DUBAI - 'DON'T miss yummy camel burger' reads the Dubai restaurant's sign, putting a Western twist on traditional fare to entice adventurous tourists into giving camel meat a chew.
Camel meat is eaten throughout the Gulf, but Dubai's Local House restaurant targets visitors who may never have bitten into this edible form of desert transport.
'Most of our guests are tourists from different parts of the world,' says Ramesh, a 44-year-old Indian national who has managed the restaurant since it opened in 2004. He says the restaurant was the brainchild of the owner, a local from Dubai who grew up on camel meat and milk. 'With this restaurant (the owner) wanted to (introduce) that to the world as well. That's how it all started,' said Ramesh, who gave only one name.
Camels, sometimes called 'ships of the desert', are a big part of culture in the Arabian Peninsula. In the United Arab Emirates, there are camel races, camel beauty contests and competitions for the tastiest camel cuisine. Camel meat is cooked many ways and sometimes served as a 'shawarma' - grilled meat wrapped in flat bread.
Local House prides itself on its novel burger, but the menu boasts an extensive camel-based offering. 'We have...camel soup, camel salad, then we have the camel burger, camel kebab, camel steak, then we have camel briyani - that is a mixture of rice and camel meat,' says Ramesh, as he rattles off still more menu items.
The restaurant also offers a camel curry dish, grilled camel ribs and the camel special, which is cooked in oyster sauce. 'Camelicious' brand camel milk, milk chocolates and milkshakes made with camel milk are some of the other offerings. The burger costs 35 dirhams (about US$9 or S$12.6), while other dishes range in price between 20 and 72 dirhams (about US$6 and US$20).
Local House customers described their first taste of camel meat as positive. Alanen, a 60-year-old from Finland visiting Dubai with his wife, described the camel burger as 'good'. He tried it because 'my friends say that this place is the only place where we can eat a camel burger'. 'Excellent,' says Anna, a 38-year-old Canadian who tried the camel soup. Karine, 39, a French national living in the UAE, tried the camel briyani and said: 'It was nice. The texture is like mutton, a bit...without the strong taste of the mutton, but it's a bit hard.' --AFP
