It’s been a long time since we’ve been to a Friday afternoon brunch. Out came the Entertainer App as I went through the monthly deals, and The Hide caught my attention. I’ve seen a page or two of it when magazines have gone to review the outlet, must have been in Stylist or Shortlist? Haven’t been there – check, It’s in Al Qasr – would be nice to take the guest – check, They have an outdoor terrace – check. Price? 495 AED for two for those drinking, and slightly less for others – check. We’re going 🙂
Here’s my two cents of the newly launched Meatopia Brunch, from reservations to walking in, food, drinks, service, till the moment we stepped out 😉
- Reservations
Quick to respond through emails, as well as my numerous phone calls to make changes. Credits to Elena for being patient with me and my many requests 😉
- Food
Fine dining brunch I’ll call it. It’s serve-to-table style, which we really like.
Starters
You’re served a ‘Meatopia Sharing Platter’ to start, with the likes of Chicken Liver Parfait, Iberico Smoked Beef, and Oxtail donuts. Of the three my favourite would be the Oxtail donut, and our friends absolutely loved the chicken liver parfait.
The table was then filled with more goodies to share – grilled prawns, artichoke and spinach dips, rabbit (?) meatballs or wassit lamb?, and beef tartar. I know this may seem bizarre but their bread was at the top of my list, as well as to a lot of the rest on table! The meatballs come second 😉
Mains
You could choose your own, or pick one of those monster dishes to share. My slow-cooked beef cheek was unfortunately pretty bland that day which made it a struggle for me to finish. Luckily enough we also ordered two of the ‘feasting joints’ to share – slow roast prime ribs, and lamb shoulder, which was as I describe it – a monster dish 😉 One of those moments where everyone takes out their phone to take a photo – or do a stupid pose to put on facebook, he he. Both were delicious.
Desserts
This will probably get my 15/10 points for the brunch 😉 Oh, the desserts were so good. I could have more right now. The Hide Apple Pie came out what seemed like freshly baked, crumbly on the outside, and warm and sweet in the inside. The Ice Cream was like a surprise of its down, you dig your spoon in and you keep getting something different but so tasteful. Campfire S’mores Sundae it’s called, with peanut butter cookies and burnt marshmallows. The baked cheesecake was absolutely delicious as well. So I sat there trying to eat as much as could, like a little kid not wanting to waste food but it came to a point where I could not eat anymore. Eventhough I was eating for two 😀 I think the little one inside was stuffed as well 😉
- Drinks
You get a welcome bubbly as you enter, and for the drinks package you pretty much have a huge selection of prosecco, beers and wines, house spirits and cocktails. The lot loved the espresso martini, not so much the bloody mary. For those not drinking (me!), we had virgin mojitos and fruit cocktails.
- Ambience
You don’t get live music but it’s still a really nice spot in Al Qasr. Book early if you want a seat outdoors. I booked a week in advance and it was already fully booked at the terrace. We had a table of ten and I wanted to add more people, even if just indoors, but they were packed out.
What could be better?
The sharing platters are monstrous, it could easily feed 4 people eventhough it says for 2, so I felt really bad that we could not finish it! Ask the waiter before you order more food, so it doesn’t go to waste. Same tip goes to the dessert ay. I really wished we could have took it away ! Suggest you let them know how many servings your table wants to have.
Service was actually really good, drinks were topped up continuously and there was always someone taking care of us. A bit of a put off was when the staff asked us at the end, so there’s ten of you here, how many of you guys are going to leave a review? That’s a huge boo boo from me. There’s a lot of ways to get patrons to leave reviews, and asking them in that way is not one of them 🙂 It felt like it was perfect, up till then.
Would also suggest that reservations team let patrons know how the final bill will be calculated when using the Entertainer vouchers. A lot of brunches that I’ve organised and been to, well to be honest nearly 9/10 of them, will let you pay per ‘couple’. So say 6 doing alchoholic and 2 doing non-alcholic, the 2 non-alcoholic ones are allowed to share a voucher and pay their bill separately. It’s not the same in The Hide as they’ll just take out the cheapest packages from the overall. Take note of this if you’re organising for a large group. Not a big deal to be honest 🙂
Other than that, it was a great great brunch 🙂
- After-brunch spots
This came as a nice surprise as halfway through brunch the staff from Segreto came by to the tables to let us know of a deal they were having – half price drinks at their rooftop bar. G and I have been to Segreto long time ago for dinner but haven’t since been back. Glad we were told about this as it was such a nice ride on the abra to the bar, and gosh it’s just beautiful to be outdoors this time of the year (sorry this line will be used in every single post until March 😉 )
That’s my two cents. Got pretty long again didn’t it!
Would recommend you check it out, and book early as well! The prices on their website is incorrect – so do give them a call check beforehand. It says 395 AED for non-alc but it’s actually 345 AED. The menu was also slightly different last Friday than what’s on the website 😉
Many thanks to the staff who took care of us. Again, didn’t catch any names this time round but you know who you are 🙂 Just don’t ask for reviews too blatantly next time, it’s a bit of a put-off 😉 Will be back for your desserts!
- Meatopia Brunch
- 345AED for non-alcoholic package, 495AED for alcoholic package (241 in the Entertainer Monthly Offers February 2016)
- Website
- Email : thehide@jumeirah.com
- Call : +971 4 432 3232
Disclaimer : This is not a sponsored post. We all paid for the brunch 🙂