Hi faja3 peeps! We are helping out a friend with some market research and we would like to know what you think.
In your opinion what are the top 5 Levant restaurants in the UAE in general and in Dubai in particular?
Also- What are the top 5 catering companies in Dubai and the UAE?
So we finally managed to go to the famed Cheesecake Factory at the Dubai Mall last Thursday. The first branch of this American franchise in the Middle East has been pretty much full ever since it opened its doors around a month ago. We check the availability of tables every time we go to the mall in the hope of being able to get a table without having to wait for eternity, but we’ve never been told that it would take less than an hour or so (In reality that hour translates into an hour and a half or even two hours according to friends). Luckily enough we had a couple of friends that day who were at the mall before and they managed to reserve seats in advance. Soo with no further ado here goes:
Let’s start with the negatives (And there are plenty of them, sadly):
– Annoying wait that seems manufactured at times, as if the restaurant’s management deliberately wants the restaurant to seem much busier than it actually is.
– Uncomfortable seating – It seems they crammed tables and chairs in order to fit more diners. There was practically no legroom. we never noticed having such an issue even at fast food restaurants, not like we go to many of those nowadays but still.
– The menu was horribly designed: No pictures of food, instead there were endless ads of unrelated business being run by Al Shaya group (The company owning the franchise). The menu was much longer than what you would expect and the text was relatively small and uneasy on the eye (Especially with the CCF’s dimmed lighting).
Moving over to the positive:
– The food! The food though was quite good, massive portions (Much, much bigger than anything we’ve seen in Dubai). Our group usually doesn’t struggle to finish at least 75% of our dishes when we go out (Omar usually finishes his portion + whatever is leftover from others’ dishes for instance and he couldn’t even finish his own plate this time around. A rarity). The cheesecake we tried (Red velvet) was massive and heavenly. It’s good that it’s not only a name then and that the restaurant chain really creates good desserts (Judging from this one at least).
– Value for money: Good value considering the portions, but I hope they review their portion sizes, it’s a tad too big for what the Dubai market is familiar with (Or the Middle East in general I reckon from my trips around the region). It was too “American” is what it is being best described as. 600 AED bill for a group of 6 (With 5 main courses, no starters and with some beverages) seemed okay if you only look at the food. IF you consider the overall hassle of getting there and the uncomfy seats etc. then it might not provide the best value of money in the mall, let alone in Dubai.
Now we have an important question to answer: would we go again? We would if we don’t have to wait for anything more than 10-15 minutes and if we hopefully have a table with more comfortable seats and more legroom.
You haven’t been there yet? Well, we honestly think that you should wait for a few weeks till the hype starts to fade and for the Dubai crowd to find something else to go crazy about (Just like Tim Horton, Red Lobster, Armani Hotel and its outlets etc etc etc). If you have an hour or two to kill and don’t mind the wait while you (probably) do something else at the mall then it would be a decent option.
Couple of final thoughts: We noticed that at restaurants with high turnover the waiting staff usually (and subtly) try to get rid of customers who have already finished eating and paid the bill. This was not the case here, at all. we think we even sat there for around 30-45 minutes after paying our bill and we were not approached by any waiting staff asking us if we need anything (coffee/tea, more food, whatever). It gave us the impression they were happy to have an idle table, maybe if they have 10% of the tables like ours then they will get a breather.
According to one of our friends who were there before us to reserve the table was told by one member of staff that the demand was way too much for the staff to handle. Perhaps CCF should consider this in the future.
Verdict:
Service: Nothing special and nothing bad either. Did the basics with minimum fuss 2.5/5
Ambience: Bit noisy, but this is normal at such a place. CCF was heaving with people and the chatter noise from around the restaurant was not at an annoying level. Having said that, it’s not recommended for a quiet meal 3/5
Food quality: Hmm, Very good quality, however, the menu’s size and overall poor design mean that the massive variety of options works against CCF. Sorry! 4/5
Value for money: Looking at the portion sizes and food quality alone, we’d give it 5/5 but looking at the overall experience and the hassle just to get a table we will only give it 3. So it’s 3/5
Overall rating: 3.5 🙂
Okay faja3 peeps, we have not been very active lately, but we promise to make it up (In our defence we have been very active on Twitter and Facebook!). Let’s start off with the poll results *blows dust off previous blog post*. We asked our fans on Facebook about their thoughts on which was pricier, dining out or staying in and eating at home.
