Diwan L’Auberge at the Emirates Palace Hotel

Our generous hosts took us to the opulent Emirates Palace Hotel for dinner here in Abu Dhabi tonight. And this place downstairs (West Corniche Road, 690-8990) was serving Lebanese food, where they started us off with a ton different mezze as well as of course plenty of grilled protein to follow. The most interesting thing to me was probably something that looked like a pile of Chinese egg rolls, except that they were stuffed with some kind of mild cheese (halloumi, perhaps?). Too bad that we didn't get any of that kebbeh nayeh raw lamb meat.

And yes, the hotel itself was huge. At first, it almost looked like a hotel in Vegas, with me almost expecting to hear the sound of slot machines upon entering the hotel, which of course there wasn't (that famous gold vending machine was here though, as were a bunch of gold-plated iPads and iPhones on display). They were also selling cupcakes...a colleague of mine bought a gold-leafed one for AED 42 (US$12). She was generous enough to share, but it just tasted like any other cupcake. So much for hoping for a John Travolta-like moment when he tasted that $5 shake in Pulp Fiction.