What seems like only half a generation ago, few of us knew that we needed the phenomenon that is the mid-market gourmet cafe. But the UAE has taken to the trend with enthusiasm – look no further than the popularity of Jones the Grocer.
Leopold’s of London, in Boutik Mall that serves Sun and Sky Towers on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi, comes with the added advantage of a captive market. Reem’s largely upwardly mobile professionals have been waiting for something like this.
The downside of staying air-conditioned inside is a view into Waitrose. So we headed to the terrace, with simple furniture and a lovely community feel, thanks to the families and couples wandering through the landscaped greenery. The surrounding skyscrapers seemed to disperse the heat.
It’s still a touch warm for soup, and sandwiches didn’t quite fit the starter format of a three-course meal, so salad seemed a sensible suggestion. It turned out that only the greedy would require a main after – these salads were almost supersized. For an extra Dh10, the baby gem salad was packed with generous, thick-cut chicken slabs, alongside the standard poached egg, veal bacon and garlic croutons, but the meat was rather dry. The ultra-healthy quinoa salad got our vote, instead, with lashings of purplish grains concealing a wealth of beetroot and tomatoes, interspersed with goat’s cheese and toasted pine nuts. We washed them down with two Dh35 selections from the “Boost Juice” menu: a highly refreshing Power Up, featuring red grapes, apple, pineapple and kale; and The Skin Toner, which looked – and tasted, judging by my dining partner’s face – rather like algae-choked pond water.
Leopold’s was quiet on the midweek late evening that we visited and our server was polite but a little overeager, hovering near the table as menus were perused. While we were still midway through our starters, she enquired whether she could bring the mains, as they were ready to serve. Did she have somewhere else that she needed to be, we wondered.
As this is, after all, Leopold’s of London, we decided that no main could be a better barometer of any spurious English credentials than fish and chips. What arrived wasn’t especially British: two freckled fillets of rye-crumbed sea bream, with a mini (or, more accurately, micro) bucket of thick-cut fries. The kudos for eschewing overfished cod or hammour were dampened by the breaded-not-battered fish’s bland taste and the sauce gribiche doing a good impression of common-or-garden variety tartare sauce. The presentation of the chargrilled black Angus rib-eye created a momentary treasure hunt for the spiced baby potatoes and baby carrots. What had they done with our tiny vegetables? It turned out that they were simply hiding under the slab of steak, which, for Dh95, delivered averagely well in taste and texture.
Leopold’s did excel, however, when it came to two distinctly British faves: dessert and tea. The mini “banoffi” pies (don’t be fooled by that plural – we received only one) was sweet as, well, pie; the flourless chocolate cake convinced us that it wasn’t immediately about to make for our waistline, notwithstanding a side of cream and caramel sauce. And our concluding brew of flavourful vanilla rooibos arrived in a translucent glass pot on a cute tray with a tea-light candle heater and a three-bulbed sand timer for weak, medium or strong.
While there’s no actual heritage behind the London-based moniker, then, Leopold’s makes a decent fist of some of the UK’s finest traditional culinary triumphs. That name really is something of a rod for this particular gourmet cafe’s back, though.
• A meal for two at Leopold’s of London, Boutik Mall, Abu Dhabi, costs Dh411. Call 02 677 0071. There is a branch in The Galleria, too. Reviewed meals are paid for by The National and conducted incognito
aworkman@thenational.ae
