The Turkish inspiration in Arabic food

There are those that would have you believe all Arabic food has its roots in Turkish cuisine; and there are those who'd passionately argue the opposite, citing everything from the length and breadth of the Ottoman empire to the Moorish conquest of Iberia.

History never having been our strong point, we decide the answer must lie in the eating, so we happily take ourselves off to the Park Hyatt Dubai. Its Café Arabesque has been running a blink-and-you'll-miss-it five-day Turkish food festival.

On the menu are such unpronounceable delights as Zeytinyagli Yaprak Sarmasi, which reveals itself to be vine leaves stuffed with onions, dry fruit and herbs. It's juicy and packed with flavour: who cares how it's pronounced? We do away with any attempt at language lessons, then, and are soon stuffing our mouths with food rather than consonants, making our way through the buffet of starters.

Like the Arabs, the Turks serve up a variety of hot and cold mezze, but there's more on offer than the chickpea and eggplant concoctions that are standard fare at Arabic restaurants across the city. Kisir, for instance, is a wholesome salad of tomato, bulgar, parsley and an oil and lemon dressing, while the celery root in olive oil is definitely worth trying.

As you might expect, meat is central to the Turkish palate, with a wide variety of seafood, lamb and beef on offer, including that nightclubbers' favourite, the doner kebab. The hotel's staff stop by at this point, suggesting the roast lamb, which we're told has been slow cooking in the oven all day. Immediately irresistible, we carve ourselves a chunk: it's succulent, tender and superbly seasoned.

There's also a wide range of brochettes and kebabs: long, tender coarsely minced Adana; buttery, finely ground Urfa; exquisite Islim kebab, which is tender, braised lamb shank wrapped in grilled eggplant; and for fans of white meat, chicken shashlik. But it's the stew that we're most impressed with. With finely diced lamb and a sort of curried gravy, it's lightly spiced with the heat of green chillies running through it, and wouldn't be out of place in an Indian restaurant.

As we discover with dessert, though, the Central Asians probably influenced kitchens as far afield as South Asia and Mediterranean Europe: from a comforting semolina halva to a very elegant candied pumpkin, the references here are cross-continental. After all that, however, we still can't say whether Arabic food is an offshoot of Turkish or vice-versa. Certainly, Arabic food is more robust and earthy, but to our uneducated palate, there's little more to say than that they are equally delicious.

- Dh129 for à la carte lunch or buffet dinner until tonight at Café Arabesque; dubai.park.hyatt.com

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