Let me tell you about the best bottomless brunch I’ve ever been to in my 34 years on this earth… I was told that in Dubai, Brunch isn’t just an occasional treat, it is a weekly necessity and the city that has the biggest and best of everything is absolutely top tier when it comes to a bottomless brunch. When researching the best one for our 10 day trip in May the same one kept cropping up, Naughty Noodles Brunch at Maiden Shanghai so we were invited along to see what it’s all about.
A Brunch Like No Other
Maiden Shanghai is located inside the iconic Five Palm Jumeirah, a spectacular 5* hotel located at the base of the palm. When you arrive the car park is full of ferraris and G-Wagons and the huge swimming pool which can be seen from the lobby is full of people enjoying the sun. The brunch is a very well organised operation, we were guided to where we needed to be, given our wristbands (an indicator as to what menu you have chosen) and escorted to our table within 2 minutes of arriving, no time is wasted here even though the brunch is 4 hours long. In Manchester or London you’re lucky to find one that offers more than 90 minutes!
Maiden Shanghai serves MSG-free and organic gourmet Chinese dishes, inspired from four renowned Chinese cuisines – Cantonese, Sichuan, Shanghai and Beijing. We had looked at the menu online before arriving and had selected all the dishes we liked the sound of ready to tell our waiter. However, we were told the menu isn’t for you to choose, you get ALL the dishes on the menu. This was fast becoming the best day of my life. All we had to do was decide which cocktails we wanted and in what order.
My first cocktail was the Ruby Red composed of vanilla vodka, sour cherry, hibiscus, lemon juice and soda and it went down a treat. Next we both went for the Naughty Noodles cocktail, chilli infused tequila, mango, passionfruit, lime juice and goji berry. Delicious, and before we could order another the food started to arrive.
The starters were brought out altogether rather than one at a time which was the best way to do it as you can go between everything and enjoy all the flavours at once. What was especially noteworthy was the staff’s attention to its customers. My companion had a number of food allergies which she made them aware of and with every single dish they served us they would either explain what she could not eat or made a completely separate dish for her to enjoy, it was great to see the five stars of the hotel reflected in the service even at a busy event such as this.
I’m going to be honest I wasn’t expecting much from the food, people generally go to a brunch to get drunk and have a good time so I thought the food would be an afterthought. However I was completely wrong because the food was absolutely incredible. The Shan Cheng Chilli Chicken was so delicious we very quickly ate the lot along with Crispy Prawn and Chilean Sea Bass Rolls, Vegetable Spring Rolls and some lovely Stir Fried String Beans bringing a pop of colour to the table.
After the starters it was time for more cocktails and we opted for Call Me Jasmine which was London Dry Gin, orange juice, Jasmine tea, lemon juice and honey and the Bubbly Hubbly consisting of wild berry infused gin, peach schnapps, cranberry juice and tonic water. The Call me Jasmin was one of my favourites but the Ruby Red was definitely my favourite cocktail. Wine, beer and spirits were also available but when the cocktails are so good why bother?
The mains came out and we not only wondered how on earth we were going to eat it all but also where to start because it all looked delicious. The Sweet and Sour Crispy Chicken is always a favourite of mine but I was blown away by the Black Pepper Chicken and Kung Pao Prawns. There were also two flavoursome bowls of glass noodles, one with braised beef and one with fresh fish and a hot and sour pumpkin broth as well as a beautifully presented Mixed Mushroom Yee Fu Noodles with a Black Truffle Sauce and a portion of rice (even the rice was good). The manager came over at this point to ask how we were enjoying our time and we simply raved about the food, much to his delight because he confirmed my thought that most people come purely for the alcohol.
Brunch-Time Antics
At this point I was not only full, I was three sheets to the wind but that was good because ABBA started to play and a Chinese dragon began to wind its way through the restaurant so I was up and dancing. The entertainment throughout the afternoon was just brilliant. There were African dancers, all the waitresses were on the stairs dancing in unison, a bongo drummer who was very easy on the eye as well as a live DJ whipping the room into a frenzy. By the time 4pm came around we still wanted more and so stayed for the Sundowners party held on the terrace from 4pm until 7pm where you can get three drinks for 120AED. It was so much fun I just didn’t want the day to end!
We came, we drank, we ate and we danced but above all we had the best brunch in Dubai!
Naughty Noodles Brunch at Maiden Shanghai is every Saturday from 1pm – 4pm and you can book your table here.
Maiden Shanghai
FIVE Palm Jumeirah Dubai
No. 1, Palm Jumeirah
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
