Dubai night markets open as winter festive season sets in

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Summer is out. Winter is in. And night markets open to enhance the festive mood.

This city’s approximately half a million Filipinos are once again in for a treat as the “ber” months usher in the much-anticipated yuletide season with al fresco, comfort foods galore at night markets, the first of which held a packed, grand opening on the evening of Oct. 12.

The Rigga Night Market (RNM), located on a strip of 24/7 road lined with restaurants, and a short walking distance from five-star and four-star hotels as well as a mall, has anything from traditional Pinoy comfort foods like bibingka (rice cake baked on clay ovens and burning charcoals) and puto bumbong (purple rice cake steamed in bamboo tubes) to sisig combos and silog meals. It also offers a range of pan Asian cuisines.

RNM also has rows upon rows of picnic tables with a total seating capacity of 1,200 people. Nightly footfall is expected at between 5,000 and 6,000, said Frel Villaflor, a former overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who is now founder and CEO of an events management company that organized the night market.

Co-founder and COO is another former OFW, Marvin Suavengco, who started out as salesman at an appliance store at the Mall of the Emirates (MOE).

“This is the biggest, grandest and busiest night market of its kind in the UAE, and it is the only one that is Filipino-owned,” said Villaflor, who used to be production manager at a company engaged in media and advertising at Dubai Media City.

The RNM is also listed among events to check out during the annual, month-long Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), a city-wide shopping and entertainment event where hundreds of participating stores offer discounts.

As such, it is not unusual to see tourists sampling the dishes and enjoying the nightly musical performances by mostly Filipino artists.

Running on its 30th year, DSF will be held from Dec. 6, 2024 to Jan. 12, 2025.

The RNM, now on its fifth year, will be open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. every day. It has 41 food stalls and 64 retail stores, said Villaflor. It will run until May next year, she said.

“We will have more Asian food. Of course, all Filipino foods are available. We also have Thai cuisine, Burmese, Mexican, Korean, Chinese, pizza and pasta, local sweets like luqaimat (fried doughnut balls),” Villaflor said.

Through the years, RMN has been the go-to place for most Filipinos out for a cool, evening stroll and some bites. Rigga is located in Deira, a part of Dubai that is home to a large community of Filipinos.

Other night markets set to open are located in Muraqqabat, also in Deira; Karama, which is across the river from Deira; and Al Barsha near MOE.

Another night market is also set to open soon across from RMN and adjacent to Ghurair Mall. —KG, GMA Integrated News