Qwaider Al Nabulsi is an unremarkable place, at first glance.

The clue is in the glamorous Indian woman standing out front waxing lyrical to a group of hungry looking tourists.

The setting is a Palestinian-Jordanian restaurant in Dubai (Qwaider Al Nabulsi, Al Muraqabat Street; +971 4227 5559), the tourists are refugees from the city's culinary mainstream, and the woman is Arva Ahmed - underground food guide extraordinaire.

Ahmed is talking about the history and variety of Middle Eastern cooking.

She rat-a-tat-tats to the assembled crowd about the spartan dishes of the Yemeni Bedouin and moves on to the love of vegetables in the fertile crescent through Turkey, Lebanon and Syria.

Then she pauses as waiters appear from the restaurant to satisfy the food cravings Ahmed has stirred up.

Onion and chili paste-stuffed falafel is the reward: like the restaurant it looks ordinary, but the dish is phenomenally tasty.

The gooey, cheesy, sweet kunafa pastry served up afterward is likewise delicious.

Read - Best falafel in Dubai - and the woman who found it