Rascals Deli, Dubai: Their Bread’s Softer Than My Thighs
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Rascals Deli, Dubai: Their Bread's Softer Than My Thighs
Rascals Deli, Wasl Square, Block 7, Al Wasl Road, Dubai. All information is true as of publication. You can find the latest information on Rascal Deli’s Instagram or call them on +971 50 740 4692.
Rascals Deli is a sandwich shop that deep fills Dubai’s void for simple sandwiches done right. Expansion is inevitable, resistance is futile.
Written by Liam Collens // Find other reviews here
The Highs
The Lows
The Highs
The Lows
Rascals Deli, Dubai: Their Bread's Softer Than My Thighs
“You know what, I really fancy an egg and cress sandwich. Creamy egg mayo, soft white bread and lots of cress”, Mrs EatGoSee blurts out some weeks ago. She’s British, and there is something primordial about sandwiches for British people. It goes to their very existence as a nation. It’s more than a habit, it is deeper than a culture. I don’t know that Lord Nelson toasted the Battle of Trafalgar with a BLT, but his history was probably written eating one.
I flitted around England and Wales for nearly 15 years consuming more sandwiches than any one man should know in a single lifetime. Upper Crust, Eat, Pret, Birley (my favourite in London, but the lines were so long that even my left wrist was delicious by the time my lunch arrived). Oh yes, there was a prawn mayo in Exeter St Davids railway station. That ham, mature cheddar and pickle baguette overlooking Penarth Marina. White slices crammed with fish fingers and brown sauce in an Acton “caff”. Swaying and scarfing a tuna mayo with red onion one-handed rattling around on the tube (an anti-social choice, let me tell you). I remember standing over a ‘breadless sandwich’ in Pret A Manger asking myself why Pret’s marketing department thought ‘breadless sandwich’ was a better name than ‘salad’, which is a breadless sandwich when you think about it. No doubt, low-carb diets are to blame.
Rascals Deli is a casual sandwich shop in Wasl Square near Dubai Canal and opposite Safa Park.
I flitted around England and Wales for nearly 15 years consuming more sandwiches than any one man should know in a single lifetime. Upper Crust, Eat, Pret, Birley (my favourite in London, but the lines were so long that even my left wrist was delicious by the time my lunch arrived). Oh yes, there was a prawn mayo in Exeter St Davids railway station. That ham, mature cheddar and pickle baguette overlooking Penarth Marina. White slices crammed with fish fingers and brown sauce in an Acton “caff”. Swaying and scarfing a tuna mayo with red onion one-handed rattling around on the tube (an anti-social choice, let me tell you). I remember standing over a ‘breadless sandwich’ in Pret A Manger asking myself why Pret’s marketing department thought ‘breadless sandwich’ was a better name than ‘salad’, which is a breadless sandwich when you think about it. No doubt, low-carb diets are to blame.
Rascals Deli is a casual sandwich shop in Wasl Square near Dubai Canal and opposite Safa Park.
Rascals Deli is less a delicatessen and more of a sandwich shop
Back in Dubai, Mrs EatGoSee will not rest until she snares her egg mayo. A budding hero emerges as Rascals Deli’s popularity bubbles over these days. Social media’s frothing excitement needs an antacid at the best of times as ‘food bloggers’, delirious for likes, flock to Dubai Canal’s shores. One journey to Wasl Square later, after finding that rarest of things, parking, we swelter our way to what used to be Pantry Cafe for those of us who lived here long enough to remember. It is a lofty, semi-industrial space of polished concrete accented with pine green with a scattering of tables and bench-like seating around the edges, sharing the space with Airweks Cycles.
Now, the following pedantry will only matter to people like me. Rascals Deli is not really a deli. A deli, lest we forget, is a delicatessen; traditionally, a place to buy cold cuts, cheese, pickles and such, all usually proudly displayed for sale together with, you guessed it, sandwiches, bagels and more to take away. These Rascals don’t do this. “Booooooo, party pooper”, I hear you say. Feel free to throw sandwiches in protest, I’ll take their Magic Mushrooms (AED 50) or Ronnie’s Katsu with an extra slathering of the tonkatsu sauce (AED 55).
