Doha's Breakfast Central

Where: Villagio Mall, in front of Virgin Megastore

When: Sat-Thursday 9:00 am onwards; Friday-12pm Onwards

What’s on the menu: All Day breakfast including waffles, pancakes and omelets with prices ranging from QR 25 to 60

What we ate:

Hani:

I had a Palazzone Di Spasso- poached eggs on a foccacia bun with bolognese meat sauce with melted mozzarella & cheddar cheese with a grilled tomato served with potato wedges umm.. fries umm..wedges.. umm… The truth is that the menu says my Palazzone Di Spasso is served with wedges and maybe they were too but they do look like fries to me.

The bun was different to what you can find in other places. There was one major problem with my meal, I couldn’t figure how to eat it then, so I just overturned the upper bun to make it burger like but everything kept sliding out of the buns.
The major-est question is if it is to be eaten like sandwich, why would be a half full sized tomato be place in it?

Taste wise the who meal did feel a bit peculiar, didn’t know if it was the bolognese sauce for breakfast that it didn’t feel like breakfast.

Kavi: I decided to go light and ordered French Toast. However when my meal arrived there were more French Fries than Toast. I was offered the choice of brown or white bread. Full points for getting that right. But I could barely taste much eggs on my toast. If you’re ordering breakfast at Spasso, it is a good idea to ask them to replace the French Fries with anything else of equal value. Even a few slices of tomatoes would be a healthier option.

This is one of the few places in Qatar that serve Tea Forté, that very expensive and delicious brand of tea. I would go to Spasso again, even if only for tea.

Long time Dine at Dawn friend Sybil Knox also came in and ordered herself some Frittata Tramezina. She liked her eggs despite sharing our dislike for all the excess potatoes.

Verdict:

Hani: Extensive variety with extended prices.

Kavi: Delumptious. But the close proximity to the entrance gate brings all the flies to the yard!

Where: Hyatt Plaza (also within Caravan complex, adjacent to Starbucks, opp. Jarir Bookstore)

When: Daily 8 AM to 12 PM (the one near Starbucks opens at 7 AM)

What’s on the menu: Eggs, Patties, Pancakes, prices from Qar 24 to Qar 35.

What we ate:

Hani:

I ordered “the works” which was country potatoes with cheese, onion, bell pepper,
chilli and turkey Ham with orange juice.
Although, I managed to finish the dish, but the taste was so overwhelming that I had to stop, although there was quite some space left. Orange juice was nothing to write home about.
And when I tried eating the second dish, everything that went in my mouth tasted
being salt marinated salt. The taste was so overwhelming that even a person like me had to skip lunch.

Kavi: I was super excited about Johnny Rockets because I LOVE their burgers and milkshakes. I ordered a French Toast which comes with sausages and hot chocolate (SURPRISE! not).

No complaints about the taste, whatsoever. But boy, the portions were shockingly small. I was starving after I was done. So we ordered a portion of eggs and english muffins and that did nothing for us too. However, full marks for service.

Hani’s Verdict: The essential taste buds satisfier for american oil rig operator, construction site worker. Too salty for my liking. Medium priced.

Kavi’s verdict: Biffsquiggle

I really hope someone from JR visits the blog and improve their quantity a little. I have big expectations from them, having enjoyed items from their regular menu. I’d love for this to be a favourite, if only they could make the portions a bit bigger.

Where: The Pearl Qatar, Parcel 10 

When: Monday to Thursday and Sunday 10am - 12am; Friday to Saturday 10am - 1am

What’s on the menu: Different kinds of eggs, selection of croissants, fruit salads, costs between QAR 10 to QAR 46.

What we ate:

Hani:

Knowing my hunger (games) I usually end up choosing the largest offering
in the menu, this time I chose Carluccio’s Colazione Magnifica -which had eggs, turkey bacon, mushrooms, grilled tomato and italian bread. With the option of having coffee or tea with fresh fruit juice. Among the very few places to have filtered pomegranate juice- -ah bliss! The mushrooms served with the dishes could as well be anchovies due to the salt factor. There was enough salt in them to cover for all the other items on the plate. Like the eggs, my latte was also well prepared.

