The Clippers JLT Facial Offer for him @ JLT Community Dubai

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Kids Circus Camp @ JLT Community Dubai! 24 March - 6 April

For more real-time news on the JLT Community Dubai, make sure to join our Facebook group on:
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Month End offer @ Fitness Zones JLT Community Dubai!

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Local Businesses shutting down - Support your community now!

Local businesses here in our JLT community are shutting down one after the other. It started with the Maro Mart over a year and half ago then the children barber in Cluster T last year then the Chinese Restaurant beside Akawi a couple of months later. This month Pizza Amore, Pompei Pizza, Sizzle and the Cake shop in Cluster U shut down as well.
JLT needs a real drive to support the community run local businesses because this is the only way our community will prosper and not turn into a ghost town.

Please, if you want grocery, call one of the local super markets around you. If you want Pizza or Pasta, check out the plenty of Italian options we have around. If you want to go for a SPA, I guarantee you that you will find a great one somewhere here for your manicure, pedicure, Moroccan bath or massage and waxing.

If you tried a place, please share with us your experience here and if you don't like it speak to the owner and let them know how they can improve. JLT could become a real heaven only if we joined hands and pushed it towards that.

Thoughts, ideas and suggestions are welcome! Please share with your JLT neighbors to make our community the best in Dubai.

Eclair.. so yummy

Cluster Y seems to be filling up with great places! Another hidden gem for the ones with sweet tooth. Eclair. I have not seen a restaurant so true to its name before. Eclair has nothing else on the menu except eclair.. not just chocolate and coffee eclair, these guys are so creative, they have Japanese Green Tea eclairs, Blackcurrant and Violet eclairs, Raspberry eclairs, vanilla eclairs, dark chocolate eclairs and salted caramel eclairs. A bit expensive but I'd say worth every dirham spent on it.

https://www.facebook.com/Eclair.ae

Say "I" in Arabic!

Learn to say "I" in Arabic. Remember, there is no verb to be in Arabic. So, when you want to introduce yourself, simply say "ana" followed by your name. It's that simple!

For example: ana Salma (I am Salma). If your name is 'Anna', it is still the same. You say: ana Anna  

Start practicing now. 
http://arabicspeaking.blogspot.ae/

La Yomall - JLT

"La Youmal" is an Arabic expression which means: "cannot be bored with". So, quite an interesting name for a cafe/restaurant that makes your mouth water from anticipation.

I tried "La Youmal" twice in the past 6 months. The first time was a disappointing Jordanian Mansaf which had nothing to do with the Mansaf other than the name.  I am not Jordanian and I was disappointed at the taste. My Jordanian friend really tried hard to give the dish a name and could not in the end.  He said it is an OK plate but it is not Mansaf.

The second time I tried "La Youmal"  was 2 days ago.  I said to myself, let me give it one more try. May be the Mansaf was a one off bad experience. I ordered beef shawerma sandwich (small sandwich AED 7) and believe me, I was searching for the meat while eating. It was a mix of tomatoes, onions and tahina sauce wrapped in Arabic bread and every now and then there is a tiny and very thinly slices piece (note the singular use of piece - not pieces) of meat.

I understand the business in JLT is not as good as cafe owners would like and I understand the community is not yet coming together as one to support businesses. Nevertheless, this kind of service/product delivery can do nothing but harm to the business.  It's a chicken and egg case. If more people come, the cafes will make more money and hence give better service and better quality products. But from the consumers' standpoint, we will only go to a place again and again if the quality of the product bought is good and the service is also good.

So, until somebody tells me "La Youmal"  has significantly raised its quality, I will not be placing orders anymore. If I really craved a shawerma sandwich from my community, I would be calling "Shawermaty" instead. But that is another post!

Body & Mind Spa - Cluster O

Knowing how much I love SPAs and massages, a friend of mine gifted me a one-hour oil massage voucher to Body & Mind Spa in JLT.

I was doubtful in the beginning - I have tried quite a few SPAs in JLT and was not happy with one thing or another about each.  Either the therapists are excellent but the place is quite shabby and border line questionable. Or the place is posh but therapists are far from knowing how to massage someone.

