Filipinos in Dubai celebrate Eid Al Adha with Filipino food feast

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – The Filipino community marks Eid Al-Adha celebrations with a food festival across 12 restaurants, mostly in Dubai, showcasing traditional Philippine cuisine that locals as well as other expatriates, living in this international city’s multi-cultural setup, have grown to love.

Eid Al-Adha, which is Arabic for “Festival of the Sacrifice,” is the celebration of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, in obedience to God’s command. God instead stopped him and provided a lamb for the sacrifice. This was also mentioned in the bible.

Eid Al-Adha is a three-day event, which began on July 20, Tuesday. It will run for a full week considering that Friday and Saturday are non-working days.

Muslims celebrate Eid Al-Adha with a special dish prepared from lamb, but Filipinos are giving it twist. On the spread at the food fest will be such delectable Filipino dishes like Kare-Kare, stewed oxtail or beef tripe, with a rich and thick peanut sauce; and Bulalo, a broth prepared by boiling humongous beef shanks that comes with vegetables, corn on the cob, scallions, onions, garlic and ginger.

Interestingly, stories from historians have it that Kare Kare was introduced in the Philippines by Arab traders around the 13th century.

The Philippines is a predominantly Christian country with a large Muslim population mostly in the south, hence the Filipino community in the UAE is composed of both Muslims and Christians.

‘PINASarap in the UAE’

The food fest is dubbed, “PINASarap in the UAE.”

“PINASarap” is a portmanteau of the Filipino words, “Pilipinas,” the vernacular equivalent of Philippines; and “sarap,” which means flavorful in English.

“During the ‘PINASarap in the UAE’ campaign, the 12 Filipino-owned restaurants will be opening their doors to all overseas Filipinos, local Arabs and other nationalities to visit and experience our offerings,” said Gina Valbuena, chairperson of the League of Food and Beverage Entrepreneurs (LFBE), which is spearheading the event.

“The ongoing food fest also gives expats the chance to explore and appreciate Filipino cuisines and delicacies. We have seen an increasing presence of expats dining at Filipino restaurants, giving their thumbs-up for our local dishes like Kare-Kare, Tapsilog and Bulalo, among others,” Valbuena, who also owns one of the participating restaurants, the Kubyertos Cuisine, added.

Tapsilog is a “combination (combo) meal” composed of fried beef, fried rice and egg sunny-side up – a popular, fastfood meal among Filipinos.

Also worth discovering at another participating restaurant – Face Café –  is the Bibingka, glutinous rice cake baked in a traditional clay pot lined with banana leaves with heat under and over it.

And as bubble milk tea paired with Shawarma has been the rage these days, the food fest also boasts of some innovative presentations by a participating restaurant, Joy Bubble.

“Apart from Filipino cuisine, some of the outlets take pride in showcasing food and beverage offerings with International, Chinese, Japanese and Asian orientation.  This provides our Filipino entrepreneurs an exposure into a wider client base,” Valbuena said.

Among them is Vangie Asiyah Monjardin, owner of Desert Wok, still another participating restaurant, who said their offerings are all about “Chinese food with a twist.”

“That is how we have created our fusion of Indo-Chinese cuisine that caters to the multi-cultural background of Dubai,” Monjardin said.

“The combination of spices and Asian ingredients suits the palate of our international clientele as well as of fellow Filipinos, whose love for food makes them the best patrons for a gastronomical experience,” she added. 

There is also the “seafood boodle fight” at Off the Hook, where customers dine with bare hands using plastic gloves, digging in to a sumptuous spread of fresh seafood boils – a Filipino dining concept fast becoming popular among local Arabs and expats as the restaurant’s footfall shows.

“We believe that eating should be a fun experience where people gather and share happy thoughts, bringing with them stories to share about their dining experience,” said Rolly Brucales, who operates the restaurant chain.

‘Passport’

Meantime, Valbuena said food fest diners will not only get a chance to indulge in the Filipinos’ unique cuisine, but as well in an opportunity to win prizes like round-trip plane tickets to the Philippines, packages from project partners as well as vouchers from LFBE restaurants and enterprises.

“All 12 official members will issue these ‘dining passports’ to interested customers –  Filipinos and other foreign nationals – who can then qualify for the raffle draw by having their ‘passports’ stamped by all participating restaurants,” Valbuena explained.

Valbuena said completed passports may be submitted to any of the LFBE members. Raffle draw will be held on Sept. 3, 2021, she said.  

Participating restaurants

Meantime, aside from Kubyertos Cuisine, Face Café  and Joy Bubble, other participating restaurants are: Agemono Grill Restaurant LLC; Draft Corner Café; Off the Hook Seafood Restaurant; Ounce; Paluto Restaurant; Panadero Pastry Shop; Shokuji Sushi Japanese Restaurant; The Desert Wok and Zutto Suki.

The LFBE is a sub-committee of Philippine Business Council - Dubai & Northern Emirates (PBC-DNE) and is under the auspices of the Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Dubai and in collaboration Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) Dubai.

The PBC-DNE is the only Filipino organization licensed by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry and part of ASEAN Business Council Alliance (ABCA).

The LFBE was launched on April 18, 2021 in Dubai.

— LA, GMA News