Dubai Expo 2020 FOOD TOUR! Indian FEAST & FLYING Korean Dessert

First day here in Dubai. Today's plan is going to Dubai Expo 2020. I know it's 2022 but the 2020 Expo never happened because of COVID. So this one is called 2000. Anyways, it's called Dubai Expo 2020. There's so many things going on over there including a lot of food. But before that it's about eight o'clock in the morning right now and I'm starving. I heard this hotel has an amazing breakfast buffet. Let's go check it out. So this buffet is so cool. There's a waiting area where they give you snacks and refreshments, fruits. You can sit on these couches. It's a pre-buffet buffet. Buffet looks nice. You get to sit outside. Let me show you what's inside. It looks pretty cool. This place looks really, really, really, really good. Got a bunch of breakfast items. Some shakshuka, some falafels, tahini, some of this bread. Tahini is good but that's a thick bread. Shakshuka looks good. Shakshuka is definitely the best thing on this place so far. And this is some foul medime. Food I say. It's not bad. Nothing too spectacular. They do give you a bunch of juice including watermelon juice, cheese, and honestly this croissant looks awesome. That is a delicious croissant with a bunch of za'atar spices on the outside. Also apricot danish. I think all the baked goods here on this buffet is excellent. There's a lot of fresh fruits, yogurt, smoothies on this buffet. Mango yogurt. Oh that's sour. Mango smoothie. Wow this is delicious. That's a fresh mango smoothie right here. Oh yeah, just light breakfast. More food to come. So this is it. Dubai Expo 2020. This has been delayed for two years. Last time the expo happened was 2015. Basically this is the World's Fair. This is where people from around the world get together to learn about, appreciate, and to explore different cultures. And so far 17 million people have come to this expo and those who joined online numbered about 178 million. Of course when you're talking about culture, you can't leave out food. And that's a big reason why I'm here. Let's go grab some lunch. First restaurant, it's in the Vietnamese pavilion but not a Vietnamese restaurant. This is one of the most highly anticipated restaurants in this expo called Kutir. And it's by Chef Rohit Gai, one of the most celebrated Indian chefs in London. And the word Kutir means a small hut in rural India. So the food here is rural Indian cuisine. Starting out with a couple of lassies, rose and mango. Wow. It's like my taste buds taking a walk through a rose garden. That's so fragrant. Oh this is delicious. I think this is one of the best mango lassies I've ever had. It's like fresh mangoes and it goes down so smooth. That's delicious. All right starting out with three appetizers. First up, chicken thai, garlic pickles, some chutney, sitting on a bit of lentils and onions. Oh this looks like a juicy chicken thai. That is good. First of all, the chicken. So much juice. So incredibly tender. And the chicken itself is already so flavorful. I taste a little citrus on the chicken. Definitely some heat. A little bit of coriander as well. Also beautiful char. Some pieces are nice and crispy on the outside. The chutney brings more depth. The lentils and onions brings more texture. And the pickled garlic, that just brings more awesomeness. Also I can't believe that's an appetizer. This is the prawn masala with coconut and onions on top. This is just fried to golden perfection. Oh this color is so incredibly enticing. Skin, I know on the outside it's going to be nice and crispy already. Just by piercing this with my fork. Just stabbing up. Tell right away. The outer shell is utter perfection. Light little subtle crunch. Followed by the most tender succulent piece of prawn. I mean this dish is spicy. Balanced by the sweetness of the prawn. The slight crunch from the onions. And also that subtle sweetness from the coconut. Chase that with a little lassi. Final appetizer, Aloo Tikki. Crispy potato pancake with mint chutney, honey yogurt, and tamarind. Sitting on a bit of chickpeas and pomegranate. This just like the prawn. The outside is utter perfection. I mean you taste the crunch, but it's so subtle and gentle. Yet so significant. Inside soft potatoes, but the spices. Oh it's just working its magic on my tongue. I mean I feel the heat on the side. I feel the sweetness on the top. All these dishes, I taste the tradition. I also taste the modern twist that the chef added to them. So far so good for the appetizers. Can't wait for the main course. Main course is gonna be Sea Bass Mapas. I was able to watch them cook this in the kitchen. I tell you like 10 seconds in, just smelling the ginger and the spices heating up in the pan. Even though I've been eating all day, I felt the juice coming out of my mouth. Also we got some biryani and naan. And the sea bass is seared perfectly. Cooked in coconut milk. Lots of ginger spices like coriander, some dried chilies. Wow. I mean you get the hint of sweetness and definitely the creaminess of the coconut milk. But that sweet and sour flavor from the sauce is what's blowing me away right now. Wow. I need to grab some naan and dig into that. I mean the heat in the sauce. It's just a few dried chilies, but it is significant. Gonna go ahead and pop one of these tomatoes. Just to bring out more of the sweetness and a little more acidity. The main ingredient is the sea bass in this dish. But the star is a hundred percent that sauce. Holy moly that's good. I mean all I want to do is rip up more naan and dip it in here. This thing is fragrant. A ton of ginger. The chilies doing this thing. The coriander doing this thing. And then that basil just highlights