There was a consensus that eating out is indeed far more expensive with the majority voting for that (While unsurprisingly the authors of this blog voted that eating out is a cheaper option and more convenient, maybe for us at least).
You can view the results of the poll by clicking here. You can also have a look at the posts we got in response to the poll here:
Do you have other thoughts foodies? Let us know what you think here or on our social media pages on Twitter and Facebook
So some people claim that it does not cost that much to eat out and some argue that it would be much cheaper to eat more at home. What do you think? Vote on our facebook poll and share your thoughts on this topic here: https://www.facebook.com/questions/141925475948036/
We had a poll last week asking our readers and followers on social media to vote for which cuisine type to blog about next and the winner of the poll was Italian cuisine. We have decided to write a review of a small Italian eatery in Al Barsha called Pizza Pazza. It is a small eatery located on a busy street in Barsha that is filled with nice eateries like Moulay Yousef (Moroccan) JJ Chicken (sandwiches and such), Just Falafel (Self-explatory), Abu Shagra (Egyptian restaurant) and more.
The restaurant is in the corner and is quite small, doubt it can accommodate more than 20-25 customers at once as you can see from the pictures. It is not usually full anyway as perhaps diners prefer to order home delivery instead of eating at the place itself. It has a big pizza oven and an open plan kitchen (in addition to a smaller hidden one in the back).
Pizza Pazza’s interiors and decor
After a few visits to Pizza Pazza, it did not take a genius to realise that despite its size, this small place has a good variety of options on the menu and and the dishes being served by that modest looking open kitchen are actually impressive. They have the usual Italian fare, insalatas, anti-pastas, pizzas (Really good pizzas), lasagne dishes and pasta. Our favourites are the seafood lasagne and the pepperoni pizza, credit to PP you cannot go wrong with any of the pasta and pizza options though. The menu’s price range is acceptable and is good considering the portion sizes.
The restaurant is less than impressive when it comes to the level of service. Even when there are hardly any other diners the waiters tend to be slow to react to even the most basic requests. It could be a language barrier (Still not an excuse). This was noticeable on Faja3’s most recent visit this Raamdan for iftar they had a big sign on the entrance saying they have a daily “buffet” with names of dishes listed next to the corresponding days. Upon entering the restaurant there was no sign of any buffets despite the waitress insisting that it is available, turned out eventually that the “buffet” is a 3-copurse set-menu that changes daily. Basic requests to change the channel on the muted TV to a local UAE channel to know the iftar time, cutlery and minor amendments to the order were reacted to sluggishly (Or not responded to at all, like our repetitive requests for the channel to be changed).
We opted to have the “buffet iftar” (set-menu) accompanied with a pepperoni pizza on the day and it certainly did not disappoint. You get soup, a salad to share and some pickles, and a main course. Beyond the service failings, if you are patient enough with the minor blemishes by the staff then you will get good value for your money with the portion sizes and the quality on offer.
Main course and pepperoni pizza
Soup
Verdict:
Service: The main downside here for an otherwise decent restaurant. 2/5
Ambience: Small, slightly cozy and the open adds a nice feel. Nothing extra ordinary though 3/5
Food quality: Quite good, simply put! It’s the main strength of Pizza Pazza and is probably the main reason why we would visit again 🙂 4/5
Value for money: Despite the less than satisfactory service you still get decent value for your dirhams 3.5/5
Overall rating: 3.5/5
The pics posted on this post were taken on our most recent visit to Pizza Pazza this Ramadan. For more mouth watering food shots and to see what we have been up to check out our social media pages: Facebook | twitter | pinterest. You may also find one half of us now on Instagram under the username of omardxb
… Don’t get too excited, we’re revealing the winner in a couple of lines. For the uninformed, in our previous post we had a small poll for our readers to choose the cuisine type of the next restaurant that we review. The response has been impressive! Most of the votes went to the Italian (45%) and Lebanese 33% if you round it up) cuisine options. So there you have it, our next review will be of an Italian eatery.
Thanks to everyone who voted, we will do the review and post it this week so stay tuned! More to come on faja3!
To leave you with a small teaser, here are some Italian delicacies!
Dubai, being one of the most multicultural cities in the world, offers a wide variety of dining options and some signature establishments that are run meticulously by Michelin starred Chefs. We are quite indecisive and are not sure what cuisine style we should blog about next. We want YOU, our lovely fellow mafajee3 to help us choose a style.
Our next review will be about a Dubai restaurant serving dishes from the cuisine that gets the most votes. Thanks in advance to all our fellow mafajee3 for voting and happy nomming!
