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Breakfast anyone ?

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Richco

Where: Salwa road close to Fauchon and Layali

When: From 10 am - all day breakfast What’s on the menu: Arabic, English, French and Mexican breakfast with prices ranging from QAR 15 to 35 What we ate:

Hani:

I ordered the Mexican egg sandwich. As you can see from the picture it is more of a quesadilla with three types of cheese, tomatoes, onions and chilli. This is a Mexican version of a scrambled eggs with Roti meal. It was flavorful (boy do I love cheese) and the crust was nice and crisp. The ambience in this cafe is  depressing and waiting time is a on the high. Staff don’t seem enthusiastic about the work 

Kavi:

I am sure we have all had English Breakfast at some time or the other. And my imagination of what it looks like sort of matches the Google search results. So when my order was served (exaggeration alert!) an hour later, the only one thing that had any effort done on it was my omelet. Actually, that’s not right. their was effort involved in toasting the bread and rolling the turkey slices. Heck, even the toothpicks had to work to keep the turkey slices neatly rolled up. Does my disappointment say much? 

Verdict:

Hani: Taste wise is good, it's just something about the emptiness that plays on the downside for this place.

Kavi: Biffsquiggle

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Manaret Beirut

Where: New Al Merqab Street, Al Nasr - almost opp. to Family Food Centre When: All week, 8 am or 9 am or more appropriately when the bus arrives with the staff. What’s on the menu: Arabic goodies like fatayers and egg varieties. What was consumed: Got excited to see shakshouka on the menu after a pleasant experience in Shater Abbas. There were hardly any customers choosing to have breakfast here. Back on to the food: the eggs were cooked with a little less oil than I would've liked, living in Qatar, how can anyone have less "OIL" ? Dry eggs aren't my favorite. The eggs with the khubz are very bland in general and didn't anyway feel like a meal. It felt more like one portion of the meal. A bit of a saving grace is the salad plate, do make sure to get it in order to avoid coming out searching for where to go for breakfast.

Verdict: Hani: If you never came here for breakfast, you wouldn't be missing out.  For the evening you may come and try the sausage shawarma.

[dineatdawn]

Dairy Queen

Where: Ramada Junction / Abu Hamour Petrol Station?/Landmark?

When: till 11 AM

What’s on the menu: Pancake Platter (18 QAR), Ultimate Hashbrown (23 QAR) and Big breakfast (20 QAR) What we ate:

Hani:

I enjoy DQ breakfast and rate it somewhat highly taste-wise. Another benefit of having breakfast here is after you're done, you can have their cool treats. Dessert right after breakfast. I am quite a regular with DQ because it falls en route to work (that explains my high cholesterol too). The chicken strips have a black peppery taste and crisp in texture. With the syrup the pancakes become really soaked and soft but still don't become soggy.

Kavi: I have eaten the Dairy Queen breakfast three times now and I can almost never remember what it tasted like when I am done. That should give you an idea of how completely unmemorable it is. Don't get me wrong, the scrambled eggs aren't the worst I have ever had. But it's just very... meh. The service isn't bad, they do the best they can. The whole place has a very icky feel about it. 

  Verdict: Hani: Pancakes better than Rics, early morning and right sized portions with good prices. Restaurant feels a bit unhygienic though ( don't know why) Kavi: Biffsquiggle

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Mr.Gyros

Where: Al Jazeera Petrol Station, off Salwa Road When: All week, 8:00 am to 11:00 am. What's on the menu: Eggs (Benedict [not cumberbatch], Scrambled, Sunny side up etc.), Grilled Halloumi sandwich, Banoffee Toast, Nutella Banana. Also many crepe and pancake varieties... What we ate:

Kavi: I ordered Eggs Benedictine with potatoes and sausages. The eggs looked so lovely almost wrapped in white tissue paper. It tastes a bit bland with the potatoes and sausages unless you douse it with pepper or some other spice. It's not really a combination that works, but each of the ingredients by themselves taste quite good. Hani: I had the grilled Halloumi gyro and it comes with a little portion of a greek salad. Pricing for the breakfast menu is in the low to medium range. Taste of the grilled halloumi gyro is really excelled due to the bread they make it with. Bread is thick yet isn't dry and isn't hard to swallow at all. The wrap does wonderful in accumulating flavors but would've like it more if halloumi cheese was a bit stronger in taste.

