“Stomping Grounds serves up some of the best coffee in Dubai, arguably only second to Espresso Lab and at par with The Sum of Us”. This is the almost chant I’ve been hearing since January, when Stomping Grounds officially announced it’s arrival to the vicious world of food bloggers. I’m not a coffee person, and that’s no secret. I have no appreciation for coffee, whatsoever. Give me green tea and I’ll make your ears bleed, but coffee is not my forte. I was however very interested in trying out the breakfast there.

Last week I had a girly sleepover at my superclose friend K’s house, and we decided to head over to Stomping Grounds for breakfast. There was one major variable we overlooked when making this plan- and later regretted: it was a public holiday and chaos ensued. We cabbed out to what turned out to be a jam packed cafe and had to put ourselves down on a waiting list to be seated.

K had a flat white (Ethipoian), and I had a matcha latte.

K not only makes for one of the best friends, she’s also a great hand model.

K had the baked egg in a brioche boat and it was the bomb.com. I don’t even understand how one can make baked eggs taste THAT good. Was it the sun-dried tomatoes, the chives or some other magic ingredient? I might never know, but this is the first time I’ve enjoyed eggs outside of home that weren’t poached. This was a big, great discovery.

Meanwhile I decided to go for a salmon bagel (ever since my stock of The Gulf Bagel Factory has depleted, I’ve been suffering major withdrawals). While I wish I had the option of picking a multigrain bagel, I loved how it was packed with salmon. I would, however, have liked some red onions and capers to boot.

Overall verdict: This place was a great find. Service could really use some work as part of our order was forgotten, and getting a server’s attention was like attaining world domination, BUT-I can’t wait to go back when it’s less crowded and gradually try the rest of what seems to be a very promising menu.