Ps. The poll ends on Saturday the 4th and we will review a restaurant next week.
What a week! We’ve been live for just over a week and we’ve been receiving some great feedback on our social media pages! Some of our fans and followers were kind enough to share some of their faja3 moments with us (Thanks!). If you have checked our facebook page (Link: Faja3) , you must have noticed the mouth-watering posts we have received from our fellow mafajee3! This is a small thank you for their contributions & support – keep ’em coming :).
We encourage our friends and fans to post more shots, we love seeing faja3 and seeing what our mafajee3 buddies are up to! (Or up to eating)
Thank you @NicolasHayek , @swshahine and @BassemDib for the pics *drooling*
Hello ‘mafajee3’ (i.e. Fellow starving people)! We would like to wish you a blissful Ramadan, may it bring you wealth, health and peace of mind 🙂
The first day of Ramadan in the UAE was yesterday, the 21st of July, 2012. We were fortunate enough to be invited by a good friend of ours to a delicious Moroccan Iftar + a light Suhoor (Thanks Hind!). Here are some shots we took using our humble iPhone cameras. Some items on the menu: Tagine, (Lebanese) fattoush, harira soup, baghreer and more!
Here are some shots:
Alright, the first ever post of #faja3! Thanks everyone for the tips, recommendations and words of encouragement about this food journal. We have been pushing this back for some time, and we finally decided to publish the blog. We were also encouraged to do this after a visit to an unusual Chinese restaurant in Abu Dhabi over the weekend so without further ado here goes!
We headed to Abu Dhabi to catch up with a friend and had some time to kill (and empty tummies), we were not sure where to head to so we started browsing through the Time Out Abu Dhabi magazine seeking some food inspiration and came across Qian Zhou Hotpot by coincidence.
It is not in any of Abu Dhabi’s fancier districts and finding it was not a very straightforward task as the restaurant’s Chinese receptionist could barely speak any English (To be fair the English level of all the Chinese and subcontinent staff was below average), but after struggling a bit and referring to the restaurant’s entry on Foursquare we were able to locate it.
It is on the second floor of a shabby old building in an old area of Abu Dhabi (Or what seemed like an old area. It is called Najda Street). The escalators do not work and there was an odd smell around the building, we were wondering if we were in the right place but the Chinese writings and decorations assured us we have successfully found it.
Chinese writing at the Restaurant’s entrance
It is a small eatery made up of two rooms, and despite the fact we visited late in the afternoon there were still several tables occupied mainly by Asian people who seemed to be well-acquainted with the restaurant and its menu. Chinese music in the background? Check. Overtly simple layout and decor? Check. Minimal use of English? Check. Still did not deter us!
Once seated, we were given a big sheet of paper with a long list of ingredients (Not dishes), and we had to basically pick the pot’s ingredients in order to cook them ourselves. We were quite clueless and were not helped by the fact the staff were mere order takers and provided little advice on what newbies like us should do. We decided to simply try to mix and match ingredients and see what other diners were ordering and how they were cooking their food. You get to choose the sauce(s) as well from a small buffet.
Sauce selection
The smaller pot and the ingredients (That’s chicken)
Once you get all your ingredients and the pot you simply start cooking and experimenting. We had a smaller pot but changed it to a bigger one to put more ingredients, as you can see in the pictures. The first attempt was not exactly satisfying, so we had another go with a different sauce mix and it was better.The whole experience set us back by AED 91, which is much less than what one would order from your typical Chinese restaurant/franchise (Especially in Dubai).
It was definitely an intriguing meal, not your usual one but one that we would tr again at some point in the future.
Verdict:
Service: Friendly and prompt, communication was a bit of an issue. Would give it 3/5
Ambiance: Typical Chinese melodies and background Chinese TV. The fact you could hardly hear any English or Arabic could be a plus point 3.5/5
Food quality: 4/5, the ingredients were fresh and good (Same goes for the sauces). It’s down to you to create your own combination and make it good
Value for money: 4/5: At 91 Dirhams it was definitely good value for money (Portions of ingredients given were big, if we actually had a better idea about what to order and how to prepare it then it would have been even less we reckon)
Overall rating: 3.5/5: Worthy of another visit(s) in the future. Qian Zhou Hotpot does not seem to promote itself, it doesn’t need that. It has its regular clientele. It seems more than content as it is, which only adds to its charm. Not pretentious, simple yet very interesting.
Will leave you now with some more shots from our visit. Notice the Lebanese and Palestinian flags!
#faja3! 