you can sit outside and partake in that great sport of people watching. Festival City is somewhere else to add to the list of great places in Dubai for an evening out regardless of where you live. Click here for menu.

Tajia Restaurant
Dubai Festival City
For reservations, call +971 4 232 8382.