Treehouse Brunch @ The Taj Hotel

 

A return to The Taj Hotel had long been on our hit list since that unexpected "Eureka" moment we experienced at what was then the little known "Eloquent Elephant Brunch" many months ago. The Hotel now offers a 5 hour brunch where diners/challengers can sample the goods from the EE, Tesoro, Bombay Brasserie and the Treehouse in a mammoth session of gluttony called the Royal Dilemma that wouldn't look out of place on TV show "Man vs Food." On this occasion, however we had to make do with just the single seating and the splendidly slothful start time of 2pm offered by the Treehouse Brunch.

 

THE FOOD
 
Named La Guinguette brunch, after a number of popular watering holes and houses of merriment located in the suburbs of Paris and other cities in France, expectations of a lively convivial atmosphere were met right from the offing as the buzz from the hotel's other brunches which were now at their midway point could be heard at the door.

As we approached the reception area itself, it seemed as though the ladies were not quite ready to welcome "yet another" set of guests, seeming a little caught off guard and so didn't deliver the warmest of welcomes. Add this to the fact that they could not find our booking and we had not had the most ingratiating of starts to our afternoon, but they did manage to find us a table in the end, albeit not the one we had booked.

 

Finally seated and settled, the waitress presented us with a rather large picnic basket filled with a number of items wrapped in treehouse paper. The basket contained an array of breads, including focaccia, baguette, Arabic breads and bread balls, which aside from the focaccia and Arabic Breads we found a little tough. There was also smoked salmon and various cold cuts which we believe were a kind of German sausage and Salami, however as they were not labelled or described we didn't really have any idea what we were eating. Not an issue for us, but we can imagine other diners with more stringent dietary or religious eating restrictions may have found it a little troubling.
 

Alongside this was a selection of 5 large jam jars with a smoked garlic hummus, spicy guacamole, quinoa salad and some other condiments such as gherkins, pickles, mustard and cheese. The waitress had started to explain what was in the jars but could not remember what everything was, and so rushed off hurriedly, forgetting to leave the correct serving utensils to cut the breads or serve form the jars…. nevertheless, we soldiered on unperturbed as we were happy to share our cutlery and rip the bread in a rustic family fashion.

 

Having finished our basket, we moved outside to the BBQ area which you are able to visit as many times as you like (as long as you could stand the heat). The BBQ included sirloin skewers of steak, burgers, chicken skewers, a white fish cooked en papillote and garlic prawn skewers. Although the area itself was quite sparsely decorated, the delicacies arriving from the grill were fresh, succulent and well-seasoned with the exception of the prawns which we discovered had been pre-cooked and just reheated…a real shame as the time it would save to cook them a la minute would make a huge difference to their overall flavour and texture.
 

 
Back inside was another buffet area containing a variety of different salads, vegetables, a live pasta station and a seafood selection with a large paella and freshly shucked oysters. Our waitress brought some samples of the food directly to our table, which I believe is regular practice and a great initiative when guests are sat outside. However, due to the change of location we were sat close to the buffet inside anyway so it was easy enough to help ourselves which had already done by the time the samples arrived. We were also impressed to see that a small selection of a la carte dishes were available to order including Scallop Gratin, Short Rib Mini Burgers, Steak Tartar, and our personal favourite the Hot Garlic Prawns with ginger & coriander.

 

We found that the BBQ, the picnic basket and the a la carte offerings would have been more than enough to satiate our substantial appetites, and the additional buffet rather than adding a necessary layer of choice, only presented an additional problem to us as we were so full by the end that we had to neglect the desserts apart from a fleeting scoop of ice cream on top of a fresh pancake!

 

THE DRINK
 
There are three brunch packages to choose from, The Sin Free Package which includes mocktails, juices & soft drinks. The Treehouse package includes a selection of cocktails (the Treehouse Punch, Tequitto, Bloody Marys, Mojitos and Espresso Martini's) as well as Beer (Heineken) and 3 types of Wine (Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir Rose and Malbec). Finally, for those feeling the French vibe, or had simply been indoctrinated by the heavy yellow branding of the well-known yellow sponsor, the Clicquot Garden Package, which included all of the above as well as Veuve Clicquot Brut and 3 flavours of Bellini (Strawberry, Raspberry and Passion Fruit).
 
Our favourite cocktails were the treehouse punch, which came in a large jug suitable for sharing and the chocolate martini - absolute heaven in a glass although we are not sure that this was actually on the brunch menu. We saw one on another table, pointed greedily like children in a sweet shop and they obliged!
 


 

THE OTHER STUFF
 
The Treehouse brunch is designed to be outside, but as it was a particularly stifling day, all tables were located to the interior of the restaurant in a well-received act of compassion.

 

With its rich renaissance décor, lush furnishings and ornate trees, the decadent terrace lounge takes the form of a house turned inside out and creates an urban hideaway right in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa. The unobstructed views of the World's tallest tower would certainly have been a huge selling point if we were sat outside. A fact that didn't escape us or the other guests as we emigrated en-mass to the terrace post 5pm once the heat had abated to enjoy the DJ who was playing.

 

Service during the brunch itself was a mixed bag, and took a while for them to get upto speed, with a member of staff later revealing that they had been expecting Sheikh Mohammed to attend. This would explain why there were a number of free tables and security guards hanging around at the beginning...but not the lackluster welcome or lack of knowledge on what was inside the picnic basket.

 

Once we had been found a table and the anxiety over the potential royal visit had disappeared, service stepped up a notch, with drinks arriving faster, waiters bounding about with cocktail recommendations and an overall lift in the atmosphere. This corresponded with the introduction of the two fabulous singers, Gari Deegan and cheeky Irish chappy Ritch Kennedy inside. Both had amazing interactions with the audience as well as killer voices and really were one of the highlights of the brunch.

 

We see this as a brunch for a mature group of friends and although there is a loose picnic theme, we did not see any children present and do not think that it would be particularly suitable for them given the proximity to the other brunches in the venue. Which brings us to our final point. Perhaps the Treehouse brunch is best enjoyed as a sum of the parts of all 4 brunches at the Taj Hotel…we will have to arrive at 12pm with our challengers hats on next time to find out.

 

Every Friday from 2-5pm

 

AED 295 - The Sin Free Package

AED 395 - The Treehouse Package

AED 545 - The Clicquot Garden Package

 

04 438 3100 or fbreservations.dubai@tajhotels.com or reservations@treehousedubai.com

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