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Three by Eva Halasa, Dubai: Food That Lifts Your Soul
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Three by Eva Halasa, Dubai: Food That Lifts Your Soul
Three by Eva Halasa, two mezze dishes, 1 main course, one sparkling water, 171 dhs (ex-service). Three by Eva Halasa, Villa 8, Lahej Villa, Al Wasl Road, Jumeirah 2, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Tel. 04 576 2888. Three by Eva Halasa Instagram. Breakfast specials: 28-62 dhs, fresh oven bakes: 16-158 dhs, cold and hot starters: 20-35 dhs, salads: 25 - 49 dhs, fatteh: 26 - 58 dhs, mains specials: 45 - 75 dhs, grilled mains: 45 - 265 dhs, dessert: 25 - 45 dhs.
Written by EatGoSee // Find more reviews here.
Three by Eva Halasa’s warm communal space brings people together in Dubai’s leafy Jumeirah with modern Lebanese and Jordanian eating.
The Highs
The Lows
The Highs
The Lows
Three by Eva Halasa, Dubai: Is It Dubai’s Best Casual Arabic Restaurant?
Today, I ate my feelings. Truth be told, my wife is having a medical procedure in leafy Jumeirah. I am a fixer, a solutions person. I try to be many things to many people, but I am rendered helpless – in all meanings – when I cannot fix everything. Especially when I cannot fix it for her. I surrender my identity into the trained hands of others leaving me mildly emasculated. I adore my wife in a way that even better writers, over the centuries, were not able to put a finger on it. It’s the proverbial elephant: the love we all recognise when we see it. Or feel, in my case. It is not major surgery; it would mostly be over in the time it takes to finish this review. Still, the dramatic ceremony of hospital gowns, pale blue shoe covers and watching someone you love – more than you ever knew possible – being wheeled away on a bed stirs a pain, so deep, as if I was under the knife.
I know the therapeutic power of comfort food; so, today, I am looking for more than lunch. I want a tonic to numb my anxiety and existential soul searching. So, you know, not much. My Google Maps ‘want to go’ notes confirm that Three by Eva is less than 10 minutes away.
Three by Eva Halasa in leafy Jumeirah is a villa-looking property near Box Park.
I know the therapeutic power of comfort food; so, today, I am looking for more than lunch. I want a tonic to numb my anxiety and existential soul searching. So, you know, not much. My Google Maps ‘want to go’ notes confirm that Three by Eva is less than 10 minutes away.
Three by Eva Halasa in leafy Jumeirah is a villa-looking property near Box Park.
Three by Eva Halasa charms, bringing communities together
Levantine food may not be your idea of comfort food, but it is mine. Trinidad and Tobago, where I was born and raised, features a small but influential Lebanese and Syrians diaspora. I watched vine leaves meticulously rolled and folded between the experienced fingers of my friend’s Syrian grandmother. Parsley rendered minuscule then folded with other fresh ingredients and amplified through the alchemy of good olive oil and lemon juice. What I simply knew as “Arabic food”, but have come to know as Levantine cuisine, is the closest thing I get to home in Dubai (given the drought of decent Caribbean restaurants).
Three by Eva is a lively, familial neighbourhood restaurant. It is homely. It is both calm and bustling, organised but chaotic. I mean that admirably. You cannot imagine a time when Three by Eva place is not busy. Cherubic babies with pudgy limbs are held aloft and passed like trophies for aunties to skwidge and kiss. Ladies pass lavish, piled beetroot and walnut salads (45 dhs) while sipping luminous, fresh lemon mint (22 dhs) as they talk in Arabic, sometimes French. Guys approaching middle-age sporting the sort of designer sunglasses that they cannot quite pull off anymore. Sipping cappuccinos (22 dhs) and tugging their vapes while catching up on the week.
Three by Eva Halasa nourishes the soul as much as the body by providing a place for loved ones to gather and create memories. It is perhaps this culture that understands more than most that celebrating the present is essential, for the future is not guaranteed.
Three by Eva Halasa downstairs dining area adjacent to the terrace.
Three by Eva Halasa nourishes the soul as much as the body by providing a place for loved ones to gather and create memories. It is perhaps this culture that understands more than most that celebrating the present is essential, for the future is not guaranteed.
Three by Eva Halasa downstairs dining area adjacent to the terrace.
Three by Eva Halasa nourishes the soul as much as the body by providing a place for loved ones to gather and create memories. It is perhaps this culture that understands more than most that celebrating the present is essential, for the future is not guaranteed.
