To those of you who don’t want to read the details, I’ll let you know, right here and now, all about this brunch in one sentence: It has the best variety of food amongst all of the Friday brunches in Abu Dhabi! Hands down. Period. It’s a must try if your looking for a brunch in the capitol.

Now, for the rest of you who do want to know all that this amazing brunch entails, here you go:

We made our way down to Friday Brunch at The Terrace about an hour after it had started. We were at the restaurant in the morning for the breakfast buffet, but wow, Friday Brunch here is a completely different affair!

As we walked across the hotel’s gorgeous lobby, we could already hear the music coming from The Terrace. One of the butlers who had previously assisted us at the hotel was standing near the reception desk, so we didn’t even have to give them our name– they already knew who we were and took us directly to our table! You’ll find that iconic St. Regis service everywhere you go at this hotel.

When we went into the dining area, I was so happy that we had a reservation for the brunch because it proved to be a very popular choice. Nearly every table was occupied, both indoors and outdoors, so I would highly recommend that you book ahead of time.

After handing us welcome drinks, one of the wait staff gave us a quick tour around the buffet spread, and thats when I realized just how many different stations there were. The Terrace is quite a large restaurant, and there were all different kinds of food spread across the entirety of the restaurant; there was food indoors, outdoors, and even a whole other large room outside of the restaurant dedicated just for desserts!

The smaller starters, like cheese, breads and cold cuts have their own large counter, close to the entrance of the restaurant. Across from that counter were two tables loaded with all kinds of creative appetizers, all of which are perfectly portioned and readily plated for you to grab. There were so many different things, from traditional tabbouleh, exotic gazpachos, terrines, foie gras, and so many other appetizers. My favorite, however, had to be the mango wasabi prawns.

On the counter opposite to this, were several types of freshly-made sushi. I’m not usually a big fan of sushi at Friday brunches because the quality is usually compromised, but that was not an issue here. Each and every single morsel of food served at this brunch was at the highest quality possible. There is so much care and love put into each dish. At The St. Regis Friday Brunch, quantity didn’t diminish quality at all!

As I kept walking towards the inside of the restaurant, I could see all of the mains– and there were so many different kinds! The variety is enormous and I don’t think that there is a palette in the world that this brunch couldn’t satisfy. On one counter was all kinds of baked or roasted poultry, fish and meat; from lamb and beef to a ginormous freshly-baked salmon. There were also all kinds of side dishes to go with them.

Further into The Terrace, there was a whole line up of rice-based dishes, from Emirati Mandi to Paella! Across from all of these rice dishes was a long display of shellfish, where you can grab lobster, jumbo tiger prawns, crabs, mussels, oysters and cray fish.

Sounds like an amazing variety of food right? Well, thats just the inside of the restaurant… the outside has six other stations of filled with food! The outside, which is the actual terrace of The Terrace, has all of the live cooking stations.

Among these six stations, there is one for all kinds of meat and seafood grills, another station for biryani and Indian food, a station for skewers and kabobs, and even a pork station for those who are looking for it. There is also a bar outside.

We sat down to eat and realized that our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. We had definitely brought too much back to the table, but made sure to sample as much as we could. My 1-year old Khalifa, being the picky eater that he is, had a special order of chicken strips and fries made just for him. Although there isn’t a special section of the buffet dedicated to the little ones, the staff always check to see if there is anything specific that they would like to eat, which is really kind and considerate of them.

After sampling as much as we possibly could, we headed over to the dessert room. Yes, a whole room just for dessert! It’s definitely the best selection of desserts that I’ve seen thus far– not just at a Friday brunch, but anywhere!

 The sheer quantity of desserts is so overwhelming, but chefs were very smart in portioning them so that you can taste a bit of this and that, and not be stuffed from just one kind. Along with all of the cakes, mousses, trifles, tarts, brûlées, freshly cut fruit and Arabic sweets, there is a whole wall dedicated to candies!

My Khalifa loved this area and spent about 10 minutes picking out everything his little heart desired. What’s better than the feeling of being a kid in a candy shop? Being a kid in a candy brunch!

Aside from all of these varieties of sweets, there was even a live cooking station for flambéed/caramelized bananas.

I’ve been to plenty of brunches in Dubai, and several really good ones in Abu Dhabi, and I must say that this is the best variety of food at any brunch in the capitol. Also, the price is incredibly reasonable for a Friday Brunch, so you have no excuse to not try it!

The Friday Brunch at St. Regis Abu Dhabi’s The Terrace starts at 255 Dhs inclusive of soft beverages; 365 Dhs for selected cocktails, wines and beer; 450 Dhs for champagne. 

Ratings (0-5): 

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

Overall Rating: 4.91

Worth Trying?: Hands down, one of the best brunches in the UAE, and the best brunch in Abu Dhabi. In all honesty, the only reason I knocked half a point off in the ‘Ambience’ rating is because there wasn’t a kids play area, but its still incredibly family-friendly and there’s plenty of open space on the terrace for kids to play around. Like I said before, this place has the best variety  of food at any brunch in Abu Dhabi!

For more information call The Terrace in The St. Regis Abu Dhabi at +971 (0) 2 694 4553.