Address: Downtown, Souk Al Bahar – Downtown Dubai – Dubai – United Arab Emirates
Opening Hours: Sunday – Thursday 12:00pm – 12:00am, Friday 12:00pm – 1:00am, Saturday 10:00am – 1:00am
Official Website
I gotta admit, this is the first time I’ve ever been to Time Out Market. It sounded like an overhyped place and not reminiscent of local food markets like Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market and Lonsdale Quay in Vancouver B.C. Time Out Market didn’t seem like the place to try out local fare. After all, it’s located in Souq Al Bahar, one of the most touristy places in Dubai near the Dubai Mall fountain.
There are tons of cuisines to choose from — Chinese, Vietnamese and even the popular Pickl burgers. But I’ve eaten a LOT of burgers in Dubai. SALT, Wimpys, Albaik… I was getting pooped with all the burgers. Haha.
The first Time Out Market opened in Lisbon, so it’s hard to miss the Portuguese cuisine in Dubai’s Time Out Market. Here I’ve gotten a chance to eat the Pasteis de Nata, albeit not as authentic as these are baked in Dubai. It wasn’t the best Portuguese egg tarts I’ve tried (as I’ve tried the real Pasteis de Belem from Lisbon before), though they were incredibly warm and freshly baked.
That said, I was on the hunt that day for some Luqaimat / Legimat — Arabian sweet doughnuts or dumplings, if you may. This was before actually trying out the ones cooked at the Arabian Desert Safari, which were tad overcooked.
These Legimat took a long time to cook as they needed to wait for the oil to heat and reach a certain temperature before frying the doughnuts.
These were really well cooked, now thinking about it in retrospective. Love the dates syrup generously poured all over the doughnuts. You get the crunch and squishyness of the Legimat in every bite. If you’re looking for good quality Legimat for an afternoon snack, I recommend getting them at Time Out Market.
Apart from these, I wasn’t in the mood for anything else at Time Out Market especially since I had really good Shish Taouk at Markette.
Except maybe a drink at the Time Out Bar.
I had the Cosmopolitea which costs me AED 55 per drink. Suffice to say, Singapore alcohol is definitely cheaper! (And then the Dubai government reduced the hefty 30% alcohol sales tax in January 1st, 2023.)
If you’re drinking alcohol make sure you don’t drink them in Time Out Market’s dry zone. Dry zone means NO alcohol.
I’ve seen lots of Tiktokers hyping Time Out Market, but it was very bland IMO. I’ve seen better food halls than this one. Sure, it’s fun to drink and watch the Dubai skyline in Time Out Market’s outdoor seating, but other than that, it’s a little shallow for a food hall. Definitely something you can skip.