If you’re looking for great seafood near Dubai Airport, Dampa Seafood Grill is absolutely worth a stop.
Since so many Asians live in Dubai,
the city quietly has a ton of excellent Asian restaurants.
On my last day in Dubai, I made time for Dampa,
It’s a Filipino-style seafood spot serving saucy stir-fried seafood,
and apparently it’s well known among flight attendants.
I mentioned this in a previous post,
Off The Hook,which is basically its rival.
The two are similar in some ways, but there are definitely a few key differences too.
Check out my Off The Hook review too—it’s a chain, so it’s easier to find.
Dampa Seafood Grillis
only about 10 minutes from Dubai Airport by car.
You’ll find it on the first floor of Centurion Star Tower.
It’s also one of those places with a “Dubai Expo 2020 award-winning” sign
proudly posted out front.
It’s a popular restaurant, so you may have to wait during peak hours, but I went for a slightly late lunch and there were still a few tables open.
That said, it filled up again almost right after we sat down.
Just like Off The Hook, this was also
a restaurant that drew a lot of families.
Since it’s a Filipino brand, the whole place had
a fun Southeast Asian feel to the interior, which I really liked.
The restaurant is split over two levels,
and it looked like they open the second floor when it gets especially busy.
The upstairs looked like this.
The stairs are pretty steep, so be careful.
The women’s restroom is on the second floor,
but the men’s restroom is outside, inside the main building.
Here’s a look at the menu at Dampa, one of the best seafood spots near Dubai Airport.
We ordered the Dump SeaFeast from the top left of the menu,
and it was pretty much perfect for two people.
For the sauce,you choose from five options listed under the red section labeled Mardi something,
and
for Korean tastes, Cajunseemed to be the best match.
I’d seen another blogger recommend it, so we went with Cajun too.
If you order the Dump SeaFeast,
it also comes with two soft drinksincluded.
Honestly, even after reading the five drink options, I still wasn’t sure what to pick,
so I asked what was popular. They recommended Green Mindedand
Justin Bieber, so that’s what we ordered.
I had circled them in the photo on the right.
The drinks came out first,
and not long after that, the seafood arrived.
They covered the table with paper and even drew a little heart on it,
which was so cute.
Then they poured everything out evenly across the table.
At Off The Hook, when you order a set for two,
you can only choose two kinds of seafood,
but here you get a full mix of different seafood.
Ours came with crab, mussels, shrimp, and even corn.
They also give you a lot of rice.
After that, it’s time to put on the gloves and dig in with your hands,
cracking and peeling the seafood as you go.
Seriously, the Cajun sauce here is insanely good.
It’s not that generic “Cajun chicken salad” kind of flavor at all—
it’s sweet, spicy, and smoky, with a real grilled depth to it.
After that point, both of my hands were busy eating,
so there was no way I could take any more photos.
Even the aprons here were cute.
If I had to compare it with Off The Hook,
the sauce is definitely better at Dampa.No question.
But when it comes to prepping the seafood, Hookmade things easier to eat,
and compared with Dampa’s regular plastic gloves, Dampawas a little less convenient
than the nitrile gloves at Off The Hook.So
Off The Hook was a bit more comfortable for the actual eating experience.
Still, when it comes down to flavor, Dampa wins.Easily.
At the end of the day, the food has to taste great.
The only real downside is that Off The Hook has locations all over the place,
while Dampa has just this
one location near Dubai Airport.
Even so, if you’re doing a Dubai rental car trip,
it’s a great stop either right after leaving the airport or before returning your car.
I definitely recommend trying it at least once.
The end.