Brunches Galore

A popular outing in Dubai is to go for brunch (not the kind of brunch we think of in the UK, but more of a buffet). They generally offer a whole variety of cuisines, ranging from Chinese to a roast dinner, to a selection of fish and a spread of breads and cheeses, topped off by the magnificent dessert section where there is literally so much to choose from that you end up piling your plate high with an assortment of cakes and cookies and ice cream even though you're stuffed from all the savoury items you've eaten(!)

Unlike some restaurants where you feel a certain pressure to not outstay your welcome, at a brunch you can book a four hour time slot in which you can slowly nibble your way through different stations. There are lunch time slots and dinner time slots to book, but both times I went, we opted for the lunch time option.

Bread Street Kitchen

Gordon Ramsay's new restaurant in Atlantis, The Palm.

Image from Pinterest

 Sophisticated, amazing food, excellent location and cracking live music. I managed to try oysters and lobster here which was definitely interesting - not sure I'm a fan! But the whole spread of food was beautiful, although I didn't get to try it all considering the amount. Here they let you pick at the different stations as "starters" and then they bring out all the options on their main course menu for your group to share (don't worry, the menu only has a few options) and then you dig into dessert afterwards! It was such a relaxed atmosphere and they really try to take care of your every need, constantly topping up drinks (which I believe is included in the price package).

Atlantis hotel, The Palm

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Bamboo Lagoon

JW Marriott Hotel, Dubai

Marriott Hotel, Dubai

This one had an even larger selection of cuisines to pick from that were spread out over what felt like different parts of the entire hotel; it was massive. It had a much more oriental theme to it which was quite relaxing in a different way to the other one. Also, their live entertainment was something else. They were a band of four, two women, two men and they were very energetic and brought a sense of the Australian culture to it - very strange mix but interesting! This one I feel would be more suited to an evening option though.

I preferred Bread Street, but that's probably because I wasn't nervous for a flight for the following day!

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What else is there to do in Dubai?

I've heard two things about Dubai. It's either an action-filled adventure or there isn't anything to do. 

So, what's my opinion? 

I think it's like anywhere, if you do your research or you have someone to give you advice on places to go then you're sorted. It all depends on what you want out of your holiday. I wanted to relax as I hadn't had a break for nearly 2 years.

Here's an outline of what I did over the two weeks:

*Dubai Emirates Mall - they have a snow dome/ski slope inside the mall

*The Dubai Mall - they have an aquarium and ice rink inside this one, plus it's probably, at least, 5x bigger than Westfield Stratford

*Walked around the Marina and to the beach

*Brunch at Atlantis and then onto The Fairmont for shisha and relaxing

*Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - entire weekend of sun, greasy food and very, very, loud cars (obviously this isn't for everyone, this was a belated 21st birthday present because I love it)

*Desert offroading - always go with someone else so that if either you or they get stuck you can pull each other out! Was so much fun though, me and my boyfriend got to drive around the dunes!!

*Lunch/dinner at loads of new places - a Brazilian restaurant in particular stands out because they come to your table to carve your meat and they have Brazilian dancers, plus the whole restaurant is on the top floor so the views are spectacular

*Old Dubai - we got to see traditional markets and went on a quick river trip

That sums up my holiday. I wish I'd taken more photos to post (see this post for lots of photos of my trip!) but I was so absorbed by my surroundings that I thought it'd be a shame to be superglued to my camera/phone the whole time. 

Maybe next time...