Kavi: I ordered scrambled eggs with mushrooms and hot chocolate (as usual). The eggs were light, fluffy and had a dash of cheese and herbs. The portion was just right. Not too heavy and yet filling. But the mushrooms were too salty to eat. I ended up leaving all of them behind. We also had a friend and painter extraordinaire Zoe Hawk with us this time. Here’s her review in her own words, “My eggs benedict was delicious: the Hollandaise sauce was light and perfectly buttery with a hint of lemon, not too thick or heavy. I always enjoy the atmosphere at Carluccio’s in the morning; it’s bright and airy inside, and I like the option to sit on the patio when it’s not too hot outside.”

This is what the eggs benedict looked like

Verdict:

Hani: Breakfast menu is competitively priced over their other menu, if you are the type of person that likes to have breakfast in a place that’s bustling with activity, this one will suit you right.

Kavi: Delumptious BUT the atmosphere isn’t really my kind. It’s a family restaurant which means, expect lots of wailing babies and noisy kids. The first time I visited Carluccio’s a kid next to my table, threw up on the floor and the parents didn’t even bother cleaning it up. Needless to say: super unpleasant. The staff didn’t clean the floor too often leading to crumbs and food lying around the floor. This brings me to my next pet peeve: FLIES. It could be because we were seated close to the door but the flies in the restaurant were just too annoying to ignore and ruins a good dining experience. The waiters however did pay us attention and served us food in good time and inquired if we’d had a good experience. 

Where: Farggi- Gate Mall
When: 9 am onwards (if you are lucky)

What’s on the menu:Omelettes and other egg products (if available) cost between QAR 35 to QAR 55.

What we ate:

Hani: Had what they call as a “bussinesman breakfast”. A simpleton like me didn’t know what that means because the menu cryptically described nothing. When asked, we were told it would have bacon, grated mozzarella cheese, scrambled eggs, hash brown and some white bread.

Kavi: Dine at Dawn guest (and funnyman) Ramy Khalaf and I ordered what they called, “designer omelettes”. And we were both equally disappointed by the bland eggs that were served up. It’s never a good sign when half the dishes in the menu are unavailable. Also we should have taken a cue from the somewhat hideous looking menu.

Verdict:

Hani: Just got what my omelette name means, to make the maximum business out of the man eating. Quantity was limited for the price, other places will serve you all of this with a coffee too.

Kavi: Bunkumhouse

You might wonder what luck has anything to do with their timings. Ramy and Kavi reached Farggi at 9am - which is the official opening time. Now in the past, when we have arrived at a restaurant at the opening time, the eatery is usually up and running, clean and ready to take orders. But at Farggi, their opening time is quite ..er.. literal. They only opened shutters at 9. They were busy cleaning up and setting up stations till about 9.30. We placed our order around 9.45 with the waiter who had to set away his broom to attend to us. If it’s an everyday affair then they should officially change their timing to 10 am like MBCo upstairs.

Half the items the menu were not available. When we wanted to have waffles, we were told it would take over half an hour because they were not ready. Long story short, there was nothing redeemable about having breakfast at this place. Not even the delicious, creamy hot chocolate nor the heavenly smelling Gate Mall.

Competition time, again! Three simple rules:

1. Tweet a photo of yourself with breakfast (not too different from the pretty girl above) in the format:
   
   

   “@dineatdawn: Check out what I ate for breakfast. [your pic here]”

   
   Photo must be composed of yourself WITH breakfast. Just a pic of you (pretty as you may be) or the food (yummylicious as it could be) alone won’t be considered.
2. Photos will be judged for visual deliciousness and appeal (of the food, NOT YOU). If your breakfast makes our tummies rumble then consider yourself a winner.
3. Tweet all your photos anytime between now and 12 PM (Qatar Time) on Wednesday April 18th. You can submit more than one entry (one each day). Winner will be announced on Thursday and gets to have breakfast with us on Saturday April 21st at a secret location.

We humbly request that if you’re not able to have breakfast with us on Saturday, please do exempt yourself from the competition. It’s only fair that those who would like to win the prize be given the opportunity, yes?