Rascals Deli sandwich shop offers affordable meal options, but the prices of sandwiches are above the price of the average sandwich in Dubai. Suffice to say these are not your average sandwich.
Now, the following pedantry will only matter to people like me. Rascals Deli is not really a deli. A deli, lest we forget, is a delicatessen; traditionally, a place to buy cold cuts, cheese, pickles and such, all usually proudly displayed for sale together with, you guessed it, sandwiches, bagels and more to take away. These Rascals don’t do this. “Booooooo, party pooper”, I hear you say. Feel free to throw sandwiches in protest, I’ll take their Magic Mushrooms (AED 50) or Ronnie’s Katsu with an extra slathering of the tonkatsu sauce (AED 55).
Rascals Deli sandwich shop offers affordable meal options, but the prices of sandwiches are above the price of the average sandwich in Dubai. Suffice to say these are not your average sandwich.
Bread! A critical sandwich component – so divisive to people – it should be a Tinder filter.
Rascals Deli does simple better than most
A sandwich is a simple but deceptively complicated thing. The sandwich devout will approach this spectacle like it’s Christmas Day. You look forward to the occasion. You are here for a good time, but you come with certain expectations, like which bread? Bread! A critical sandwich component – so divisive to people – it should be a Tinder filter. Such standards are drummed into you from childhood and, likely, a culture. During one trip to Stavanger, I paid the equivalent of an apartment deposit for a prawn sandwich that did not even have a top slice of bread. Both the cost and said toplessness are shockingly normal occurrences, I am told.
Rascals Deli, judiciously, does what good sandwich purveyors do. Double down, do it well and, hopefully, all will come. You cannot satisfy all the people all the time, so why try?
Rascals Deli, judiciously, does what good sandwich purveyors do. Double down, do it well and, hopefully, all will come. You cannot satisfy all the people all the time, so why try?
Rascal Deli’s food and menu
Rascal’s locally-made Hokkaido Milk Bread is marshmallow soft like a good hotel duvet filled with one of their 13 fillings (note: seeded milk bread is also available). These sandwiches are cheaper than many Dubai dine-out options, but they do cost more than the average sandwich at, say, Friends Avenue or 1762 Gourmet Deli (which, like a deli, does actually sell bread to take away). Rascals, however, does not make average sandwiches.
The eponymous Rascal lyses with cured meats, dressed rocket (I cannot bring myself to say arugula), basil mayo and much more (AED 65). A Tuna Picante sidles up to the adjacent table, all pert and plump with mixed tuna, oak leaf lettuce and spicy cilantro sauce (AED 45).
Mrs EatGoSee’s Morning Glory arrives (hello!) with rough-chopped morsels of egg white tumbled in a mixture that purrs of Dijon mustard and what may well be kewpie mayo, but I cannot be sure (AED 40). It brims with fresh spinach and the crunch of salt and vinegar crisps, the latter we cannot actually taste, but agree it adds welcomed bite. I would prefer a heavier hand with the Dijon mustard, maybe even a good nose-blast of English mustard instead, but reasonable people will disagree.
My Pastrami generously overflows with slabs of beef pastrami, rich coleslaw and a Russian dressing twinned with French mustard that slaps you around the chops (AED 65). Now we are talking. The pickles punch through a heady mix of meaty, saucy and provolone cheese richer than the surrounding Jumeirah. It’s well crafted, finely judged and does not last nearly as long as her Morning Glory. I laughed at that one too.
A chewy choc chunk cookie glittered with fine salt tastes rich like caramel (AED 18) slips down with a double macchiato that Rascals Deli does not normally make, but will charge as a double espresso (AED 18).
Rascals Deli’s Morning Glory egg sandwich and the Pastrami sandwich.
