Oman: Shopping fit for Sultans in Muscat and beyond

When friends in India heard that I was going to Muscat, they asked me to bring back gold and silver. “The gold is purer there,” said my mother. “Go to Damas or Joyalukkas.”

But Joyalukkas is an Indian jeweller, I protested.

“Like I said, the gold is purer there,” repeated my mother.

I didn’t go to Damas or Joyalukkas during a recent trip to Muscat. We were a group of foodies who had blown into Muscat to eat and drink with the locals. When our hosts, the businessmen Shawqi Sultan and Saleh Taleb, invited us to their homes for dinner, we made careful note of the saffron that perfumed their rice, the spice rubs that made their steaks so succulent and the preserved lemons that lent a delicious tang to their vegetables. Best of all was the orange-blossom tea that was served after meals. We all wanted the divine-smelling liquid. We grilled our hosts about food, and went to Al Fair supermarket and Lulu’s hypermarket, where all of Muscat seemed to shop.

After a week in town, I came up with a list of the finest things to buy in Muscat.

Frankincense

Once considered more precious than gold and known to sailors all the way to China, frankincense grows in neighbouring Yemen, but the quality is better in Oman. Called “luban” by locals, the frankincense from Dhofar in the south, which was once the centre of the “Frankincense Trail”, is considered of the best quality.

Omanis use this sacred aromatic resin that is obtained by slashing the bark of the Boswellia sacra tree three times.

From:

Oman: shopping fit for Sultans in Muscat and beyond