I have a bit of a knack for finding places most people walk straight past. Always have. Something in me can’t resist the side street, or one more question before booking a table.
Friends and family have picked up on this over the years, so when they ask, I’m always glad to share what I’ve found: restaurants first, and quite often half a travel itinerary besides. I’m admittedly particular about where I spend an evening or a plane ticket, but that’s rather the point. Being picky is what makes a recommendation worth passing on.
Two obsessions, you’d think, except they’ve always behaved rather more like tea and biscuits: perfectly fine apart, better together.
The first is old world charm: castles with proper history (though I’ll happily browse the gift shop on the way out, no judgement here), cathedrals where I lose all sense of time, museums and galleries that reward a slow, unhurried look. The second is food in its most particular form: not just a good meal, but the one chilli oil worth hunting down, a stash of proper gourmet snacks, a box of very good chocolates, or the dish that makes you go quiet mid bite. And when I’m not out hunting for it, I’m just as likely to be in my own kitchen, trying to recreate it.
Castles & Cardamom is where all of that finally lives under one roof. Some editions will be a discovery right here in Dubai. Others, a tale from further afield: a castle, a city, some old world corner of the map, with good food never far behind, because for me the two have never really travelled separately.
I’m Arpita, based in Dubai, and for years all this has lived scattered across notebooks, phone notes, and messages to friends asking where on earth to eat next. This newsletter is simply that habit finally given a proper home. A new letter every fortnight, for anyone who fancies wandering somewhere with a bit of history and ending up somewhere with very good food.