Listen, sandwich echelons can only reach so high for me, personally, as they are not a life-altering experience. I liked what I ate – I really liked the Pastrami – and I would go back to inspect the Katsu first-hand, but if I found myself in the area. I would encourage Rascals Deli to expand into new locations. Come to that stretch of villa farms between Dubai Hills and Mira simply parched for low-key, casual, affordable dining. Coincidentally I live around here, so there’s that. Mrs EatGoSee and I would be in Rascals like a pair of rats up a drain. It is not the best food you will ever eat, but it is not trying to be and that is fine with me. Simple good stuff, done well, served quickly by people who clearly care about what they do – AND, I can get out in under an hour. Glory be.
If I had quibbles I would question why plastic and paper cups are served for dine-in guests in this so-called eco-conscious, sustainability-forward world we live in. Maybe let me make some customisations: different mustards, perhaps, but that’s all just hen-pecking. I am the first to encourage them to expand into a full-throated delicatessen, especially if there is milk bread and pastrami for sale. Oh, you Rascals you.
Rascals Deli’s choc chunk cookie with double macchiato and one of the receipts.
People whose Instagram feeds demand to document the latest thing. Casual lunch seekers. Sandwich fetishists. Residents of the Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim and City Walk persuasion.
The eponymous Rascal lyses with cured meats, dressed rocket (I cannot bring myself to say arugula), basil mayo and much more (AED 65). A Tuna Picante sidles up to the adjacent table, all pert and plump with mixed tuna, oak leaf lettuce and spicy cilantro sauce (AED 45).
Mrs EatGoSee’s Morning Glory arrives (hello!) with rough-chopped morsels of egg white tumbled in a mixture that purrs of Dijon mustard and what may well be kewpie mayo, but I cannot be sure (AED 40). It brims with fresh spinach and the crunch of salt and vinegar crisps, the latter we cannot actually taste, but agree it adds welcomed bite. I would prefer a heavier hand with the Dijon mustard, maybe even a good nose-blast of English mustard instead, but reasonable people will disagree.
My Pastrami generously overflows with slabs of beef pastrami, rich coleslaw and a Russian dressing twinned with French mustard that slaps you around the chops (AED 65). Now we are talking. The pickles punch through a heady mix of meaty, saucy and provolone cheese richer than the surrounding Jumeirah. It’s well crafted, finely judged and does not last nearly as long as her Morning Glory. I laughed at that one too.
A chewy choc chunk cookie glittered with fine salt tastes rich like caramel (AED 18) slips down with a double macchiato that Rascals Deli does not normally make, but will charge as a double espresso (AED 18).
Rascals Deli’s Morning Glory egg sandwich and the Pastrami sandwich.
Rascals Deli, Would I Return?
Listen, sandwich echelons can only reach so high for me, personally, as they are not a life-altering experience. I liked what I ate – I really liked the Pastrami – and I would go back to inspect the Katsu first-hand, but if I found myself in the area. I would encourage Rascals Deli to expand into new locations. Come to that stretch of villa farms between Dubai Hills and Mira simply parched for low-key, casual, affordable dining. Coincidentally I live around here, so there’s that. Mrs EatGoSee and I would be in Rascals like a pair of rats up a drain. It is not the best food you will ever eat, but it is not trying to be and that is fine with me. Simple good stuff, done well, served quickly by people who clearly care about what they do – AND, I can get out in under an hour. Glory be.
If I had quibbles I would question why plastic and paper cups are served for dine-in guests in this so-called eco-conscious, sustainability-forward world we live in. Maybe let me make some customisations: different mustards, perhaps, but that’s all just hen-pecking. I am the first to encourage them to expand into a full-throated delicatessen, especially if there is milk bread and pastrami for sale. Oh, you Rascals you.
Rascals Deli’s choc chunk cookie with double macchiato and one of the receipts.
Rascals Deli, Who Should Go?
People whose Instagram feeds demand to document the latest thing. Casual lunch seekers. Sandwich fetishists. Residents of the Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim and City Walk persuasion.
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