Last Updated on April 20, 2024 by Jamie Marshall
When the two words “brunch” and “Dubai” appear together in the same sentence, it’s pretty much a guarantee that what is really under discussion is Friday Brunch – a bit of an expatriate institution in the United Arab Emirates.
Now, all the eating establishments (especially those in hotels), in all seven Emirates offer Friday brunches, but we’ll take it as given that most Friday brunch eaters want to be able to consume alcohol as well.
That’s perfectly possible in six of the seven, but be aware that Sharjah has a strict no-alcohol policy, so it’ll be water, soft drinks, or fruit juices only at Sharjah Friday brunches.
Before mentioning specifics of places and price tiers for Friday brunch in Dubai, a cautionary word about alcohol consumption. While it’s available and you can order as much as you can drink during the period that brunch is served, do be aware that it is illegal to attempt to drive a car after consuming even a small quantity of alcohol.
Either have a nominated sober driver in your party, or leave the car and take a taxi home afterwards. Don’t be too publicly exuberant either. If the police spot you in an obviously intoxicated condition, you could be arrested and you could face a stiff fine or imprisonment (probably both), and likely deportation after you have served your time.
So, enjoy what Dubai has to offer by way of this institution, but be sensible – you’re a guest in this very hospitable and tolerant country, so behave nicely.
Choosing eight places out of the hundreds available is a hard task. I most certainly haven’t tried all of them, so what I’m going to do here is talk about four different price groups and give you an idea of what you get with each one, how much you can expect to pay, and a couple of examples of places I know well in each group.
Later, I’ll give you a link to most, if not all the Friday Brunch deals – you can read a quick summary for yourself and decide what sounds best to you by way of price, location, and cuisine. Brunch usually means noon until 4:00pm, but there a few that stop at 3:30. Check to avoid disappointment.
Cheap and Cheerful – Under AED 200
It’s getting very difficult these days to find a Friday Brunch that will give you a good range of decent quality food and alcoholic beverages for under AED 200, but luckily there are a few. One worth trying is Long’s Brunch in the Towers Rotana Hotel – named after the hotel’s Long’s Bar.
The brunch, with house beverages, comes in at AED 185. House beverages? Generally, that means a choice of three or maybe four beers – Heineken, Amstel, Fosters, or the like, red or white “house” wines by the glass, and a range of spirits.
OK, the wine probably comes out of a cardboard box, but you get what you pay for. You do have the option to go for the “premium beverages” package, but that costs AED 245 per person. Food includes a good range of family favourites like fish and chips, burgers, roast chicken, lamb, plenty of salads, desserts, and fruit – and plenty of coffee as 4:00pm (the cut-off point) approaches.
Another very good value is at Jumeirah Lake Towers’ Pizza Express restaurant – Jazz@Pizza Express Friday Brunch. There’s a good range of Italian dishes on offer (not just pizza – although the pizza at Pizza Express is very good), live music (jazz, unsurprisingly), a chic setting, and the par-for-the-course deal of noon to 4:00pm eating and house beverages for AED 189. (At the time of writing, the web-link says AED 159, but this is incorrect and will be amended soon, I’m sure).
The Real Sweet Spot – AED 200-300
There’s great value and variety in this range. Many of the big, 5-star hotels operate an open restaurant policy, which means that for a single price, you can graze freely from 3 different venues – possible when the restaurants are grouped closely together under the one roof.
The Dusit Thani in Sheikh Zayed Road, just before the First Interchange, offers Thai, Italian, and International cuisine from its three in-house restaurants for AED 250, with the ubiquitous house beverages.
Now don’t get me wrong – this is a great deal – it’s just that I personally am not a great fan of the mix n’ match approach to eating out. I can’t quite get my head around wanting to eat Thai and Italian at the same time.
If, however, you do fancy Thai, then look no further than my absolute personal favourite, The Thai Kitchen at the Park Hyatt Hotel. It’s one of the great bargains on the Friday Brunch scene, and should be in the next bracket of restaurants -.but it’s not, and that’s your very good fortune.
