The Dubai Diaries – Favourite Cafés

It’s about time I did a post featuring some of my favourite places in Dubai. Most of my blog posts are about my layovers, but after all I do live in Dubai and spend plenty of days off here so I thought I’d show you a few of my favourite cafés.

This isn’t in any particular order, it’s just a little collection of a few cafés that do great coffee and food, and that I enjoy visiting!

  • Coffee Club

This is actually a chain which originates in Australia, however in the past year it has made it’s way to Dubai. If you’re down on Al Wasl Road, I’d definitely give this one a try. The coffee is absolutely fantastic, I always go for either the flat white or the mocha, both of which I’d recommend.

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The food here is also delicious, they do all sorts ranging from cakes and brownies, to breakfast, brunch and lunch.

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Something else I have to mention is the wonderful service. All of the waiters are very attentive, without being too much. There’s also outside seating which is great for the winter months, although it can get a little noisy since it’s just along a busy-ish road.

  • Social House

Now, Social House is actually more of a restaurant than a café, but I love coming here all times of day. It’s on the bottom floor of Dubai Mall (with inside and outside seating), with a perfect view of the fountains if you come in the evening. Again, they serve everything from breakfast, lunch and dinner, to sushi and yummy coffee!

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It’s almost always busy, but you never have to wait for a table. I love coming here to watch the fountain show whilst sipping on a cappuccino, or eating some of the great sushi (there’s one with creamy avocado and crispy salmon skin which is incredible!).

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How could anyone not enjoy this view, the world’s tallest building right next to you and a lovely sunset!

  • Paul’s

Paul’s is another favourite of mine. There are quite a few dotted around Dubai, among others in Dubai Mall and Mall of The Emirates. Definitely the best place to come after a hard day’s shopping 😉

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The cappuccinos are one of the best I’ve found in Dubai…and they come with these delicious mini cakes on the side! Yum 🙂
The food is also great, they keep things light with lots of fresh salads, savoury tarts and crepes, as well as a huge patisserie section full of delicious French pastries and cakes. I probably end up in a Paul’s after most of my shopping trips!

  • Tasha’s

This is a lovely little place which is also located along Al Wasl road, just near The Galleria Mall. It’s actually a South-African brand, but found it’s way to Dubai about a year and a half ago.

It’s not the cheapest of places, but the food is fresh and certainly tasty.

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It also has outdoor seating, although you can end up waiting a while if you go at a busy lunchtime at the weekend! There’s a gorgeous display of cakes along the counter inside which is very tempting…and sometimes you just have to give in to temptation!

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  • Sketch Art Cafe

This is a fairly recent discovery for me, although it turns out it’s been open for almost a year! Just across the road from my apartment is a little art gallery called Marsam Mattar, and unbeknownst to me there was a gorgeous little café tucked inside all this time!

The coffee here is really fantastic. Last time I visited we ordered flat whites which were by  far the yummiest I’d had in ages!

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There’s not a huge selection of food, although they have a few pastries and freshly baked muffins. A fun touch is the pencil and paper on each table, which means you can doodle while you drink your coffee!

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So there we go, a little round up of some of my regular cafés and restaurants. I hope you guys enjoyed this slightly different post, and do let me know if you have any other recommendations for places I should try out in Dubai!

P.s. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter for more day-to-day updates of where I am in the world! 🙂

17 Comments

  1. March 13, 2016 / 7:40 am

    Great post and pictures. I’m always on AL wasl road and never notice any nice café’s. I must check out the first one. It looks really good. There are also some nice cafes on city walk

    • thedubaidiaries
      Author
      March 27, 2016 / 3:55 pm

      Thank you. You should definitely check them out, I think Al Wasl road is a really nice area now. Try Boxpark as well, that’s lovely for a stroll while it’s still nice weather and not too hot!

  2. February 18, 2016 / 7:54 am

    Lizzie and I are coming back to check all of these of our list, Rachel! Prepare thineself. 🙂

    • thedubaidiaries
      Author
      March 7, 2016 / 10:08 am

      I’m waiting!!

  3. Anonymous
    February 5, 2016 / 1:59 am

    (off topic) I wonder how do flight attendants deal with ear pain on descent? I know it’s always the worst for me so I can only imagine how it is on turn arounds :S
    Do you just get use to it?

    • February 16, 2016 / 10:40 pm

      You do get used to it however if it’s hurting it’s most likely because your ears are blocked so you shouldn’t be flying! We’re not allowed to fly with a cold or blocked ears as it can escalate very quickly once you’re in the air (and your ears can even pop and start bleeding on descent!)

  4. Linda
    February 4, 2016 / 3:31 pm

    Hello Rachel I would like to know if an airhostess is trained to operate on A330/B777 does that mean for the duration of their flying career you only fly turnaround destinations and not long haul/layover like those on A380/B07??

    • February 16, 2016 / 10:39 pm

      Hi there! No it doesn’t mean that, you have layovers on both fleets of course!

  5. Anonymous
    February 4, 2016 / 1:07 am

    Hello Rachel,

    You seem to always be trying to swap out of flights to the United States, are the States not a desirable destination? I understand that crew get paid by the hours in the air, so wouldn’t longer flights be better? Do a lot of your fellow cabin crew share the same feelings about flights to the States?

    Thanks!!!

    • February 16, 2016 / 10:38 pm

      Hi there! Hm it depends really, in a way US flights are good because of the flying hours but on the other hand they are super busy and very demanding passengers!

  6. -WIM-
    February 3, 2016 / 4:01 pm

    Reblogged this on .

  7. Anonymous
    February 2, 2016 / 11:37 pm

    Wonderful post!!

  8. February 2, 2016 / 10:21 pm

    Hey! Thank you for the cafe tips, have to check them out on my days off here!

    My favorite places here so far are:
    – The Cheesecake Factory (Chicken Madeira is so good! The meals are huge and very delicious, not only cheesecakes)
    – The Sum Of Us (yummy iced latte with almond milk and spicy carrot cake)
    – Friends Avenue (great location and tasty food)
    – Fume, at Pier 7
    – Big Smoke Burger, at Box Park (their burgers are the best I’ve ever tried!)

    Hope you’ll like them too 🙂

    • February 16, 2016 / 10:37 pm

      Hi Anna! Glad you liked my post and thanks for your recommendations as well! I’ve tried all of those places except Friends Avenue and Big Smoke Burger so I’ll have to put those on my list to try next! 🙂

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