Where: Opposite Alfardan Automobiles/Blue Salon, C Ring Road

When: Breakfast served daily 9 to 11:30 am

What’s on the menu: Pancakes, waffles, burritos, assorted croissants, muffins, bagels and eggs all ranging from QR 28 to 32.

What we ate:

Hani: I had a NY Reuben, which was home made beef-brisket, sauerkraut with 1000 Island dressing. The term home made has been taken too literally here. The bread was rather hight. Had a Mocha coffee which I should compliment as a compliment to my breakfast.
Valet parking availability was surprising for me, but the valet caters for other restaurants in the area I guess ( and the other restaurants must also “cater” to the valet)

Kavi: I ordered a cajun omelette - eggs stuffed with sausage, pepper, onions, mushrooms, jalapeno and cheddar cheese. It came with a side of hash-browns, assorted fruit and bread. The eggs as you can see has a pancake-ish look to it. It was filling without being too heavy. It was fluffy, cooked right and had everything the menu promised. On the whole-super tasty. The fruits are ill matched for eggs, I thought. A small croissant would perhaps be a better companion to an omelette. The service was good and the ambiance was quiet without being too eerie.

Verdict:

Hani’s verdict: Plain jane, return trip probable if granted entry

Kavi’s verdict: Delumptious

On a side note, I had tweeted over six months ago about an unpleasant experience with Roger’s Diner and had vowed back then to never return. But in the interest of you, our dear readers, I swallowed my tweet and pride to visit again. However, I will mention the incident because in my 25 years in Qatar, it has never happened to me before.

I visited Roger’s Diner in October 2011 on a Friday night with my sibling and Hani expecting the place to be somewhat full. But as walked past its glass walls, we peered in to find it half empty. It had outdoor seating too and except for one occupied table, it was vacant.

So we walked in and this is what happened.

Host: Hello
Me: Hi there
Host: How many of you?
Me: (surprised) Errr.. just the three of us.
Host: Sorry, no table available.
Me: (flabbergasted)

First of all, it was plain as day (despite the dim lighting) that there were at least 3 empty tables indoor. Secondly, if there were no tables available, why even ask how many of us were there? Thirdly, it was a newly opened restaurant that should have at least made a half-baked attempt at customer service by offering to check if a table would be free any time soon or, alternatively offer to seat us outdoors. Nope, nothing. Just, “no table available”.

I hate to repeat this but I have lived in Qatar nearly all my life and have visited many many restaurants. Even snooty, elitist, high-brow ones which asks you if you have a booking before turning you away (irrespective of how many of you are in the entourage) or ask if we’d like to wait for 20 minutes or so for a table to be free. People who follow my personal account on Twitter will know, I hate cribbing about poor customer service on Twitter and I hate hearing people’s rants about it too. I believe that if you have a problem with a service, pick up the damn phone and do it. The public name-and-shaming along with the passive aggression is more suitable for a whingey teenager than grown 30 something adults. Just because you’re a Generation Y middle class person with a cheap data connection, there’s no reason to forget your manners. Okay, now that my position on misplaced-self-obsessed-customer-service-entitlement has been clarified, I have to emphasise: I share my experience with Roger’s Diner because I’d like to give my personal, balanced opinion about the restaurant.

I also happily add that I was glad I returned to Roger’s Diner. I certainly enjoyed the food and ambiance. Plus, I’ll willingly return to eat there again.

Hani: that was intense,  here is some iced tea.

Where: Salwa Road- near Sushi Minto and Crepaway

When: Breakfast served daily

What’s on the menu: They have a large menu offering a variety of breakfast friendly food that can be. They also have a special breakfast menu with different kinds of hommous, fatteh bil laban, foul, eggs etc.The menu also includes traditional Lebanese offerings like batata harra and fattouch. Overall the price ranges from QR 8 to 45, the highest priced item being a Pizza.

Like Ric’s, the menu was so large, we went twice to try a wider sample.

What we ate:

Hani:

The first time I had a hommos bi kawarma which was served very differently from any other hommos I’ve ever eaten before (Now I am a bit confused if I should spell hommos the american way, without the U). It tasted satisfactory. The second time around I ordered a beef sandwich with laban taza. Although it tasted good, this sandwich was nothing more than a regular shawarma.The Laban was a bit salty for my liking. My overall experience was averaging between ok to good.

