Breakfast @ The Pangolin Restaurant and Lounge Dubai

2022 Update : The Pangolin is now called The Green Room.

To the few who guessed the restaurant was ‘The Elephant’, ‘The Meerkat’ or ‘The Hippo’…. you were either taking the mickey (very funny indeed), or you honestly thought there was an actual restaurant called The Meerkat in Dubai. Imagine if there was! Wouldn’t that be so cool?

Anyways……

I took the littlest one to Sports City on a Wednesday morning for a breakfast playdate. Sports City, can you believe it? I am venturing far and beyond the golden gates of the Marina, isn’t it…

So, how was The Pangolin? Was it worth the 22 minutes drive?

Maybe the picture on the wall would have given you a clue?

If you have no idea where The Pangolin is…..

Trust Googlemaps to take you there. It’s an extension to The Els Club – which we are not familiar with at all as well. See this is how often we explore the ‘other part’ of Dubai…

Someone said there is a play area here?

I chose to go there mainly because I found out whilst doing research for this listing, that they had an indoor play corner. And then I saw in their stories later on that they had an outdoor playground – as well! That’s double tick for us parents, isn’t it.

The play corner is essentially what it is. A small cornered off area for the little ones (say, 2 and under) to play in. It was quiet when we went, so it was just two of our little boys, and at the next table, they had a little one as well.

And an outdoor playground?

Yep! Take note though, it’s not exactly right by the tables if you sit outside. You can kind of see the kids from the tables if you sit outside – and I would say it’s suitable for ages 3 and above. For the younger ones, they can still play but with proper supervision as you will have to help them go up, and down, and around. Bear in mind that their pool is right there, so if you don’t have sensible kids, I would highly suggest you sit indoors.

Shall we talk about the food now?

Prior to heading over, I had a quick Google search to see what people have said about the food. Gotta do at least some research, right? Honest be told – I don’t know enough about local chefs and backgrounds enough to comment on it, so if you want a more food-focused expert review – have a read through Foodiva’s take of The Pangolin here.

For me, a ‘normal’ person who occasionally eats out – I thought their breakfast was superb. I know, and was later on confirmed by the Pangolin themselves that they make everything from scratch. This is possibly why a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs, grilled toast, sausages and beef bacon didn’t taste like the usual “all you can eat places” which I go to …. all the time. Hah. Even the toast was delicious. Did I mention how smooth their latte was? Oh, I’m definitely going back for their coffee. This is all for 69 AED – well-priced.

The Pangolin also added that they…… quote “aggressively pursue zero food waste in the kitchen.” Hats off to that.

My friend who is vegan, had the Butternut Hash and Sauteed Greens. The only feedback to share was that her smoothie – the Pink Elephant was way too subtle in taste – very light, and not thick as she had expected it to be.

First Impressions.

For a quick first visit – The Pangolin has definitely won me over. If you can get someone to pause after eating a piece of toast, and go – this is actually really good – you are doing something right. And that coffee…

We’ll be back to try out the rest of the menu. I will happily venture further than the golden gates of the marina to The Pangolin for a good breakfast, and more. It’s just a plus that they so happen to have an indoor play corner… and an outdoor one, isn’t it.