If you are in for a culinary tour, the Global Village is your best bet in Dubai. Global Village boasts about 200+ restaurants, cafes, and street food options from all over the world. It is like a virtual food tour across 90 countries.
You can see food everywhere you turn around so, you are sure not to leave Global Village without trying out at least one of the food here.
Emirati Food
This Emirati food is included on my UAE food trip itinerary!
If you want to try Emirati Food at the Global Village, this is the place to be. They serve various Emirati food like luqaymat, luqaymat with cheese or nutella, and luqyamat with lotus.
You can see them preparing and cooking it in front of you and everything is served hot.
We tried their plain luqaymat. I also wanted to try the ones with Nutella but I thought I should go for the original version since it was my first time. Also, we thought that it would be too sweet with Nutella.
The luqaymat is a hot Arabic dessert. It is sweet, and a bit crunchy. It is served covered with sweet syrup. Anyway, it is like bite-sized donuts!
The luqaymat itself is not sweet that’s why we liked it with lots of syrup. Also, I think having this with Nutella is a good idea!
Price: 11 AED
Table for: 1 (small)
Food Rating: 5/5
If you are in for a bigger treat, you can get their large luqaymat for only 21 AED.
Aside from this, they also serve rigag bread which is also a traditional food by the Emirati. It is a thin bread made from flour which is somehow similar to crepe. The rigag bread is available plain which is the most popular. They also have other variations like rigag with egg or cheese. Aside from this they also offer slush, fresh juice, coffee, tea, softdrinks, and water.
Turkish Delights
Another one from my bucket list!
Though this one is not from UAE, it is widely available here. Also, this is the closest I can get to Turkey, for now.
There’s a wide range of Turkish Delights to choose from! They have plain which comes in a variety of flavors like strawberry, lemon, orange, etc.
They also have special or premium Turkish Delights which is more costly. Each kilo costs 200 AED.
These turkish delights usually has nuts like pistachio and walnuts.
I was able to try different flavors and bargained with the seller. I’ve read in some of the blogs that you should bargain if you want to get stuff at a cheaper price.
I super love the ones with nuts since they are less sweet. But since I don’t want to spend that much here, I just bought the plain ones which are already assorted. Plus, the seller gave me more. Just ask them to put in some extras!
They also have the ones which are already sealed in a box but you cannot choose the flavors you want. So, I just got the ones displayed, weighed, and boxed in front of me.
Price: 100 AED
Table for: 1 kg (plain)
Food Rating: 5/5
Turkish Ice Cream
Since Turkey is the first pavilion we visited at the Global Village, we spent quite some time here.
And yes, this Turkish Ice Cream is also on my bucket list!
Turkish Ice Cream became popular since the Turkish guy is doing tricks first before you can get your price aka the Turkish Ice Cream.
Turkish ice cream is a bit different since it is hard and stretchy, that’s why they can do some tricks before serving it. They have various flavors but I got the Pistachio. The ice cream was sweet, and a bit chewy. I like it but to be honest, it tastes just like a regular ice cream as I have expected.
Anyway, I was here to see their tricks!
Price: 19 AED
Table for: 1
Food Rating: 5/5
The Turkish Ice Cream here is quite crowded, if you want to get a good video with just you, and no other people around, you can get the Turkish Ice Cream near the entrance. There’s only one stall there. But I was lucky to get my ice cream here before the place got crowded!
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As we continue walking around Turkey Pavilion, we also saw this Simit or Turkish Bagels.
I wanted to try it but skipped it since this is only the first pavilion and we still have a lot to see. Plus, these bagels are huge!
Simit or Turkish Bagels are sold by street vendors in Turkey. The bagels are sweetened and shaped like a ring. As you can see in the photos, they are offering it plain and with meat, or cheese inside.
Japanese Food
As much as I wanted to avoid Asian food since they are also widely available in the Philippines, here we are at Japan Pavilion eating Takoyaki.
I mean who can resist?
Their takoyaki is similar to the ones I have tried here in the Philippines. What I like about it is that it has a real octopus and it is to my liking.
Price: 25 AED
Table for: 6 pieces
Food Rating: 5/5
Aside from that, you can also see different flavors of Mochi Ice Cream at the Japanese Pavilion.
Dim Sum Dynasty
My other sister wants some dim sum so, here we are.
They offer various steamed and fried dim sum like siomai, hargow, dumplings, vegetable dumplings, shrimp egg rolls, and vegetable spring rolls. They also have crispy chicken wonton, custard bun, vegetable buns, and noodles. Their noodles include wonton noodle soup, wonton tom yum soup, ramen noodles, and spicy ramen noodles.
We just got their Chicken Dumplings and it tastes good as well.
Price: 25 AED
Table for: 5 pieces
Food Rating: 4/5
The Dawg at Smashed
The last thing we tried was just hotdogs since we have to leave already and we are looking for something that we can easily eat in the car.
I wanted to try other food, something unique or authentic but we don’t have enough time to walk around and look for more food.
So, we just settled for Smashed. Something fast and easy to carry. Fortunately, they have a buy 1 take 1 promo and we got that.
The Dawg is made with 100% Prime USDA sausage, ketchup, mustard, mayo, onion chips, and martin roll.
It was served to us quickly and it was easy to eat in the car. Well, we don’t like their sausage as it tastes different from the usual ones we get in the Philippines. It has a strong flavor.
You can also get this for one piece only for 19 AED.
Price: 29 AED
Table for: 2
Food Rating: 3/5
Aside from this they also have Snoop D Melt which you can get for 25 AED for a piece or 35 AED for 2 pieces. It is the same as their Dawg but with melted cheddar cheese.
Other Food Stalls at the Global Village
Other food that we saw at the Global Village are Pad Thai, churros, kebab, and ramen.
If you want something hot, you can try this ramen, Naruto-style.
They also have the Bosnian House here where you can buy the famous Bosnina Kebabs in the UAE.
Another cool thing to try at the Global Village is this robot serving ice cream, Alice. It is located outside Ripley’s Believe It or Not. If only I didn’t have Turkish Ice Cream before, I would have tried this to see Alice in action.
If you are looking for some snacks, you can have this Tex-Mex, Taco Taco. Aside from tacos, they also serve burritos, nachos, and quesadillas.
One of the countries that we are very excited to visit is the South Korea Pavilion.
Upon entering the pavilion, we were welcomed by Bungeoppang!
After that, we also visited their K-pop Merch Stall. Of course, we went there to see some BTS merchandise but unfortunately, we weren’t able to buy any.
@teybolforwan_ Siyempre di namin kinalimutan ang aming mga boys. Ito lang muna ang South Korea na narating. 😅 #globalvillage #btsarmy #bts #dubai ♬ That That (prod. & feat. SUGA of BTS) – PSY
Aside from that, you can also see different kinds of honey at the Global Village. I wanted to try it and buy but I thought it would be a bit hassle to bring it home.
Other restaurants at the Global Village include Chili’s, Nowruz, Nash Hot Chicken, Taksim Turkish Restaurant, One Degree Cafe, Bigbang, Pizza Cone, Mango Mania, Falafel Anas, Turkish Spiral Potato, and Super Slice Pizza.
Visit the Global Village in Dubai before it closes to the public on May 7, 2022!
Location: Global Village, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Road and Emirates Road, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Contact No.: +971 4 362 4114
Facebook Page: Global Village
Instagram: @globalvillageuae
Website: www.globalvillage.ae
Disclaimer: Global Village operating hours may change so, make sure to visit Global Village’s website and mobile app for any updates. We also paid for our food and this review was written with an honest opinion.