Verdict:

Kavi:Delumptious (but terrible location)

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Shater Abbas

Where: Ramada junction, between QNB and Maghrabi opticals

When: 3 am to 10.30 am (3 am! It's hard for us to believe, if any of our readers experiences breakfast at this hour, let us know)

What’s on the menu: Traditional persian food comprising eggs, meat etc. Expect to find items like Shak Shuka, Nashef Chicken, Kawara Pacha

What we ate:

Hani: I had a shak shouka, (can I say egg curry in other words?) served with fresh persian bread.They start serving breakfast really early, so it's great for people looking for some breakfast when the sun's bright but not intense. Taste wise, I found it much better than Manaret Beirut. Drinks had to be forgone because of the reasons Kavi will tell you in a bit and a cola early morning would be a call to diabetes from a hotline.

Kavi: The last time I remember having delicious Qima was when I was in school ages ago and would eat Qima sandwiches after queuing up at the portacabin canteen in the hot sun. In an effort to rekindle old memories, I ended up ordering Qima at Shater Abbas.

What did we have for drinks, you ask? Well, we asked for Vimto because it was on the menu and they didn't have it. We then asked for juices (they had about 13 listed on the menu; an ominous sign maybe?) and they had none of that either. So then, we though a bottle of water might be reasonable and they didn't have that too.

The Qima tasted good but it was heavy (and nothing like what it tasted in school). It had a strong home-made flavor to it but was very more peas than meat.

The portion size is quite generous so one order is good for two.

Verdict:

HanI: OK (dear readers, do accept this as a valid verdict)

Kavi: Delumptious

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Laduree

Where: Villagio

When: 9am to 12pm

What’s on the menu: This was quite a great discovery with quite a large choice of breakfast options that caters to wealthier patrons. 7 types of omelette, fried, scrambled eggs and one set course item. Prices range from QAR 22 to 90 What we ate:

Hani: My order was an Omelette with crispy chestnuts and caramelized pickled onions. Didn't find the chestnuts as crispy as the name promised, but they were bursting with flavor. The caramelized onions were nestled in the center of the wrapped omelette. Just look at that smooth texture of the omelette. I've never had eggs this well prepared and with perfect consistency. The sauce, onions and the perfectly made eggs were all balanced to give the perfect flavor, no over powering of senses happening here. However, the menu has misleading names. For example, my drink "a white coffee with citrus fruit infusion" had no coffee at all and was in fact a kind of tea.

Kavi: Contrary to what my photo would lead you to believe, those are in fact scrambled eggs and not mashed potatoes. The delicious eggs came with beef bacon. Although I am somewhat averse to beef, I tremendously enjoyed this combo. The eggs were absolutely perfect, the best I have had so far. The teas are meant to be the star attraction in Laduree as it fashions itself as a tea house. But the tea I drank was quite literally and practically unmemorable. 

Verdict:

Hani: This is the type of breakfast that shames starred hotel breakfast. The real 5 star breakfast.

Kavi: Scrumdiddleyumptious

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La Varenne

Where: 28th Floor, Tornado Tower

When: Sunday to Thursday, 7 am to 10:30 am              Friday and Saturday 8 am to 12 pm What’s on the menu: 

Set menu entrees segmented as To start, healthy, baked and hot. Menu also has packaged items that allow you to mix and match from different categories.

Prices for the breakfast menu from QAR: 39 to 79

What we ate:

Hani:

I chose a combination of items from "To start with" and "the hot menu".. To clarify, "To start" is a bread basket (yummy one, pictured above) and a drink of your choice: tea, coffee and juices. The hot item I selected was the house breakfast. Along with the usual suspects- sausages, mushrooms, beans, bacon, eggs - was an unusual item called home fries. The poached egg was very well prepared, the moment I cut the egg, the yolk flowed fluidly. Also jams and butter were served, pictures of which were not taken. The mint lemonade I had sadly didn't have the zing I seek in juices. I did point it to them because they seem like one of those places that would take suggestions seriously.

Kavi: It's a good thing I don't have vertigo or that would ruined my appetite. If you can tear your eyes away from the windows, you will be delighted by the excellent service at La Verenne. I ordered a portion of waffles with apple sauce. The waffles were a bit too crispy for my liking, but they offered extra maple syrup which softened it considerably. This is an AWESOME place to have breakfast. My only criticisms are that they don't open on weekends which makes it hard for office goers like us to visit it during the week (since we wrote the review, the place is now open on the weekends too) AND parking at Tornado tower is really hard. So you have to reserve a day in advance by email [reservations@lavarenne.qa] so they can provide your name to the security at the gate. But the trouble is worth the experience at the highest place in Doha to eat breakfast.

