I’ve tried this Boodle Fight dining in Dubai twice already – both in Asian Flavors in Qusais (Baghdad corner Damascus streets).
Traditional ‘Boodle Fight’ is a military style of eating where long tables are prepared and food are on top of the banana leaves. Viands and rice ready to eat using your bare hands, jugs of water are prepared on the side to wash hands before the “eating combat”. With the signal to start the boodle fight, everyone aims for his/her position and ‘tabla-tabla na‘ fight.
Here’s a photo of our set, before and after:
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| Upon serving |
This restaurant serves the food arranged in the center of banana leaves over a huge wooden tray. The space around the food is every diners space to put in their food pickings. It is a must to eat with bare hands, but if you’re not comfortable with it, they have plates and utensils anyway.
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| After 30 minutes |
The set is good for 3-4 persons but it really depends on how heavy eater one is.
There are 4 sets to choose from. The names are derived from popular festivals in Negros Oriental province, southern part of the Philippines.
The first one I tried was the Tanjay Fiesta Set which includes:
- Plain Rice
- Mixed Fried Rice
- Beef Ribs in BBQ Sauce (sweet)
- Chicken Kawali (reminds me of Max’s)
- Pansit Bam-I (mix of Canton and Bihon)
- Grilled Tilapia
- Fish Kilawin
- Fried Talong with Alamang
- Ensaladang Labanos
- Fresh Fruits
The other set I tried was the Lab-as Seafood which includes:
- Plain Rice
- Garlic Fried Rice
- Prawns Garlic Sauce
- Grilled Fish
- Grilled Squid
- Halabos na Alimango
- Fish Kilawin
- Okra with Bagoong (Bagoong is a winner)
- Ensaladang Mangga
- Fresh Fruits
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| My personal preference: Lab-as seafood set |
Lab-as is a popular term referring to seafood eateries in Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental.
Both were good, but I like the seafood set more – because of the Prawns Garlic Sauce, Grilled Squid and Halabos na Hipon.
The other set is called Buglasan set which includes: Kare-kare, Chicken Barbecue, Daing na Bangus, Halabos na Hipon and Adobong Sitaw among others.
There’s also the Birthday Boodle set which includes a birthday cake along with Beef with Onions, Fried Chicken, Pancit Canton, Lumpia Shanghai and Chopsuey among others.
The food is very Filipino in taste! Each set is priced at AED199 inclusive of house soup and a pitcher if iced tea, juice or soda.