All posts filed under: Dining Experience

Pronto Coffee Muffin

Pit stop for a quick bite

Published by

We are planning for an upcoming road trip to Al Ain with friends this month. Since the Dad’s are taking over the task of driving, my fellow moms and I are working on a list on where we can stop to get food. Road trip makes children bored and very hungry. It seems that stopping by a gasoline station is the best option for us – refill gas, have our car’s check, toilet visit and grab something to eat. We made a few stops at our neighborhood gasoline stations ENOC and EPPCO we discovered a bakery & coffee shop – Pronto. The kids remembered our long drive to Las Vegas last year and pointed out that it was similar to the stops we made. We prefer to pack food or stop by a restaurant on long road trips. Food I get to pack doesn’t stay warm plus eating inside the car gives me a bit of stress because the smell can cause nausea, the outcome I don’t want to encounter. It definitely is good to …

Boca Seafood Paella

Boca had me at Oysters and more

Published by

It was our first time at Gate Village, DIFC and that place is beautiful, every corner would photograph so nicely.We all kind off wished Daddy’s office was located there so we can visit him often. The press release on Boca’s new menu caught my attention that led me to find out more about them. The reviews online were impressive, people praised the lobster roll and grass fed chicken. It gave a vibe though that it was not a place for the whole family – they didn’t have a menu for the kids. Paella! Did you see that? They are serving paella with a free Sangria. We started off our Boca experience with some appetizers – they had a couple of good selections but with the help of the staff we settled with the best suited for our bunch. Both kids enjoyed the freshly baked bread and baked potato chips, it was as they say “Really… Really good, Mama.”  Kuya V ordered a mocktail called Miss Loren which was a mix of raspberry, ginger ale and yuzu …

BiCE Friday Brunch Hilton Dubai Jumeirah Resort

BiCE Ristorante Friday Brunch, Hilton JBR

Published by

A table brunch concept was something new to our family. Choose a dish you fancy from the menu which consists of 14 dishes – starters, pasta, mains and desserts. Marco Gigli, BiCE restaurant manager and Sudeera our server for the day suggested that we try everything from the menu. So we did. Among the starters our favorite was definitely the Burrata with Cherry Tomato and Pesto Sauce – all the elements worked really well and probably the best burrata we’ve ever had, both Prosciutto with cherry mozzarella, artichokes with rocket salad and Octopus carpaccio with lemon oil and crispy vegetable come in second place. All of the vegetables had that lovely fresh crunch and the sauce used for the salads which made use of different kinds of olive oils was delicious. When Sudeera noticed that we were almost done with our starters, he asked if we would like second helpings of starters and that he will notify the kitchen to prepare our pasta dishes. We were informed that it will take 15 minutes for the pasta dishes to arrive. A pause we …

Xiao Long Bao Din Tai Fung Dubai

Our first Xiao Long Bao experience

Published by

We finally got a chance to dine at  Din Tai Fung, the latest restaurant franchise to open it’s doors here in Dubai at Mall of the Emirates. Two of Din Tai Fung’s franchise in Hong Kong was awarded a Michelin Star. The Taiwanese restaurant is known for it’s Xiao Long Bao (XLB), a dumpling with soup inside. Anthony Bourdain refers to them as “pillow of happiness.” We informed our server that it was our first time and she patiently explained how to eat the famous dumpling. She also prepared a ginger, soy and rice vinegar dip to complete our XLB experience. To eat the Xiao Long Bao: Make the soy ginger sauce. Our server warned us that the dumpling is piping hot, wait a few minutes before eating. Take your XLB and dip in your soy ginger sauce. Place your XLB in the spoon and poke a small hole to release the broth. Blow some steam off and enjoy. The original XiaoLongBao is made with pork but the restaurant doesn’t have a license so we settled …