Three by Eva Halasa boasts three seating areas (the outside is the best, IMHO)
The inside downstairs dining is shaded with more boutique deli touches. Inside features large, enveloping armchairs with bright gold and brass legs. Supple ash-stained leather chairs share warm woods with other sage leather chairs. The outside terrace is bathed in resplendent sunshine. It pops with yellow over muted grey and bleached white hues. The scent of frangipani in full bloom wafts as servers weave between tables and the outstretched branches of mature olive trees. I plant myself under the merciful canopy of a brilliant, oversized white umbrella.
Three by Eva Halasa outside sitting area including covered dining and pops of colour.
Service is busy. Very busy during prime weekend Jumeirah munch time. Multiple waiters ask me if my order is taken. It’s hardly worth mentioning the (curiously overengineered) second sparkling water they forgot, the fact they brought the first one twice and our cat and mouse game of eye contact to gain their attention. Easy breezes in a lady teal and white linen whose beaming face radiates as if it has never been without a smile. Some later research suggests this is Emily, one of Eva Halasa’s two daughters. Together, the three of them inspire the restaurant’s name. She chaperones me through the menu as if she knew I needed a helping hand today.
Three by Eva Halasa entrance hallway.
Three by Eva’s dishes appear simple with modest flourishes that impress quietly and without grandstanding. As I wait for my fried cauliflower, I enviously spy neighbouring tables tuck into egg-trembling shakshukas flanked with sourdough planks and fresh leaves (48 dhs). Boulders of falafel platters (20 dhs), serving spoons caked in silky hummus (from 24 dhs), rocket spiked with sumac and zaatar (36 dhs) and a seven-spice fatteh chicken festooned with piles of crispy potato skin (48 dhs). Three by Eva Halasa serves homely food prepared by people who understand it.
My dishes arrive, larger portions than expected – very likely intended as sharing platters. Three dishes are piggy for one person, yet here I am. The fried cauliflower tahini studded with pine nuts and muted, earthy tahini; it zips with something acidulated – maybe the magic pomegranate molasses possess? It’s soothed by softly, caramelised onions bequeathing a sweetness that brings everything together (32 dhs). Mrs EatGoSee would love this; I’ll bring her here.
A ying-yang of two labneh: one charcoal, subtle but mineral-rich; then the brighter blush of a chilli labneh, sweet, at first, but suggests something spicier lies ahead (35 dhs).
Grilled sea bass flecked with spice, all blistered and crisp, then adorned with herbed salads (89 dhs). Parsley heaped and speckled, generously, with sumac plus the sweetest, purple onions. The contrast of moist pearly fish flesh with the crisp bits that caught the flame. A purr of char rolls through. Generously, a whole fish cooked on the bone – just as I like it. I can’t help but think of Mrs EatGoSee who, if she was here, would smile as I dutifully fillet the fish and remove the bones for her. “Little effort, big appreciation”, as she says.
Three by Eva Halasa fried cauliflower, charcoal chilli labneh, grilled sea bass and an overhead mezze outside.
Later I brought Mrs EatGoSee to Three by Eva telling her about this post while it was in draft. We order the 10-piece mini fatayer platter of zaatar, cheese, meat and spinach; only remarkable by their variety (32 dhs). However, the impressive fattoush lands vibrant with colour, crisp bronzed tendrils of crispy pita and glossy with that most wonderful of pomegranate molasses (30 dhs). I am weak before a good fattoush. She eats the eggplant fattet; a tahini yoghurt dish with cubed fried eggplant and lamb meat (which we both agree it could do without), as well as welcomed pomegranate pops for texture (48 dhs). I snuffle a phalanx of vine leaves under a rubble of fuschia pink pomegranate seeds singing with lemon juice (25 dhs).
Three by Eva Halasa 10-piece Fatayer selection, vine leaves, fresh fattoush and eggplant fattet with lamb.
Bias on the table, Three by Eva produces the kind of food I enjoy the most. I cannot tell you if it’s authentic. It’s not here to compete with your nostalgic affection for your mother’s or grandmother’s shankleesh or baba ghanoush. Those memories occupy the sincerest corners of our hearts, and Three by Eva doesn’t intend to disavow you of them. I do know I enjoy it; I really enjoy it, with a want to return over and over again. I wish the service was tighter and that the upstairs dining evoked the same charm and excitement as the terrace and downstairs. Upstairs is palpably the ‘overspill space’. Still, on quiet weekends pregnant with self-reflection, I will wander over to Three by Eva Halasa for a slice of something you can’t manufacture. That’s the underlying affection of family – and other families – being together in the present. And, hopefully, there will be fattoush.
Three by Eva Halasa features a deli section with bread and jarred treats to take away.
Large groups, Levantine food fans, solo, couples or casual diners. Jumeirah or Umm Suqeim residents. People looking for al fresco dining during the more tolerant months. Takeaway deli favourites or freshly baked treats.
