One of the best discoveries we made about living in Al Ain is the cafeteria. This does not refer to the place children eat at school (our school doesn’t even have one of those). These are tiny places to eat, often without any space for seating where food is dirt cheap. You can pull up in your car and honk your horn for service. Sometimes you make eye contact with a server and don’t need to honk.
Our first introduction to the phenomenon of cafeterias was Rashed Ali Cafeteria, located a short walk from our hotel. We got really into getting eggs and cheese wraps and karak (chai) tea there before school. The cost of two wraps and two cups of tea is dhs8.50 (about $2). Any wrap at Rashed Ali will be about the same price. Most are filled with chicken, sauce, and french fries. All are wrapped in paratha.
With how much we were going out to eat throughout our extended hotel stay, we were on the lookout for anything cheap and delicious. We tried several other cafeterias near our hotel. Oktay’s, a Turkish shawarma place, serves delicious “cup and go”s that consist of a wrap filled with sliced chicken, a tasty green sauce, and red cabbage in a takeout cup. At dhs9 each ($2.50 or so) it is not a bad deal.
Food like this is served without utensils and is meant to be eaten with your right hand
A few other cafeterias in our immediate area specialized in Indian food. We found that these places usually had one standout item such as really great naan or some awesome chicken biryani but that most weren’t consistent across the board. There were a few exceptions though.
Across town at Al Sendian we went out with a few other teachers and found some incredible and consistent Indian food as well as friendly service. The daal was tasty, the chicken curry had a nice thick and spicy sauce, and the mutton was tender. Despite being further away, we’ve returned to this spot, as have the couple we went there with. While there we met some other expats who introduced themselves and gave us their contact information to play frisbee at the park.
The best of the bunch so far goes to Al Baz. Many people recommended this spot to us but we were apprehensive about going since the block that it is on is always a mess with people triple parked along the way. After a month in Al Ain we finally braved the chaos. Jordan ordered half a grilled chicken and a side of hummus. I ordered the “Mexican” sandwich and fries (here, Mexican denotes the use of lots of red chili powder). The whole order was dhs30 (about $8). The man who took our order juggled the line of people like us inside, the servers coming in with orders from outside, the phone ringing with orders, and Talabat loaded on his computer with online orders for delivery. We couldn’t believe how calm and friendly he was under these circumstances.
Grilled chicken, hummus, garlic sauce, and a bag of pita bread from Al Baz.
The chicken from Al Baz has to be the juiciest, most tender chicken either of us has ever had the pleasure of eating. This went both for the grilled chicken and the chicken inside the sandwich. The hummus was tasty as well, and they gave us plenty of bread to dip in it. We had ordered enough food that I thought we would end up with leftovers but we didn’t leave a single crumb. I can’t imagine any place in Al Ain making better Arabic food. Jordan, currently a top 5 reviewer on Zomoto, reviewed it thusly: “The chicken, oh THIS chicken, is what poets dream about. This chicken, this juicy, tender chicken, is better than Dubai’s most magnificent Michelin Star restaurants. The chicken- unparalleled in its grandeur- is what wars are fought over- the true meaning of life found between some hummus and bread!”