The “house beverages” deal comes in at AED 299, and for this, the very friendly and attentive staff are constantly ferrying freshly prepared sets of exquisite Thai food to your table. House beverages in this bracket are also of a better quality than the earlier examples.
You can dine inside or out. After the end of April, it’s probably best to opt for inside. In fact, the outside option is withdrawn once the heat builds.
Going Up In The World – Sometimes Literally – AED 300-400
There are some very smart locations in this bracket, and I think it would be fair to say that it is often the location or the name that is the key difference between many of the restaurants that charge over AED 300 and those that charge between AED 250-299.
The Armani Hotel’s Deli offers a novel variation on the usual noon – 4:00pm Friday Brunch. At the Deli, you can eat for any three hour slot between noon and 9:00pm. Price is AED 395 with selected beverages (note that house had been subtly replaced in the description).
Location also plays an important part in the desirability of this brunch – it’s in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa tower – yes, that tower, the tallest building in the world. Without a doubt, the Armani is a beautiful hotel, but it is located near the ground in the Burj Khalifa.
Beer and mussels? Doesn’t sound very upmarket, but rest assured, Café Belge (aka The Belgian Beer Café) located in Ritz Carlton Hotel in Dubai Festival City builds its Friday Brunch menu around very good quality seafood, meats, and Belgian beers.
A word of warning here – and I speak from experience, I’m a little ashamed to say – these beers are delicious, and a real cut above the standard beers that come with the “house beverages” described earlier.
What makes them so delicious is that they have a higher alcohol content than the regular beers that most of us are accustomed to. They are very enjoyable, but monitor yourself carefully, because your usual “no more thanks – that’s enough” gauge can go seriously awry. AED 395 per head, with live music as well as the food and drinks.
Top Shelf – With Bubbles, Please! – AED 400+
Generally, this category of Friday Brunch means just one thing: champagne. There’s plenty of them, but to avoid being disappointed, do read the descriptions carefully, because “bubbly wine,” while it sounds like jolly good fun, might be just that – a methode champenoise bubbly wine, from France, Italy, South Africa, Australia, or New Zealand, as opposed to the real deal – a genuine registered champagne from the Champagne region of France.
As a rule of thumb, the closer to AED 400 the price is, the less likely the wine is to be real champagne – not that it will be a bad wine…
The Fairmont’s Spectrum on One Champagne Brunch, is sadly no longer available; the restaurant is currently undergoing a major refurbishment and will reopen soon under a different name, but no longer offer the legendary Friday champagne bacchanal.
In its place, you could try the Madinat Jumeirah Al Qasr brunch. I think I can promise you that the decor, the location, and the cuisine on offer will take your breath away, but note that the “bubbly” option, at an eye-watering AED 795 per person, doesn’t specifically say that it’s champagne. To avoid disappointment if you’ve got your tongue hanging out for Veuve Cliquot, Moët, Bolly, Heidseck, or whatever, best check with a phone call.
You’re on solid ground at the Park Hyatt’s Traiteur, Dubai Time Out’s Number 1 restaurant for 2014. I haven’t been for a while, and I see the price has inevitably drifted up – it’s AED 690 per person now, with the “premium sparkling” option, but I can guarantee you that this is Veuve Cliquot.
Expensive, yes, but you won’t be disappointed. Originally offering a brunch with a French Fine Dining theme, I see that now it has switched to seafood. Enjoy a lazy Friday afternoon with all the oysters, lobster, and salmon you can manage. In the cooler months, most of the tables are set out along the creek, but the interior is delightful, so it is worth a visit in the heat too.
There are, as I said, so many great Friday Brunch options available in Dubai that it’s impossible for one person to sample all of them without risk of serious harm to the wallet and the waistline. To help guide you to the right places, spend a while with Dubai Time-Out’s Guide to Friday Brunches.
Bon Appetit!