Dubai’s a melting pot of nationalities so it’s the same for Dubai’s Best Christmas Brunches
Some unusual ideas for Christmas Brunch in Dubai this year. Be bold and less boring and do something a bit different – Dubai’s best Christmas Brunches. And that Turkey Takeaway festive dinner doesn’t have to be Turkey at all! All on this edition of FOOD NEWS with me Monica Kapila chatting to Mark Lloyd, Stef Burgon and Zahra Soar on Dubai Eye 103.8.
Dubai’s best Christmas Brunches Kanpai at Souk Al Bahar
How about you forego Turkey for Teppanyaki this year? We tried Kanpai which means Cheers in Japanese. Located in the Downtown area of Souk Al Bahar, just across the bridge from Dubai Mall, next to the Rivington Grill! A bit of a find really, very high quality Japanese cuisine with a glass of something stronger than a mocktail!
What I suggest you do is tire yourself out from Christmas shopping, be dropping from hunger and thirst and then walk across to Kanpai and have 3 dishes to share with some liquid refreshment at HALF PRICE from 6pm to 9pm every day except Friday! I recommend the black cod miso, the scallops and the yellow fin tuna. Some very good vegetarian and vegan offerings too.. We liked the tofu steak with crispy lotus root!
Christmas always has a bit of drama associated with it, so how about you book the Teppanyaki table? On Christmas day which is Friday this year, they have a special brunch be wowed by the Teppanyaki master. Loved the fact the waitress was Japanese in a Japanese restaurant, but the chef team was a combination of South Africa and Korea, a perfect foodie pairing if the food was anything to go by. Dhs 349 including alcoholic beverages and some Christmas gifts for the children. Book It and ask about the Teppan Table. It seats 8 people plus high chair!
They also have a very reasonable (to me) New Year’s Eve package around Dhs 600 free flowing bubbling drinks plus gold armband that allows guests to go out to see the fireworks and then come back in and continue the revelry. Apparently it’s going to be very strict this year, so that sounds like a good deal to me. A special degustation menu for vegetarians as well which at Dhs 250 if you’re a couple is incredible value!
Dubai’s best Christmas Brunches Turkey Takeaways doesn’t have to be a Turkey you takeaway
The Shangri La hotel on Sheikh Zayed road this year are offering a whole host of alternatives to take away for your special festive meal apart from just Turkey! You can choose from up to 6 different offerings, all of which are available for 5, 10 or 15 people. Apart from Turkey, you can have Lamb with rosemary, Beef with Thyme, A couple of fabulous seafood options and a very authentic Goose with orange! Order at the GingerBread house in the lobby, up to 24 hours before.
DoinDubai had an early Festive meal to see exactly what worked well and where you might need to think a bit harder. We ordered the seafood medley that comprised of Lobster, Crab, Oysters and Prawns for 3 people (as we were doing a sample) but we could easily have fed 4 or even 5 with what we received.
So for 5 people if we ordered it would have cost Dhs 1100 but I’m dividing that by 7 which would make your very impressive and high quality seafood Christmas meal (most of it) Dhs 157 per head! The seafoody details are you get a Marie Rose sauce, red wine vinegar with chopped up shallots for your oysters, some citrus aioli and lemons already prepared in muslin and your oysters are already shucked for you.
A great alternative to a traditional roast turkey takeaway, get some peppery salad leaves along side and some really good quality sourdough bread with French butter. Have your meal at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon and I think you’ll be fine with just mince pies and cheese and biscuits after that at 5 or 6 for the rest of the day and night!
And if you do have left over seafood (we did) you can a couple of things, make some very good crab cakes with a bit of Thai curry paste or shred up some purple cabbage very thinly, throw in baby spinach leaves and some roasted red peppers and put the seafood in, lobster and prawns and have another gorgeous, relatively healthy fancy, holiday meal with none of the usual work you’d associate with Crab and Lobster and Prawn! If you’d like to order then here’s the pdf of all the Turkey Takeaways from Shangri La.
Dubai’s Best Christmas Brunches Did I hear you say Feliz Navidad – A Spanish Christmas anyone?
Another alternative Christmas lunch which would be my pick I think is the free flowing tapas, endless tapas, with endless free flowing sparkling Spanish for Dhs 395 from 12.30 to 3.30pm at El Sur. And what does El Sur mean? Book a table on their terrace at the Westin hotel in the Marina side of town and relax. Loved the fact that most of the staff were Spainish speaking and you can expect really good quality food like croquettas made with leek and cheese, mushroom risotto, lot’s of charcuterie and fabulous bread with extra virgin olive oil and padron peppers.
A really social way of eating in a lovely setting, high quality, tasty snacky food with great music thrown in. And you must have the milky caramelised brioche dessert with thin, almost translucent beetroot slices that I thought were rose petals initially! The nicest puddings of 2015 for me I think, as was my Novikov creme brulee with guava, but again we had one between 3, that was enough, priced at Dhs 50.00 and called El Torrija. Would like to go back to this restaurant and try it again and hope they’ll offer us a meal for 2 for DoinDubai early in the New Year!
Dubai’s best Christmas Brunches Christmas in the Cellar at BOCA
An unusual venue BOCA’s atmospheric cellar for 16 ! Have a completely private christmas in a proper cold, mid winter ambience recreated in BOCA in DIFC’s unique cellar space. Dhs 550 per person for 8 different dishes all paired with specially selected beverages, I liked the fact they are so flexible with you’d like to eat, so this way everyone really is catered for so whether your veggie, vegan or an omnivore, they will make you something special for your Christmas meal whether your vegetarian or even vegan!
Loved the sound of the Chicory Baked Winter Cheese (Vacherin Mont’OR) on Grilled Soudough bread. I’d choose Roasted Vegetable Tart Fennel & Herbs Salad served with Walnut Pesto and I liked the sound of Scottish Salmon Wellington Duxelle Mushroom, Spinach and Beurre Blanc! I’ve eaten there before but not in the cellar as yet, will report again from the cellar soon!
and then after some of Dubai’s best Christmas brunches I suggest as an alternative to charades – Making your own Gingerbread house! Dhs 65 from from Freedom Pizza, here’s one I made earlier!
Happy Christmas and enjoy the holidays oh and remember our Christmas Competition is still on and there are plenty of prizes to be won!
Monica