Verdict:

Hani:

Excellent service and great views of skyscrapers or the corniche. Food & coffee = good.

Kavi: Delumptious

[dineatdawn]

Nobles Restaurant

Where: Salwa Road, close to Fauchon When: 8 am to 12:00 pm What’s on the menu:  Foul, falafel, feta, Hummus, Egg, Homemade Jams, Fatayers and Salads priced between QAR 5 and 30 

What we ate:

Hani:

Do you require more than two bites to understand that the food you are having is good/bad? For me the first bite of the Chicken Feta told me it was ….. *drumroll*……good. The feta is essentially shredded chicken served in a bowl of hummus and tahina mix. Word of caution: The feta is served with piping hot Khubz, hot enough to cause a low intensity skin burn. I know, because it happened to me. So keep your hunger tiger at bay when you are served the Khubz. The feta on the other hand feels quite heavy once it goes cold, as if you are eating something designed to make you fat. The point being is that you have to time it right to prevent finger burn from the khubz and finish your feta before it goes cold. Their well prepared, Mint lemonade did a good job in controlling the heaviness left after the food.

Kavi: I had the extremely delicious and crispy falafels. It was light, served hot and was plenty in quantity. However the tahina served with it was rather stale and had an odd taste to it. The place is rather desolate and quiet with only the idle servers for company and can be a bit depressing but the decor is quite different from the usual Arabic restaurant setting. 

Verdict: Hani :Good food and good décor. Kavi: Delumptious.

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Tim Hortons

Where: Ezdan Mall When: 8 am to 12:00 pm What’s on the menu:  Two segmented options  Breakfast Sandwich ( Choice of Biscuit or Bagel or English muffin) Breakfast Panini ( Choice of white or multi-grain) and we thought Paninis were also sandwiches. Prices range from 11 to QAR 19 for the standalone item and  with combos QAR 19 to 27.

What we ate: Hani: I ordered a breakfast Panini with beef strips ( bacon in other words) and waited for the order (which meant that the Panini contents were most likely freshly prepared).

When our arrived food arrived it was half the size of what I had imagined it would be. Taste was just average and as I was eating I recalled another breakfast we’ve already reviewed earlier. As I took my first bite, I got the taste of bread and egg and not of the beef strips. I lifted up one slice slightly to find no beef strip.

That's when Kavi discovered my beef strip residing in her sandwich. Well, at least they put it in another sandwich.

Kavi: I had a Biscuit sandwich with egg and cheese. Or at least I thought that's what I would be getting. They were kind enough to throw in a beef strip which I donated to Hani's Panini (Hani's Panini sounds like a great name a Panini chain we should totally open; Hani whaddya reckon?). The taste was kinda meh and certainly doesn't justify the price. The supposedly premium hot chocolate was a bust too. For the kind of "cuisine" that Tim Hortons offers, I am afraid McDonalds is the unrivalled champion. Verdict: Hani: I’d rather go to MC D’s, at least they’ve convenient locations and timings. Kavi: Biffsquiggle

[dineatdawn]

Brazilia Cafe

Where: Salwa Road, Next to Crepaway

When: 9 am to 11:30 am What’s on the menu:  Omelette, Omelette Croissants and Manakeesh. QAR: 8 to 35. Pretty diverse, ain't it?

What we ate:

Hani: Okay, before I start talking about the food, I will talk about their service. Snail pace food preparation and serving time. The waiting staff also have a penchant for getting orders wrong. I ordered a Pizza Manakeesh but what I got was assorted manakeesh instead. No way did I have any hope for the food. When I had my first bite, it was a total game changer. Soft bread with a little less amount of toppings quantity but warm just to the right degree.

Kavi: As soon as you walk into Brazilia, the stench of a horrible mistake hits you. It is a mixture of cigarette smoke, terrible music and shady patrons. No this is not a seedy night club. Just a terribly managed cafe. I ordered an item named intriguingly "Brazilia's Omelette Croissant". What I had imagined I would get was this or this or even this. After having waited for what felt like a week, our food finally arrived. As you can see, the croissant was nowhere to be found. We decided to wait a few minutes, given Doha's traffic; it is understandable if the croissant was stuck in a jam (see what I did there?). But it never showed up. We reminded the waiter about the other promised half of my ordered food and he shook his head and pointed in the general direction of cold stale croissants in a plastic box sitting next to last week's cakes and pastries in the display.