Boulevard Kitchen Grilled Calamari

Lunch at Boulevard Kitchen, Manzil Downtown

Published by

The whole stretch of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard offers various restaurants and has become a haven for food lovers. Our latest find came in a lunch invitation at Boulevard Kitchen of  Manzil Downtown. I gave our reservation details at the reception and they seem confused and surprised that we were there. A gracious lady asked where we want to be seated, the kids replied that they would love to sit outside, the courtyard area, she informed us that we can’t because it’s the smoking and shisha area. We settled at the corner table with a view of the open kitchen, the kids always enjoy watching the chef’s work. It was surprising that we were only handed a two pages lunch menu, refreshing as it gave an impression that the dishes were carefully chosen. They now have a 3 course menu selection with shisha for AED 119 per person from 12pm until 4pm. We started off with dishes from the Soup & Salad selection and chose Grilled Calamari Skewers and Smoked Salmon. Roasted peppers and tomato salsa with chili vinaigrette complimented well with the perfectly charred calamari. Even …

Toko Family garden brunch

Family Garden Brunch at Toko Dubai

Published by

The weather is perfect to spend outdoors and I don’t feel like cooking on weekends. During this time we find ourselves going and eating out. Luckily, here in Dubai we are spoilt with so many brunch offers that the whole family can enjoy. We recently went to the Family Garden Brunch at Toko located at Vida Downtown. It was our first time to dine at Toko and we immediately fell in love with its Japanese themed garden. Adorned with colorful floating Japanese umbrellas, a relaxing water feature and tall trees, a secret garden in the middle of a concrete jungle. Toko’s brunch is divided in two, an outdoor barbecue/carving area which offers sweet chilli Angus ​b​eef skewers, rib eye steak and miso glazed black cod to name a few and inside the restaurant a beautiful spread of dim sums, desserts, raw salads, sushi and sashimi. If that’s still not enough to convince you, I hope the photo’s will. The brunch setup was not overwhelming which we really liked. It doesn’t mean though that you will leave hungry. If you love Japanese food the selection was …

Saray Sultan Jumeirah 3

Ottoman cuisine at Saray Sultan

Published by

We were invited to dine at the newly opened Saray Sultan, the newest Turkish restaurant in Dubai that promises to serve authentic Ottoman cuisine in Dubai.   Saray Sultan has glass walls and open terrace that’s perfect for the lovely weather we have right now. The LittleOne’s chose to sit inside because they wanted to see how the chef’s prepare our food. Daddy C and I ordered our favorite appetizers – Baba Ghanoush and Hummus which was serve with a huge warm Turkish bread. The smell of freshly baked bread was divine, I had to remind the LittleOnes’ that they have to leave space for the main dish. For drinks we had Lemon Ginger Mint, Fresh Orange, Mango and Homemade Aryam. We were the only diners that Friday lunch time and had the opportunity to go inside the kitchen. How the chef’s work in the kitchen always fascinates Kuya V. Thank you Chef Zafer and Chef Lemuel for allowing us inside your kitchen. As much as we wanted to try something unfamiliar in the menu like the Belen Tawa Saute …

JRG Dubai Junior Food Critic

Junior Food Critic for Jumeirah Restaurant Groups

Published by

The LittleOnes were invited to play the role of Junior Food Critic for 20 restaurants under the Jumeirah Restaurant Group (JRG).  Ben Tobitt, JRG Group Head Chef and Gabrielle Kurz, Executive Well Being Chef were given the task to come up with nutritious and yummy wholesome food that will appeal to little diners. Although the menu is still in the early stage of research and development, the JRG Chef’s wanted to get the feedback of the kids and parents to further improve the dishes prepared. To be a Junior Food Critic was a serious job, kids were given feedback forms to rate each dish they manage to try. Our picky eater Kuya V was happy to take on the challenge and was able to try almost all of the dishes prepared, he even ate a vegetable salad! Most of the dishes he tried was given the happy smile rank. Here are some of our favorites: Kuya V kept on going back to get more of the Dahi Papdi Chaat prepared by Naya restaurant. LittleMiss who did not get a good nap that day only got to …