Our date(s) at Bateel

It's tea time, you rule out the cliche choices of coffee and cake at the usual cafes and choose a more traditional approach to resolving the meal dilemma. Dates and tea at Bateel. You place your order for a mixed platter of filled dates and a dazzling spread of wrinkly sweets are plated. With a fresh cup of coffee on your right and Moroccan tea served in an ornate pot, you lick you lips and reach across the table for a piece of the action.

Then you realise that those delicious nuggets of saccharine vary very much in size and color. It intrigues you, and slowly you come to realise that there's so much more to these highly prized middle eastern sweets than meets the eye. Here's what I derived.



Some little info nibbles, dates grow from palm trees known as Phoenix datylifera. Yes, trees, in all embarrassment, I thought this to be a joke upon first hearing it in Muscat during a short explanation by the local guides. Cultivated for their sweet fruits, the date palm is an important traditional crop throughout the Islamic World.

So why do all these dates assume different appearances? and do they taste different?
To cut the chase short, yes, there are three main groups of dates that exist: Soft (eg. the more popular medjool date), semi-dry (e.g.'Dayri') and dry (e.g.Thoory). The type of fruit depends on the glucose, fructose and sucrose content. And as a result of the variation, the different species taste significantly different from each other. In this round, we sampled the Khidri and Segal groups. Stuffed traditionally with fillings such as almonds, walnuts, candied orange and lemon peel, tahini and cream cheese, I took an immediate affiance to the caramelized pecan version and plain almond; mostly because I love the contrast of the nutty crunch from the nut together with the soft gooey innards of the fresh date.



And in the end, dates and tea seem ideal for sidelining a quiet intimate conversation, where retaining a dainty image whilst nibbling on one of these posh dates isn't that challenging of a task. Tea sounds like a good idea too!

Please can I have some more?





Thank you!

Bateel Festival City
Dubai Festival City
Ground Floor, North Oval
Tel: +971 4 232 9976