The weight of crushing disappointment ruined the taste of what appeared to be a rather delicious omelette. I am hard pressed to justify another visit to this dark hole (no, it was literally dark in there).

Verdict: Hani: Go when you have a lot of time on your hands and laze around till your food arrives.

Kavi: Delumptious food but Swatchwallop service

[dineatdawn]

Wrap It

Where: Villagio Food Court When: 8 am to 11 am What’s on the menu: Boiled eggs, mashed potatoes, falafel etc. Photos below for full view of what’s available. What we ate:

Hani and Kavi: Since we both ate pretty much everything, we’re doing a joint review this time. There’s no beating the price, at QR 19 you’ll never see this much variety anywhere else. But but but… they dish out limited quantities, no seconds. Worst part? Every item you see in the photos including the falafels, the beef bacon, sausages and mashed potatoes are stone cold. Yep. If you don’t mind wolfing down such a vast expanse of food at a low price, head to Wrap It. The warm service of the staff may do what the food can’t.

Verdict:

Hani: Sometimes when something seems too good to be true, it actually is.

Kavi: Bunkumhouse

[dineatdawn]

Lime Cafe

Where: Movenpick Tower, West Bay

When: 7 am to 11 am. What’s on the menu:  Five pre-decided breakfast set menus. Arabic, Energy, Lime Café and Westbay breakfast and not to forget the bread basket. Prices form QAR 30 to 92.

What we ate:

Hani: As usual I ordered myself the largest combo available, that being the West Bay breakfast. It comprised eggs, bacon, hash brown, breakfast pastries, sausages, juice and a choice of coffee or tea! Phew, I thought I wouldn't be able to complete this in one breath.

Taste aspects, the eggs were lightly crisp! Quantity on my plate was not as much as my description would have made you to believe. Places that are not half as fancy usually have at least 2 hash browns, 2 sausages or 2 strips of Bacon. So quite naturally I polished off my plate (except the nuisance halved tomato). They just had one person manning the cash and the floor. He was able to do everything on his own.

Kavi: Against my better judgment, I ordered an "Energy Breakfast" that consisted of Grapefruit juice, brown bread, honey, butter, low fat yoghurt, tea and a fruit platter. Now I would imagine for some who's a health buff, all of this must be very appetizing. But somehow the idea of consuming sweet stuff for breakfast doesn't energize me in the least. There isn't much to be said in the form of review. You can't really go very wrong with fresh fruits or butter. However, the service was outstanding. With no help whatsoever, one person was able to greet customers, take orders and serve at all the tables.

Verdict:

Hani: Quantity is less compared to the price charged- food is not exceptional.   Kavi: Biffsquiggle food but FIVE STAR service.

Insterestingness: They serve a small Toblerone with their hot drinks :)

[dineatdawn]

Beirut Restaurant

Where: Bin Mehmood Commercial Street

When: Sat to Thu 5am (you read this right!) to 11:30 am, Friday 5am (even here you read it right!) to 11:00am What’s on the menu:  Basic Arabic breakfast items, foul, hummous, Mousbaha and Fata, prices QAR 8 to 22

What we ate:

Hani: I ordered a Mosbaha which were chickpeas floating in some oil and some white stuff. Sorry to sound like an ignorant prick, but if the staff were able to communicate in a language other than Arabic, I would've written it here. Beirut Restaurant, is probably one of the oldest food places in Doha and any sort of review will have no influence on the throngs of people that patronise the restaurant. After all, this place has a cult following and has become part of Qatar's history. Free khubz along with the price makes it an ultra affordable breakfast.  Service was quick and attentive. Taste wise, it was alright and the portion is just right.

Kavi: I ordered the same thing as Hani, except it came in yoghurt with pine nuts. I couldn't quite finish it and it doesn't feel like breakfast. The day we ate this was a slightly chilly morning and somehow eating cold khubz with cold yoghurt felt very underwhelming. We don't understand its popularity because this cuisine is still somewhat foreign to us.

Verdict:

Hani: Good value for money, but choose more than one dish, as a single taste will leave something to be desired.

