Fazaris

Fancy offerings make this Old Town brunch stand out from the crowd. Well worth a trip 3 Reviews

1

© ITP Images

 

• 
• Picture 1 of 2
• 

By and large, Dubai brunches are fairly predictable. If you don’t spot a live cooking station, over-abundant buffet and a dessert table boasting an array of cream-filled shot glasses, you just might feel a little cheated. While Fazaris’ new Friday brunch doesn’t really stray from the formula, it does it’s best to stand out from the crowd by putting out a fancier set of ingredients and employing a more avant garde range of cooking techniques (at least if the lacquered labels are anything to go by).

On a recent Friday visit, I spotted ice trays packed with oysters, risotto with morels in place of heaping cream-based pastas, and slices of ‘Riviera fougasse with courgettes’ replacing the standard all-white bread rolls. Most buffets serve up some form of salmon, but Fazaris took things to the next level by offering salmon confit. At another station, in place of a stodgy chicken breast in some anonymous sauce, a peek into the buffet tray revealed a miniature army of whole roasted quails with beef and pine nut stuffing. There were some haute (and ethically questionable) surprises in store at the live cooking stations too: in addition to kebabs and grilled prawns, the chefs were doling out plates of foie gras. So how did this elevated fare pan out? Well, like most buffets, results were a bit mixed. While it’s exciting to get quail as a brunch option, the bird isn’t really a buffet kind of bird. By the time I got the fowl to my plate it was quite dry.

The cheese station, however, proved much more exciting, as the selection, though not vast, was expertly chosen. Absent was the ubiquitous assortment of brie, cheddar, and Swiss cheese. In its place were perail – a nutty and fragrant soft goats’ cheese – and Saint-Nectaire – an earthy concoction made from cow’s milk.

My sweet tooth and I were well catered for, with two dessert tables and an ice cream station. While these contained a handful of traditional flavoured creams, it was here that the chefs had really applied their creativity and care. Chocolate pudding was an obscenely rich, decadent affair, with whole cocoa morsels imbedded throughout. Assorted profiteroles were ethereally airy and the occasional odd concoction (the mango passion ravioli, for instance) even worked here.

While I enjoyed Fazaris’ slightly haute interpretation of brunch, I still couldn’t help but feel the price was a bit steep. I know the 200-range is the going per-person rate for brunch, but Dhs290, excluding alcohol, just seemed steep to me. If they knocked Dhs90 off the tab, Fazaris’ brunch might otherwise be well worth a visit.

• Previous reviews
  • 19 March,2009- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
  • 01 December,2008- reviewed by Daisy Carrington

Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.