Forget your gimmicks, your themed events and fancy dress. For me – good Friday brunch experience has a number of key elements – good food, great service and yes, crowd-pleasing music. And there are many around town – Nobu, Market at the W Doha, Shangtastic at Shangri-La who get it spot-on. But last year, a new and surprising entrant shook up the brunch scene – the Big Apple Brunch New York Steakhouse at Marriott Marquis. Besides my sporadic trips to Quick Bites and Ipanema, frankly I never rated this hotel for its food and beverage. For me, it was a little too cookie cutter – big hotel, no real personality. So…
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The Doha Brunch Index – How Far Your Riyal Will Stretch
Brunch in Doha (usually Friday but now increasingly also Saturday) is a deadly serious business, especially in these leaner times. But, with seemingly every restaurant offering some kind of brunch offer, how far will your dining riyal stretch? Being the intrepid food blogger, half baked economist and general busybody that I am, I devised and extremely dubious scientific ranking system for Doha’s burgeoning brunch scene. Behold – the inaugural Doha Brunch Index© This is the result a complicated matrix of reviews, personal experience, overeating and general hysteria levels. It’s not definitive. It’s not exhaustive (but boy was it exhausting), but it should give you a solid snapshot at what’s out there and…
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Competition – Be the First to Try Nozomi’s New Friday Brunch
The Friday brunch market in Doha is VERY crowded. Any new entrant really needs to set itself apart and offer something innovative to get and keep people interested. Which is why I am excited by the looming launch of Nozomi Doha’s new Friday brunch on 28 April. The restaurant has already set the pace with a an excellent value Saturday dumpling brunch so this new concept promises to be something special. I’m pleased to give you an exclusive sneak peek at some of the dishes the innovative culinary team at Nozomi have developed including this miso black cod which looks like it needs to get into my belly asap. The new brunch will be…
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Saturday is the New Friday 2017 Bumper Edition
I called it early last year – Saturday IS the new Friday when it comes brunch. More venues around Doha are offering a more relaxed and refined Saturday brunch, giving those of us who would rather lay around in our stretchy pants watching Netflix on Fridays a chance to be social. I’ve covered a couple of these brunches listed below in my post about this trend late last year but we have some new players to add to the list. First off the bat is the always excellent JWs Steakhouse at Doha Marriott. Their Saturday bunch is luxurious yet also relaxed. An edited highlights version of their wider menu, you can expect plump…
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Steak Your Claim – Win a Saturday Brunch for Two at JW’s Steakhouse
I don’t know what it is about Saturdays, but I always manage to get a lot done. Last Saturday is a great example. I went to the gym, did the grocery shopping, shouted at my father over the phone for a while, lay around in my stretchy pants, marveled at the week of rain in Doha, went to the post office, negotiated the Spratly Islands dispute, nominated for a UN post, wrote a dissertation about Brexit and its effect on my online shopping habits*…and went to brunch at JW’s Steakhouse at the Doha Marriott. While Friday brunches are still a thing, Saturday is the new Friday in Doha and more places, like the venerable…
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Saturday is the New Friday – The Big Doha Brunch Switch-Up
It’s early days people, but I’m calling it. Saturday lunch is the new Friday brunch. I will warn you that my form on such proclamations is spotty. I am still waiting for “Wednesday is the new Thursday” to become a thing. But this time I may be into something here. As we see numbers at Friday brunch struggle, with its lavish offerings and promises of an afternoon spent in party mode, this one-time Doha mainstay is facing stiff competition from Saturday Lunch. More restaurants are cottoning onto the fact that people perhaps want something a little less opulent and time consuming than a long lunch and are adding a new…
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The Brunch to Beat – Shangtastic at the Shangri-La Doha
I used to be a prolific bruncher but around 18 months ago I gave up on the brunch scene in Doha. It was a combination of factors that pushed me to the brink – other priorities on Fridays, work and finally, the lack of value for money. It was around the time that brunches hit QR440 and frankly they weren’t great value for money – lavish buffets of tired salads and meat, the odd unique item and of course, the bubbles/booze. Some were so big they offered maps to diners, others felt like lining up at school cafeterias. Brunch, I just wasn’t that into you. I know that others started…
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Six Places You Should Be Eating at in Doha Right Now (Summer Edition)
It was a long, hot Ramadan and while it’s a time I really enjoy, I’m happy to be getting back into the swing of Qatar’s dining scene. I wrote this blog post in April and because of its success, I thought an updated version was due. Call it the “Summer Edition” as all the venues around the city start to unveil new menus, concepts and ideas. Luxury and budget, date night and family style, here is where I think you should be eating at right now: Mainland China I will admit, I was dubious – a Chinese restaurant chain hailing from India in an office block in Doha. But one look inside…
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Wonton in a Million – Doha’s new dim sum brunches
There are very few things I love more than cheese. The list goes something like: ABBA Online shopping My family and friends My handsome man (he made me write that) And then, there is dim sum or more specifically, dumplings In Australia we call it yum cha and interestingly (OK maybe not), yum cha, which means drinking tea, is the older version of dim sum. In some parts of southern China, restaurants start serving these little morsels at 5am which would actually suit me fine, being an early riser. Dim sum/yum cha of whatever you call it, consists of bite-sized portions traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small…
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Best of the Brunch – 2016 Edition
In days of old, I used to love brunch. Like thousands of expats in Qatar and the UAE, it was kind of like a sport to me. Four hours of uninterrupted food and drinks in a plush environment surrounded by friends and fellow travellers? Count me in. But my priorities changed – my stamina just wasn’t there anymore and I discovered there were things I would rather do on a Friday (sleep, hang out, watch the crime channel). I’m now an occasional guest star at brunches but had a flurry of invites recently that merited further investigation. To be clear I was invited to each of these venues and did…