Kavi: Biffsquiggle

[dineatdawn]

Canteen

Where: Ar Rumaila Hotels, Souq Waqif

When: All Day Breakfast What’s on the menu:  Eggs to your liking, London Adria, Continental breakfast and Arabic specialties priced from QAR: 19 to 95 or go for the buffet continental breakfast served from 7:00 am to 11:30 am.

What we ate:

Hani:

The London adria breakfast, my order, includes muesli, 2 poached eggs, hash browns, chicken sausages, baked beans, bacon, bread and butter pudding and orange juice. All of this was even too much, even for someone with an appetite like mine. Found the sausages to be juicy, hash browns crispy, the bacon chewy, the baked beans soft not mushy, in short, the way they should be.

Kavi:

I ordered fried eggs which supposedly comes with condiments and sauces. The only problem is you have to expressly 'opt-in' and say, "please bring everything the menu promises" or they only get you the fried eggs. Fortunately, I mentioned my choice of sauce and they were kind enough to include a small blob. The condiments? None. In theory, condiments include ham, bacon, tomato, mushrooms, hash browns, baked beans, spinach and cheddar cheese. For QR 29, I'd rather go to Bread and Bagels and get a sumptuous sandwich.

Verdict:

Hani: Nice, quiet and sunny breakfast. Nice super filling breakfast. (Not the case with Kavi)

Kavi: Biffsquiggle

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Casper & Gambini

Where: Landmark Mall in between Haagen Dazs and The One

When: Daily from 9am onwards

What’s on the menu: Eggs, Labneh, pancakes Coffee with Croissant Prices between QAR 18 to 31.

What we ate:

Hani: I had The Gambini Omelet which was with butter bread, bacon The baby potatoes were mushy and sweet, which does not fit my liking. The cheese instead of making the egg crispy was rather cooked to the degree that it formed a film on almost all the eggs (see egg border in the picture).

I had an after eight mint coffee, I am not sure whether it should've tasted the way it tasted, also was very sweet as if I was drinking sugar syrup. These guys have good service but it did seem to me as if it was one of those days ..... Even for the non-breakfast meals that I've had from here, nothing has been extraordinary.

Kavi: I ordered the Perfect Pancakes which comes up with maple syrup and fruits. The Pancakes were a bit heavy and not light and fluffy as I had hoped. It had a cake/bread like texture as though it had been baked. Not my favourite kind of pancakes. However, their servers are very attentive and will visit your table to enquire if you're pleased with food or not. We've been to some places which serve good food and have terrible service. This feels like awkward change. We want to say great things about this place but the food is only so-so.

Verdict:

Hani:The food and coffee gave me zero appeal although the attentive service is praise-worthy. Almost like a place where you go not for the food but to enjoy the great service. But then again, good food with bad service still gets a lot more business.

Kavi: Biffsquiggle

[dineatdawn]

Ma Maison

Where : Al- Emadi Complex

When: 8AM to 11AM

What's on the menu: Fixed menus for breakfast- such as continental – oriental, healthy etc. as well as stand-alone omelettes. QAR 12 to 44

What we ate:

Hani : I ordered the Ma Maison set breakfast. This comes with Choice of eggs, bacon, Sauteed Mushrooms, diced potatoes and a choice of tea or coffee. The omelette I ordered was a plain variety and tasted fine without any seasoning. The bacon was more of left overs added to a plate and not the usual complete strip-pan fired to perfection. The diced potatoes were not fried- but rather blanched and had a steam cooked texture. This usually means that they were rather soft and not of starchy uptight, crisp nature. The coffee – a cappuccino was above Doha average.

Kavi: I ordered a good ol' cheese omelette which I had serious misgivings about. But the weather was nice, cold and windy and demanded a hot cheesy egg and so I caved in. If you'll ignore the half-hearted vegetables on the side, the eggs were actually quite delicious. The cheese was added in just the right amount, which complemented the eggs without overwhelming it. I always hate it when restaurants just dice up a couple of tomatoes and cucumbers and throw it in to make it look like I cooked it up. Besides, I don't know who enjoys cucumbers and tomatoes with their eggs. But the omelette was delicious and if you're "hungover" from the Starbucks near by or going shopping for Cadillac, start here!

Verdict: 

Hani: Average taste but prepared with affection.

Kavi: Delumptious!

#interestingness factor: Ma maison has a weird wallpapered wall with a narrow opening, giving the illusion that the people sitting beyond the opening are actually sitting behind you! Go check it out!