Boulevard Kitchen is located, just like the name states, right on the Boulevard in Downtown Dubai. There’s several different seating areas, indoors, semi-indoors and an outdoor area that has an incredible view of Downtown and Burj Khalifa.

During our stay at the lovely boutique hotel, Manzil Downtown, we had literally all three meals at the beautiful Boulevard Kitchen. And you know what? We didn’t even get bored of it! The menu is different for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’ll tell you all about it in the order that we tried it:

Lunch

Our first meal after checking into the hotel was lunch. After freshening up in the room, we headed down to Boulevard Kitchen and sat in the semi-outdoor area. The staff quickly seated us and brought out a baby chair for little Khalifa as well as a coloring sheet and marker.

While we flipped through the menu, Khalifa enjoyed coloring the paper (and of course coloring his clothes and himself). The staff were swift in taking our order and were happy to recommend some of the house favorites.

For starters, we shared the Grilled Calamari, which is a great summer dish. The calamari is chargrilled on skewers, and laid on a bed of cold bell peppers and tomatoes. The squid is tender but still has an aromatic smokey flavor.

We didn’t know what drinks to order so we got a little help from the wonderful staff, who recommended the Cinnacolota, and a Basil Lemonade. Both drinks were good, but my god, that Cinnacolata is something else– I haven’t tried anything with that combination of flavors anywhere! The pineapple is so refreshing, and then you get this hit of cinnamon, and the garnish of dark cherries… you know what, just go try it. There are literally no words to describe how incredibly genius and exotic this drink is!

For mains, I had the Turkey Sandwich and my husband, Mohamed, had the Alaskan Crab Pasta. The sandwich was packed with flavors; along with turkey meat it had avocado, spinach leaves, tomatoes a creamy blue cheese dressing, and a batch of fries on the side. They were very generous with the portion and even though I was hungry, I practically got full off of just half the sandwich.

Mohamed liked his pasta too and he managed to finish it all even though it was quite hefty as well. I had a bite of his and the flavors are very much in your face–in a good way. The crab tastes fresh, and I think they use sea salt to really bring out the flavors of the crab.

For dessert, I couldn’t let go of their Creme Brûlée, so I ordered that. Mohamed had the Honey Comb. My creme brûlée was perfectly creamy with a crispy top and it had a hint of an Arabic flavor that came from the saffron and cardamom.

The honey comb dessert was also really beautiful in both presentation and creativity. It consisted of, of course a honey comb, but also beautiful slivers of orange, and pomegranate. The sweetness of the fruits were balanced out by a tangy fromage blanc spread and fresh mint for zest, and a few peanuts for crunch. It’s a great dessert for those of you trying to be healthy!

Dinner

Although we were set to try out Courtyard (another one of Manzil’s dining venues) for dinner, we ended up at Boulevard again since our little Khalifa is a tad bit underage (at a year old) to be around shisha smoke. Now, Boulevard does have shisha available as well, but only in the outdoor area. We sat again in the semi-indoor area, where we could still feel the ambiance of the liveliness outside, but were in our own smoke-free zone.

When our waiter brought out the menu, I was surprised to see that it’s so different from the lunch menu we saw earlier. There are many more options and they all looked so tasty! Now, being that Manzil is a modern arabesque hotel, Boulevard Kitchen had loads of Arabic dishes on the menu, as well as some Western/international choices.

For starters, we ordered Kibbeh to share (which is Khalifa’s favorite, although he can barely finish one piece), as well as Rocca Salad and Sauteed Shrimps. Their kibbeh and salad were good, but the shrimps were incredibly delicious! It was cooked perfectly and the sauce with the lemon and capers could literally be scooped up and eaten by itself. So good!

For mains, I really didn’t know what to choose so one of the staff helped me out by recommending the Beef Tenderloin. I opted for her suggestion and my husband had his mind set on the Prawn Machboos.

By the way, the staff are super attentive and really great to talk to. Every now and then, they would come by to check on us and play with Khalifa, who loved them! The fact that they continuously made sure that we were doing okay even though we weren’t outside where most of the crowd sat, was impressive and really appreciated.

Our mains came out and they were both delicious. Mohamed loved his machboos, and he’s quite picky about local rice dishes. I really liked my beef as well. It came with creamy mashed potatoes and a delicious gravy. Again, the meat was very filling and I couldn’t finish all of it and had to share with Mohamed.

After letting ourselves digest for a bit, we ordered the desserts. I got the Sticky Cake while Mohamed got their Kunafa. I didn’t have a taste of his kunafa because he loved it and didn’t save me any, so I’m guessing it was really good! I also loved my cake which came with a chocolate ganache, a delicious caramel sauce and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Although it seems small, its quite heavy so save room for this bad boy– it’s delicious!

We were very happy with the fact that dinner was so different from lunch and there were only a few repeats in the menu, which were only in the dessert section. I would gladly come back here any other night for a shisha and dinner. I also really love that although the restaurant has an outdoor smoking area, it has a very family-friendly semi-outdoor area as well.

After such a heavy meal, we left ourselves with nothing to do but go upstairs and sleep!

Breakfast

We headed downstairs to breakfast and were seated quite quickly even though breakfast here, especially on a Saturday morning, can get pretty packed. Now this breakfast is not your typical breakfast buffet at a hotel. People who are not staying at Manzil hotel are also welcome to indulge.

There’s a variety of sweets, cold cuts, cereals, fresh fruits and so many other things available for you to pick up at the buffet, but what makes this breakfast buffet stand out is that there are so many things that are made to order. From warm Belgian waffles, eggs made to your liking, potato pancakes and so many more other things. They don’t limit your orders, so you can even mix and match a couple of different dishes. We ordered Eggs Benedict, the Omelette, and the Potato Pancake with Smoked Salmon.

The omelette dish was actually quite a large, as it comes with side of beef bacon, roasted tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms and sausages. You can get pretty full just off of that one dish.

The Potato Pancake, or as we would say in America– the hashbrown–  was definitely a smaller portion. It’s topped with greens and comes with a side of either smoked salmon or beef bacon.

The Eggs Benedict is an incredibly delicious dish and I really suggest you try this when you come here. Two perfectly poached eggs sit on top of a bed of spinach, which is laid on English muffins. The hollandaise sauce has a hint of saffron in it. On the side, theres beef bacon and roasted cherry tomatoes. The eggs ooze out runny yolk when you cut into them! So good!

After your done with eating you, can sip a cup of your favorite coffee, a cafe latte is mine, and relax as you watch the cars go by on the Boulevard.

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Ratings (0-5): 

• Staff/Service: 5
• Cleanliness: 5
• Food: 4.5
• Value for money: 5

Overall Rating: 4.87

Worth Trying?: We loved Boulevard Kitchen for all 3 meals and would recommend it at any time of the day! My favorite though, had to have been dinner as the atmosphere is incredible. Shisha, great food, nice vibe and a beautiful outdoor city view– what could be better?!

For more information, call Boulevard Kitchen at +971 (0) 442 85888.