So, I went to "Body & Mind" spa with low expectations and almost anxiety on what awaits me there!

The spa is actually in Cluster O on the lake level - right next to the Gelato cafe (they changed its name now - I suppose they figured Gelato was too limiting).  This is how Body & Mind looked from outside:

 

Not so bad, right? In fact, quite decent and far from shabby.  I entered from the door on the side and was greeted by a nice Filipina lady who politely took my voucher and requested my therapist to come over the phone.  She did not offer me any information or offers or anything.  Just greeted me with a smile and answered "no" when I asked her if they were giving any special discounts for JLT residents.  This is how the reception area was: simple, nice rustic brown tiles, and overall woody feel that makes you feel you are surrounded by nature.



My therapist came - another Filipina - smiled at me and asked me to escort her to a small room that had a sink on the floor so she can wash my feet before the massage started. Well, I liked that. I always consider this something nice to offer (especially if it is not deducted from your 60 minutes).  The feeling of warm water and soap on the feet before massage gives me this fresh feeling and relaxation.  This is the small room where I had my feet washed:

After a couple of minutes of feet washing and drying, I was escorted to the massage room.  Nothing struck me as "wow" or as "yukk" in the room. It was rather a small tidy room with a massage bed that offers an opening for your face to rest when you are on your stomach (many other SPAs just offer a flat bed which is quite uncomfortable when one is on their stomach I should say!).  She asked me to change and she went out.  The room smelled nice and I was then anxious to see my treatment.

Heidi, my therapist, knocked on the door and adjusted the towel on my back, got on top of the bed and started stretching my body before she started with the oil. The oil smelled really different from any other place I've been to.  Usually the oil is either the Ylang Ylang or Lemon Grass or Lavendar, which might be more expensive than the oil Heidi used on me, I can't know for sure. However, this oil smelled like mild strawberry and really made me feel happy inhaling it.  Yes, happy is the word. I was relaxed for sure, but happy is how this aroma made me feel.

My massage was an "Oil Sports Massage" and it was quite good but I should say that the best surprise in this massage was when I suddenly felt this really hot oil on my lower back and I was not sure what the source was.  Heidi would remove both her hands from my back, rub them against something on the bed and then massage my back again with very warm hands!  After 5 minutes of this riddle, I felt hot stones were replacing her hands and it was heavenly.  This massage is not a hot stone massage but she does add hot stones for what seemed to be 5 minutes to warm up my back and trust me, if you ever go, ask for it to be included if they don't include it themselves.

When I rolled on my back, Heidi and I started a conversation. I was asking her about the oil and the hot stones.  Her reserved personality suddenly vanished and she started talking very friendly.  I must have been given an extra 10 minutes or so complimentary massage which was really nice.  Heidi told me she was the only Filipina masseuse in Body & Mind and in all honesty, I would not have guessed she could do such a great job. You know how we stereotype people, Thai are the best masseuse, etc.. So untrue!

Verdict: I will sure go to Body & Mind again and will sure ask for Heidi.  For now, it is my favourite massage place in JLT!

Promotion: The SPA offers a complimentary 30 minutes for every one hour booked every day between 10 and 3 p.m. So, if you book at 1:30 p.m. for instance for 60 minutes, they will give you 90 minutes! Not bad and the prices are quite average.  Ask for the promotion when you book. I think the receptionist will not mention it unless you do - I could be wrong of course!

You want to speak Arabic? Let's do it!

So, you want to speak Arabic and you have tried memorizing words and phrases, bought books and even joined classes but nothing seems to really work?
For those of you who have and did not make it, there is good news.  Go to: http://arabicspeaking.blogspot.com/ register your interest to join the classes for the batch starting mid October.


One more thing: the first 2 classes are absolutely for free for the JLT community residents! So, try it out, you got nothing to lose.

Tamweel Tower Fire.. never seen before pics

A massive fire broke out in the early hours of November 18th 2012 on the roof of the Tamweel Tower located in Cluster U in JLT. Below are some pictures taken on Sunday morning (7 hours after the fire had started).