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Sticky Rice, Dubai: restaurant review
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Sticky Rice, Dubai: restaurant review
I don’t know if this is Dubai’s best Thai restaurant, but I don’t want to find another.
Written by Liam Collens // Read more reviews here.
The Highs
The Lows
The Highs
The Lows
Sticky Rice, Dubai: restaurant review
Choose your weapon.
Before we get to the good, we have to deal with something, and, like the saying goes, “A legacy isn’t what we build. It’s what others carry forward because of us.” Legacy is the hand against the back of Sticky Rice. A legacy, sentient, and of funk, heat, zest and the zeal of a family carrying forward what was built.
Amena Rakkuson, or “Mama”, founded Sticky Rice, a Thai restaurant, in 2019 in Jumeirah Village Circle, aka JVC. Sticky Rice’s website shares that:
She was the eldest of 5 kids and started cooking and feeding them at the age of 9 since her mama was always out trying to bring money home. When we were just kids back in 89’ she used to sell “Hainanese” style chicken and rice (Khao Mun Kai in Thai) at the doorstep of our house just for us to get by, and people would flock in from all over town and queue up just to get some before it all ran out.
Sticky Rice crew chat in the restaurant’s doorway surrounded by family photos of Mama, the team and some of their more famous diners.
I briefly met Mama in December 2020 from behind a plastic screen in then Food District (now closed) on The Pointe (embarrassingly closed); such were the times. She flashed her million-watt smile as I slurped her prawn Tom Yum. We would never meet again. Tragically, Mama passed away two months later due to COVID complications.
Her son and Sticky Rice co-founder, Mo Abedin, carries forward what they built, now with another restaurant in Abu Dhabi and Kew, a beef tallow-fried chicken offshoot named after their ducky mascot.
Sanjay Varma and I scrapped over restaurant lists when I suggested assembling at Sticky Rice HQ one Saturday lunchtime after Rufus’ nap.
Sticky Rice’s main entrance with incandescent chairs for character
Sticky Rice, decor and ambience
We walk behind another restaurant that looks like a tetanus shot waiting to happen, down a narrow alley into Sticky Rice and what looks like a polished concrete bunker littered with a nightmarish badling of yellow toy ducks and an empty plasma yellow claw machine, so large, it could double as a Capcom Popemobile (no wait, come back!). It is sparse and utilitarian, perforated with eye-scalding yellow and a smattering of tables and chairs. This is no bad thing, but we are miles away from Dubai’s acres of frothing tantara.
Sticky Rice does not have much artwork, but it is all the right stuff.
Sticky Rice does not have much artwork, but it is all the right stuff.
The fried tamarind chicken tenders are that IYKYK dish spoken in hushed tones among food cognoscenti. Dubai’s best fried chicken dish? It's in the conversation. I said what I said.
Sticky Rice, food and menu
The 27-page illustrated menu weaves between the expected and the unfamiliar, between both safety and danger. A few chilli icons cause two of our party to shuffle uncomfortably under the table.
I reminisce about the crispy egg pad krapow, the mouth-puckering green papaya salad, a tidy stack of fried chicken tumbled in pungent garlic with skin so glassy, you can watch your smile staring back at you. The heaped bowl of local clams stir-fried with sweet fresh basil, garlic and dried and roasted chillies remains available. The crimson and ochre-stained Penang curry is eye-swellingly spicy. Their fragrant larb, a salad of minced chicken or Impossible “meat”, is amped with fresh mint, red onions, and a good nose blast of ground chillies.
Yes, that is a tank filled with rubber ducks.
I don’t know if Sticky Rice is Dubai’s best Thai restaurant, but I don’t want to find another. Also, it quietly offers one of Dubai’s best vegan menus and, now that I said that out loud, I worry that athleisure-clad, boba-swilling, vegan try-hards will loiter the alleyway for post-palates selfies with their Labubus.
The beef crackling with a duo of chilli sauces.
We order a basket of beef crackling with a duo of sauces, one of sweet chilli and one more fiery. My son munches quietly on the mixed prawn crackers. There is no formality here. The dishes come when they come and we eat family style, which is best here in my view.
Sticky Rice’s Pad Thai was wetter than an otter’s pocket.
Their Pad Thai is lively, fresh, perhaps a little ‘wetter’ than previous iterations, buttressed with bean sprouts, peanuts and a lime wedge. The Thai Green Curry is tinted a luxuriant pistachio green with slivers of soft chicken, firm green aubergine, what looks like lime leaves and fistfuls of sweet basil leaves steeped in a bowl slick with coconut milk. It comes with a spice warning, but a masochist in our midsts returns for spoons of the good stuff. Consequences be damned.
Thai Green Curry is deceptively spicy.
The fried tamarind chicken tenders are that IYKYK dish spoken in hushed tones among food cognoscenti. Dubai’s best fried chicken dish? It’s in the conversation. I said what I said. Two portions, one mild and one medium, arrive crusted in a gnarly fried batter and lacquered in sticky tamarind sauce, lime leaves and spring onions. Our raucous table is reduced to the telltale quiet of enjoyment that those vegans will never know.*
My blood work is two part tamarind chicken tenders at any time and the ice cream sundae is the thinking man’s choice.
The short dessert section leads us to the mango sticky rice and, my recommendation: the mango sticky rice ice cream made with toasted coconut and pandan, verdant rice.
Except for Sticky Rice and Cafe Isan, I find most Thai food in Dubai underpowered and underwhelming, limping between food court-esque vagueries and wallet-sapping hotel outlets. Sticky Rice is one of Dubai’s best restaurants in my view. Mama would be proud of how Mo and the team exemplify her legacy.
