You guys remember my friend K, right? Well, K just had a beautiful little baby boy, named Adam. The sad, shameful fact though, is that I still haven’t met Adam, and I haven’t met my friend K in FIVE months! Before you start crowd-shaming me for being the worst friend ever, hear me out! She wasn’t in Dubai for a few months, then I traveled, then I got sick, then she had guests. Long story short, I’m going to try my best and make it up to her for being such a lousy friend, and I started by taking K and Adam out for iftar at Vida Downtown, which happens to be one of her favorite places.

Whenever I have friends in town for just a few days, who ask me where they should stay, I always recommend Vida and Manzil Downtown. The reasons are simple: the locations are absolutely ideal to soak up The Center of Now, you can take a stroll down Emaar Blvd or head straight to Dubai Mall which is exactly a stone’s throw away; the F&B offerings are excellent; and best of all, they’re both boutique hotels with very unique and quaint vibes. We’ll talk about Manzil some other time, today let’s just talk about how chilled out the pool-side cabanas in Vida are, shall we?

Whether I want to escape the jungle of a crowd in The Dubai Mall to grab some mocktails with a view of Burj Khalifa -behind a short wall that makes me feel much further away from the chaos of The Dubai Mall than I really am- or catch up with friends on pool-side beanbags or picnic benches, Vida Downtown is a much frequented haunt as far as I’m concerned. So, today K and I decided to revisit some of our more laid-back and peaceful days, this time with out husbands and a newborn in tow.

The Iftar at Vida attempts to reduce wastage. All the mains are made to order, so that does offer some consolation to buffet-haters. They have a new chef and F&B team, but the menu was still largely Middle Eastern. The variety at Vida is always small (well, if you call twenty something salads “small”), but the quality packed a punch and thats what matters. I would rather have the option of just 6, solid main courses, than a dozen of mediocre ones. The fact that the mains are made to order also ensured hot, fresh, and tastier food.

Truth be told, while M loved the lamb ouzi, chicken and molokhiya and the fish harra, I just stuffed myself with the delicious array of salads, fresh warm fatayer, and sweet fruit. I don’t feel like having proteins for iftar and am trying to watch the weight too, and there were plenty of delicious options.

The best part of all about Iftar at Vida? Baby Adam wore a bow tie! My heart nearly exploded.