Three by Eva Halasa outside sitting area including covered dining and pops of colour.
Three by Eva Halasa’s service is busy
Service is busy. Very busy during prime weekend Jumeirah munch time. Multiple waiters ask me if my order is taken. It’s hardly worth mentioning the (curiously overengineered) second sparkling water they forgot, the fact they brought the first one twice and our cat and mouse game of eye contact to gain their attention. Easy breezes in a lady teal and white linen whose beaming face radiates as if it has never been without a smile. Some later research suggests this is Emily, one of Eva Halasa’s two daughters. Together, the three of them inspire the restaurant’s name. She chaperones me through the menu as if she knew I needed a helping hand today.
Three by Eva Halasa entrance hallway.
Three by Eva Halasa’s food and menu
Three by Eva’s dishes appear simple with modest flourishes that impress quietly and without grandstanding. As I wait for my fried cauliflower, I enviously spy neighbouring tables tuck into egg-trembling shakshukas flanked with sourdough planks and fresh leaves (48 dhs). Boulders of falafel platters (20 dhs), serving spoons caked in silky hummus (from 24 dhs), rocket spiked with sumac and zaatar (36 dhs) and a seven-spice fatteh chicken festooned with piles of crispy potato skin (48 dhs). Three by Eva Halasa serves homely food prepared by people who understand it.
My dishes arrive, larger portions than expected – very likely intended as sharing platters. Three dishes are piggy for one person, yet here I am. The fried cauliflower tahini studded with pine nuts and muted, earthy tahini; it zips with something acidulated – maybe the magic pomegranate molasses possess? It’s soothed by softly, caramelised onions bequeathing a sweetness that brings everything together (32 dhs). Mrs EatGoSee would love this; I’ll bring her here.
A ying-yang of two labneh: one charcoal, subtle but mineral-rich; then the brighter blush of a chilli labneh, sweet, at first, but suggests something spicier lies ahead (35 dhs).
Grilled sea bass flecked with spice, all blistered and crisp, then adorned with herbed salads (89 dhs). Parsley heaped and speckled, generously, with sumac plus the sweetest, purple onions. The contrast of moist pearly fish flesh with the crisp bits that caught the flame. A purr of char rolls through. Generously, a whole fish cooked on the bone – just as I like it. I can’t help but think of Mrs EatGoSee who, if she was here, would smile as I dutifully fillet the fish and remove the bones for her. “Little effort, big appreciation”, as she says.
Three by Eva Halasa fried cauliflower, charcoal chilli labneh, grilled sea bass and an overhead mezze outside.
Three by Eva became a lunch spot for me and Mrs EatGoSee
Later I brought Mrs EatGoSee to Three by Eva telling her about this post while it was in draft. We order the 10-piece mini fatayer platter of zaatar, cheese, meat and spinach; only remarkable by their variety (32 dhs). However, the impressive fattoush lands vibrant with colour, crisp bronzed tendrils of crispy pita and glossy with that most wonderful of pomegranate molasses (30 dhs). I am weak before a good fattoush. She eats the eggplant fattet; a tahini yoghurt dish with cubed fried eggplant and lamb meat (which we both agree it could do without), as well as welcomed pomegranate pops for texture (48 dhs). I snuffle a phalanx of vine leaves under a rubble of fuschia pink pomegranate seeds singing with lemon juice (25 dhs).
Three by Eva Halasa 10-piece Fatayer selection, vine leaves, fresh fattoush and eggplant fattet with lamb.
Three by Eva, Would I Return?
Bias on the table, Three by Eva produces the kind of food I enjoy the most. I cannot tell you if it’s authentic. It’s not here to compete with your nostalgic affection for your mother’s or grandmother’s shankleesh or baba ghanoush. Those memories occupy the sincerest corners of our hearts, and Three by Eva doesn’t intend to disavow you of them. I do know I enjoy it; I really enjoy it, with a want to return over and over again. I wish the service was tighter and that the upstairs dining evoked the same charm and excitement as the terrace and downstairs. Upstairs is palpably the ‘overspill space’. Still, on quiet weekends pregnant with self-reflection, I will wander over to Three by Eva Halasa for a slice of something you can’t manufacture. That’s the underlying affection of family – and other families – being together in the present. And, hopefully, there will be fattoush.
Three by Eva Halasa features a deli section with bread and jarred treats to take away.
Three by Eva, who should go?
Large groups, Levantine food fans, solo, couples or casual diners. Jumeirah or Umm Suqeim residents. People looking for al fresco dining during the more tolerant months. Takeaway deli favourites or freshly baked treats.
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