Thai food fans, cheap to mid-range budget seekers, diners looking for Thai food beyond the ubiquitous options, residents looking for something different and those who claim to support local businesses.
* For the record, I have no problem with vegans or vegan diets. I was vegan once many a year ago. However, today’s militant vegan culture best encapsulated by the joke “how will you know if someone is vegan? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you” is what I grimace against and will poke fun at until the cows come home, as ribeyes, medium, in butter and garlic.
Number of visits: Countless.
Number of dishes (on the reviewed visit): eight dishes in total. Shared starters: Beef Crackling, AED 45, and mixed crackers, AED 25. Four larger dishes: chicken green Thai curry, AED65, Pad Thai, AED60, sticky tamarind tenders, AED 80 each. Two desserts: mango sticky rice, AED 57 and the mango sticky rice ice cream, AED 52.
Drinks: three non-alcoholic drinks, AED 25 each. Sticky Rice is unlicensed.
Total spend including taxes and tips: about AED 700, we split the bill, so AED 140 each.
Sticky Rice, Shop No 06 Dubai, Sobha Daffodil, Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The latest information about Sticky Rice is available on the Sticky Rice website or via Instagram. Call +97145808350 for bookings.
Liam is a restaurant critic, food and travel writer based in the Middle East. He owns EatGoSee and contributes to other publications. You can find Liam on Substack, Threads, Instagram, BlueSky or Facebook.
I reminisce about the crispy egg pad krapow, the mouth-puckering green papaya salad, a tidy stack of fried chicken tumbled in pungent garlic with skin so glassy, you can watch your smile staring back at you. The heaped bowl of local clams stir-fried with sweet fresh basil, garlic and dried and roasted chillies remains available. The crimson and ochre-stained Penang curry is eye-swellingly spicy. Their fragrant larb, a salad of minced chicken or Impossible “meat”, is amped with fresh mint, red onions, and a good nose blast of ground chillies.
Yes, that is a tank filled with rubber ducks.
I don’t know if Sticky Rice is Dubai’s best Thai restaurant, but I don’t want to find another. Also, it quietly offers one of Dubai’s best vegan menus and, now that I said that out loud, I worry that athleisure-clad, boba-swilling, vegan try-hards will loiter the alleyway for post-palates selfies with their Labubus.
The beef crackling with a duo of chilli sauces.
We order a basket of beef crackling with a duo of sauces, one of sweet chilli and one more fiery. My son munches quietly on the mixed prawn crackers. There is no formality here. The dishes come when they come and we eat family style, which is best here in my view.
Sticky Rice’s Pad Thai was wetter than an otter’s pocket.
Their Pad Thai is lively, fresh, perhaps a little ‘wetter’ than previous iterations, buttressed with bean sprouts, peanuts and a lime wedge. The Thai Green Curry is tinted a luxuriant pistachio green with slivers of soft chicken, firm green aubergine, what looks like lime leaves and fistfuls of sweet basil leaves steeped in a bowl slick with coconut milk. It comes with a spice warning, but a masochist in our midsts returns for spoons of the good stuff. Consequences be damned.
Thai Green Curry is deceptively spicy.
The fried tamarind chicken tenders are that IYKYK dish spoken in hushed tones among food cognoscenti. Dubai’s best fried chicken dish? It’s in the conversation. I said what I said. Two portions, one mild and one medium, arrive crusted in a gnarly fried batter and lacquered in sticky tamarind sauce, lime leaves and spring onions. Our raucous table is reduced to the telltale quiet of enjoyment that those vegans will never know.*
My blood work is two part tamarind chicken tenders at any time and the ice cream sundae is the thinking man’s choice.
The short dessert section leads us to the mango sticky rice and, my recommendation: the mango sticky rice ice cream made with toasted coconut and pandan, verdant rice.
Sticky Rice, Would I Return?
Except for Sticky Rice and Cafe Isan, I find most Thai food in Dubai underpowered and underwhelming, limping between food court-esque vagueries and wallet-sapping hotel outlets. Sticky Rice is one of Dubai’s best restaurants in my view. Mama would be proud of how Mo and the team exemplify her legacy.
Sticky Rice, Who Should Go?
Thai food fans, cheap to mid-range budget seekers, diners looking for Thai food beyond the ubiquitous options, residents looking for something different and those who claim to support local businesses.
* For the record, I have no problem with vegans or vegan diets. I was vegan once many a year ago. However, today’s militant vegan culture best encapsulated by the joke “how will you know if someone is vegan? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you” is what I grimace against and will poke fun at until the cows come home, as ribeyes, medium, in butter and garlic.
Review Information
Number of visits: Countless.
Number of dishes (on the reviewed visit): eight dishes in total. Shared starters: Beef Crackling, AED 45, and mixed crackers, AED 25. Four larger dishes: chicken green Thai curry, AED65, Pad Thai, AED60, sticky tamarind tenders, AED 80 each. Two desserts: mango sticky rice, AED 57 and the mango sticky rice ice cream, AED 52.
Drinks: three non-alcoholic drinks, AED 25 each. Sticky Rice is unlicensed.
Total spend including taxes and tips: about AED 700, we split the bill, so AED 140 each.
Sticky Rice, Shop No 06 Dubai, Sobha Daffodil, Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The latest information about Sticky Rice is available on the Sticky Rice website or via Instagram. Call +97145808350 for bookings.
Liam is a restaurant critic, food and travel writer based in the Middle East. He owns EatGoSee and contributes to other publications. You can find Liam on Substack, Threads, Instagram, BlueSky or Facebook.
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