The Bookmunch Saturday Brunch | Bay Square, Dubai

A new trend is surfacing in Dubai. The wildly extravagant Friday brunches have been around and in full swing for a while now, but the insatiable appetites of denizens and tourists alike have paved way for a more low key Saturday brunche too- to “detox”, if you may. The Saturday brunches I’ve tried so far have been in unlicensed restaurants (again, detox), are much cheaper, but have been surprisingly impressive in terms of variety and the quality of food. Bookmunch floats near the top when I make my list of best, most laid-back Saturday brunches.

I dug into a very sweet Saturday brunch yesterday, at the sun-kissed Bookmunch in Bay Square. Bookmunch combines the two best things in (my) life: food and cookbooks aplenty. The brunch allows you to pick one (very generously portioned and extremely satisfying) ala carte item from a set menu, and unlimited helpings from a plethora of canapés, artisan breads, muffins, croissants, salads in jars, pastries and other picnic food. To wash it all down, you can have your pick of fresh juices, detox water, or milk (they even have homemade almond milk for the lactose shy!

While you enjoy your food, you’re welcome to skim trough the cookbooks, note down recipes, take pictures, and/or buy them to take home. All the while, you’ll be lounging on the comfortable shocking pink and lime green chairs that look anything but gaudy, and paired with the light brown wood tales and charcoal colored floors, they make the establishment look less like a restaurant and more like a cosy, family-friendly den that you’ll happily want to spend your weekend mornings in.

Some of our favorite things from the limitless buffet were the lamb kofta tacos, olive tapenade croissants, baby spinach fritatas, chicken baguette sandwiches, mini pancake stacks, banana bread bites, banoffee pie (I wish I had to room to down ten of these!), and the spiced chickpea and cauliflower salad. Other things that we also enjoyed but were dwarfed in comparison to our favorite items included the cutest little bottles of milk with cookies, an assortment of jams, spreads and butter, cereals, fresh fruit, avocado toasts, granola with yogurt and berries, and quinoa salads. There really was something for everyone there, be it the health conscious adult or the inner child within us- or the actual child(ren) with us.

We were stupidly stuffed just from the above mentioned items alone, even though everything was practically bite-sized, but I got weak in the knees when I read the words “Ricotta Pancakes with Honeycomb Butter” on the brunch menu and threw caution to the wind. The Angus burger had a similar effect on M. These pancakes were hands down the softest, fluffiest pancakes I have ever had in.my.life. The burger wasn’t bad either.