News Cafe

Arabic dining spot with a selection of French dishes Discuss this article

One corner of the News Café is reminiscent of great granny’s parlour: dark walls with a conglomeration of elaborate gilt framed pictures and statuettes. The main café area is bright, airy and resplendent in gold and burgundy, with deep comfortable informal seating. We sat in the dining section at a table with fresh flowers and white and green table linen. At lunchtime there is an Arabic buffet as well as the à la carte menu offering an international selection of appetisers, soups, salads, sandwiches and burgers, pasta, entrees and desserts.

I chose the ‘Croque Monsieur’ (Dhs25) and enjoyed the anticipation of a hot crispy toasted gruyere cheese and ham sandwich. What I got, however, was a cold, triple-decker processed-cheese, processed-ham and salad sandwich. The manager kindly returned it to the kitchen for toasting, but what came back was worse: two slices of bread topped with warm processed-cheese and cut into kiddie sized triangles. We appreciated the attempt to rectify the situation, but not the result. The prawn and avocado burger (Dhs35) also conjured up delectable images; succulent prawns in a fresh bun embellished with dressed avocado. A second disappointment. A stale, crumbly bun, riddled with deep-fried, breaded shrimps like little bullets embellished only with unappetising cubes of black, over-ripe avocado.

Considering the lavishness of our surroundings we had looked forward to food of an equal calibre. We thought that the pricing was also not commensurate with what was on our plates: real cheese and fresh prawns fall well within the budget of a Dhs25 sandwich and a Dhs35 burger. The service was willing and friendly but we waited a very long time for our meal to arrive; this will no doubt improve with time.

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