the fragrance oh so much. The fish is good, but just give me that sauce in a basket of naan. I'll be really happy. Dessert called the Indian ice cream. I haven't had this since I was in India. A little brulee top on this one. And this chocolate fried banana. I think some chilies in here. Whoa. That is so freaking good. If you've never had this ice cream, it's very thick but oh so yummy. Fried bananas? Are you kidding me? And the smoothest chocolate with just a tiny bit of kick of heat. Wow. This is just freaking magical. Here are three different flavors of the ice cream. Rose, saffron, and pistachio with some fruits on the side. This has been such an awesome dining experience. Also just want to give a big shout out to everybody at the restaurant. They're so incredibly nice. Food's amazing. This restaurant definitely deserves all the hype. Walked by the Denmark Pavilion. Smell this. This is a Royal Dane Burger. It was voted best burger in Denmark in 2020 and 2021. This beef burger cooked sous vide and finished with a duck confit. So I'm expecting something pretty non-tender and pretty fatty. My mouth is so happy right now. Even though I definitely ate a piece of the wrapper. Don't matter. Whatever touches this meat will taste absolutely amazing including paper. I mean to call this beef tender will be the understatement of the century. This thing just melts. The cheese on top is amazing. The crunch from the purple cabbage is a delight. You can definitely taste the fat in this burger. I mean this whole thing melts and then melts some more. And as you continue to chew, the flavor of that fat just renders more and more on your tongue. Making this more delicious by the bite. This is a really good burger. Also the bun buttery. So soft and airy. This is not one of those buns that kind of breaks up on impact. I can definitely see why this burger was voted take some home with me. The most traditional one. This is a very traditional Lebanese food item that's eaten a lot of times for breakfast or lunch. And the most traditional one is this. The zaatar. It's dough with different toppings on top. It could be cheese, it could be meat. In the instance of zaatar, it's Lebanese thyme with olives, tomatoes, sesame. And what this place does is that they actually import the thyme directly from the mountains of Lebanon. And they roast it here. And that's how they make their manakish. That's another reason why I love this expo. My taste buds are literally traveling around the world while my body stays in Dubai. And this is sometimes rolled up or sometimes cut into pizza type slices. And here there's also olives and some basil on top. Oh this is freaking delicious. The dough's got a nice chew. The thyme and sesame creates such a nice fragrance in your mouth. Also whenever the sesame seed pops, this whole thing just becomes more and more aromatic. It's pretty darn addictive. Like once you start eating it, instinctively reach for the next piece. A little piece with a tomato on it. That's even better. Get that nice refreshing sweet pop. Let's try the meat one. Oh this is so good. This thing topped with cheese, meat. Love the use of tomatoes. This gives it such a sweet little pop. There's hot sauce on the table. So you can add some of that stuff on if you want. I might have overdone a little bit. I think this on its own, just meat and tomatoes and cheese. Perfect. Traditional street foods around the world all in one place. Never been to a world fair, never been to a world expo before. I wish this would happen more often in more cities. Such a great way to get a taste of different cultures around the world. I haven't been inside a pavilion yet. Just been eating since I got here. So before I leave, definitely take a look. Oh interesting. So we walk into one of these pavilions. This is the first one I've been to today. It gives you like a kind of a brief overview of the entire country. Like agriculture, cultural information, investment opportunities, work opportunities. Honduras has more than nine ethnic groups. Each practice their own religion and unique traditions. This is pretty cool. Now that looked like a bingsu just fell from the sky into my bowl. But that's pretty much exactly how it happened. I've never seen this before. The waiter came over and held the bingsu in his hand and just threw it into the bowl. So it's like a bingsu missile. The bottom layer is a layer of chocolate. There's some honeycombs, some cream on top. Homemade brownies inside as well. That's a very chocolatey delicious bingsu. And my goodness, does this taste good on a day like this. We're walking around outside all day today because Dubai is hot. Thought we were done eating but then saw a picture of this. Had to go for it. And the place we're at right now is a restaurant called Kojaki. It's a Japanese Korean fusion place. But today I just walked around going from Indian food to a royal burger to Lebanese street food to a really cool bingsu dish. It's just so much fun. Again, I've never experienced a World Fair before. I've never experienced the Expo before. A leveled up Epcot. Do kind of wish that every pavilion like Epcot will have some little tasting bites so you can just go around and try something from each country. Because honestly, after the burger, kind of good. Again, so fun to walk around and everybody we encounter has been just amazingly nice. And this Expo is going to go on for I think another month or so. So if we have time, definitely going to spend another day just walking around trying more food. Because you can probably go for a week and still have so much to see and eat. But as always, thank you all so much for watching. Until we eat again, see you later.