Kavi: On my first trip, I ordered a falafel which was extremely tasty. It was hot, crispy and the quantity felt right. The second time I ordered eggs which was served in a rather innovative way. The taste was alright, but the quantity was a bit disappointing. I kept picking at the pie like covering hoping it would fill me up.

Hani’s Verdict: Easy dining, non-nosy waiters. The way I see it Sabah wa Masa, feels like a knock off of Zaatar w Zeit which we enjoyed tremendously.

Kavi’s Verdict: Biffsquiggle

While I enjoyed Sabah wa Masa a lot more than Hani, I prefer Zaatar w Zeit for two reasons. ZwZ, at Souq Waqif is a great location. Sabah W Masa is located at the Ramada Junction where the traffic is always a nightmare and parking is a hassle. The menu of ZwZ might be smaller, but Sabah w Masa is cluttered, crowded and not always appealing.

A big shout-out to @pistonkidd for joining us!

Where: Ric’s Kountry Kitchen (Near Sana Roundabout, Ras Abou Abboud Street)

When: Breakfast served daily from 6 am

What’s on the menu: This place easily has the largest breakfast menu among all the places we have reviewed thus far. In fact, it was so big we felt the need to visit TWICE to do a properly justified review. We also had to take a picture of the menu because there was TOO MUCH to write down. Don’t believe us? Have a look:

and this is just half of the menu!


Eggs (any style: omelette, sunny side up, scrambled), sausage patties, hash browns, Texas toast, Texas French toast, regular french toast, home fries, biscuit with gravy, breakfast steak, regular pancakes, blueberry pancakes, baked beans, grits, grilled tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, ham, bacon, oatmeal. Phew!

What we ate:

Hani: On my first visit, I had Death By Omelet, two eggs, salsa, ham, and lots of
other things, served with texas toast and sausage patties and orange juice. The eggs were good with the right amount of spice. The sausage patties were well cooked and the texas toast although tasted a bit salty was still delicious.

The second time, I told myself, let’s live it like the Americans, and ordered myself the biggest breakfast dish they had. The Lumberjack! Boy, was it really American and probably had every item on their menu.

I must say that I find their pancakes too dry for my liking. The bottomless lemonade on the other hand tasted good and made it possible to consume what
seemed like a bottomless breakfast.

Kavi: The first time I visited, I felt particularly adventurous and decided to try biscuits and gravy. Now, where I come from, biscuits look like this:

So you can imagine my shock, when the biscuits I ordered looked like this:

In this day and age, it’s always a good idea to whip out your smart phone and at least google an unfamiliar name to avoid such situations. As it happened, we were accompanied by our BFF (and popular blogger) Sybil and her wonderful husband David. They said that biscuits and gravy was a very southern U.S cuisine. So it was little wonder that I didn’t particularly enjoy it. But this is no reflection on the quality of the food as such. Just that it was something whose appreciation required an “acquired taste”.

The second time around, I decided to fall back on old favorites and ordered 2 eggs, hash brown and a Texas toast.

I am not a big fan of the hash brown I’ll admit. It was a lot more greasier than what I am used to. But boy, the toast and eggs more than made up for it. The portions were very generous and the service was excellent. Also want to add that this is perhaps the only place in Doha that serves bottomless lemonade, iced tea, black tea and coffee.

Hani’s verdict: Prices are high but it gets covered by the free refills on selected
drinks. Breakfast served at breakfasts time and serves the blogs name rightly.

Kavi’s verdict: Delumptious.

A few tips for newbies: Parking space isn’t very optimal. So the earlier you get there, the better. You might also need to wait for a few minutes before being seated because the place tends to be full on weekends. If you’re the kind who likes to loiter in a restaurant chatting and catching up with friends long after your meal is done, be sure to leave a good tip (remember the people waiting to be seated?). This brings us to the last point. For me, the idea of going to the counter to pay the bill in a restaurant in Qatar, was new. So don’t be waiting at your table, silently mouthing “Cheque?” to the waitress.