Hotel Cartagena. I first went with my bestie Zoe when it had just opened, and liked(ish) it, promised I’d go back and give them another chance once they’d gotten past the teething phase, and then you know, (Dubai) life happened, I got distracted/procrastinated and didn’t go back until last week for my last brunch of 2020. Spoiler alert: we chose well, and it truly felt like Weslodge Dubai‘s sister property (who still do my favorite party brunch in Dubai). From the music to the views to the food, this brunch was an absolute winner and I’ll be recommending it loads.
When I first went to Hotel Cartagena, I felt that the strongest items on the menu were the appetizers and desserts, and that the mains had far too much room for improvement. This time around though, when I went back for brunch, I felt that the gap had become much narrower and quite liked most of the mains. Brunch menus are usually not as impressive as ala carte dinner menus, but that’s certainly not true for Weslodge and Hotel Cartagena.
Here’s what the Hotel Cartagena Friday Brunch looks like (through hurriedly taken pictures because we were having too much fun):
The chips and dips. Confession: when I go back, I’ll be asking for more of these and keep this plate within reach till the very end of the meal. So good, I’ve been craving this everyday since as an accompaniment to my Netflix evenings.
The empanadas. Our entire table absolutely loved and demolished this moreish parcels of comfort. Half of them had beef, and half were ‘mushroom, truffle and cheese’. While I completely loved them both, there was no trace of cheese in the latter.
The spicy tuna roll. Wasn’t bad but also wasn’t my favorite thing on the table- mostly because the bar was set high by the rest of the contenders.
Aji tuna poke. Give me allll the guac, you’ll never hear me complaining. The crispy puffed rice and lettuce added wonderfully fresh and crunchy texture to this perfectly balanced and quite healthy grazing option!
A seafood-free ceviche for Zoe, because she’s allergic to seafood and the chef was kind enough to oblige. A quick sidebar: they also noticed that Zoe likes sauces, and brought her 6 different ones to keep and enjoy throughout the meal!
The ‘ceviche of the day’ was salmon, and not the best, sadly.
Least favorite and least impressive dish of the day (sadly), was this ‘Jamaican Jerk chicken’ on black bean rice. It was what most chicken dishes in most restaurants are like: dry, bland and an afterthought. Also, it tasted absolutely nothing like Jamaican Jerk Chicken.
Thankfully, the Chargrilled Prawns were sick salvation.
As were the lamb chops: a major hit across our table. I have a personal vendetta against lamb so I didn’t try this. No complaints, as there were so many other options for me to pick from (and I was still contemplating asking for another plate of chips and dip.
Another crowd-pleaser: the Puerto Rican braised short-rib withsofrito, cassava, and coconut polenta.
Not photographed are the flamenco dancers that come our around 3 p.m. and ensure that everyone (but me because I’m the grinch when it comes to dancing) is on their feet and dancing away.
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This is the second review of the brunch where I am leaning towards going. In other news, I am yet to eat a jerk chicken in Dubai worth talking about. There was a place where I bought jerk sauce from them but their cooked jerk food was no good. They’re closed now 🙂
Haha thanks so much for reading!