The vendors kept busy straightening rows and stacks of fish, and, when they saw us passing, trying to come up with ways to get us to stop and chat. Usually this involved handing us a recently-deceased sea creature to hold. In the northeast corner of the souk, there’s a small section devoted to a mind-boggling array of dried fish products. There are tiny dried shrimp smaller than a fingernail all the way up to massive sheets of ochre fish the size of my entire lower body, all hung in the sun and stacked or piled high in a barrel. Whole fish, fillets, just the heads, tails, and some ground to a powder; it’s all here. At the east end of the market, there is a fish cleaning station where rows of men stand, carefully and incredibly quickly zipping off scales and rinsing out fish innards. (This side of the market also holds butchers—goat heads or lamb brains, anyone?)

If you’re like me, even all this raw fish will whet the appetite. Outside the market, on the northeast corner, is an outbuilding holding the most important part of an early morning fish market tour: breakfast. Grill & Shark Restaurant may or may not have a menu, and it may or may not grill food that may or may not include sharks. Our point-and-look hopeful methods yielded a “fish” (squid) curry and a “vegetable” (chickpea) curry, accompanied by rounds of light, flaky paratha. In total, a visit to Dubai’s fish market will take you about an hour including breakfast. If you’re jet-lagged, you’ll probably be ready for a nap, and if you’re on a layover, this may help you sleep the rest of the way. And if you’re sticking around Dubai and have a kitchen, don’t forget to buy some of the bounty of sea creatures for a meal later—after 6:30 a.m. (once most of the wholesalers are long gone) the market is open for anyone to shop.

Transfer tomatoes to a medium bowl and discard drained liquid. Add cucumber, lemon juice, and parsley to tomatoes. Season Israeli salad with salt to taste and mix well.

In a medium bowl, toss cabbage with vinegar and season with salt.

In each pita pocket, smear 3 tablespoons (45ml) of hummus in an even layer. Layer 2 to 3 slices fried eggplant on top of each. Drizzle each with 1 tablespoon (15ml) tahini sauce, then top with sliced eggs, Israeli pickles, and remaining tahini sauce. Spoon some of the Israeli salad and seasoned cabbage into each pita, drizzle with amba, and serve.

Special equipment
Fine-mesh strainer

Notes
Amba, a sauce made from pickled mango, and Israeli pickles, which are spicier and more tart than American bread-and-butter pickles, are available from international and Israeli grocers and online.

Meanwhile, heat 1/4 inch oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Working in batches if necessary, fry eggplant slices, rotating for even browning and turning once halfway through, until golden on both sides and tender throughout, about 5 minutes; lower heat if oil begins to smoke. Transfer eggplant to a paper towel–lined baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.

Salting the diced tomato drains off excess water, concentrating the flavor and improving the texture.
Sprinkling the fried eggplant with salt while it’s still hot ensures that it will adhere.
Falafel may get all the attention, but the sabich, another popular Tel Aviv snack food, has won my heart. Filled with moist slices of fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, a generous layer of creamy hummus, crunchy Israeli pickles, and Israeli salad, and drizzled with tahini sauce and amba, a pickled-mango sauce, it’s all you could want in any sandwich, and more.

Ingredients
2 plum tomatoes (7 ounces; 200g), cored and diced
Kosher salt
Olive oil or vegetable oil, for frying
3/4 pound Italian eggplant (about 1 medium eggplant; 350g), sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
1/2 large seedless cucumber (7 ounces; 200g), diced
2 tablespoons (30ml) fresh juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon minced flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cored head cabbage (7 ounces; 200g), thinly shredded
2 tablespoons (30ml) white wine vinegar
4 fresh rounds pita bread, warmed and split just enough to form a pocket
3/4 cup homemade or store-bought hummus (6 ounces; 170g)
1/2 cup (120ml) homemade or store-bought tahini sauce (note that tahini and tahini sauce are different products)
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
Israeli pickles, for serving (see note)
Amba sauce, for serving (see note)

Directions
Place tomatoes in a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl and toss with a generous pinch of salt. Let stand 30 minutes.