IHOP Restaurant, Dubai - Simple food done well

Not often, but every now and again, I have a deep urge to clog my arteries and send my blood sugar levels through the roof with some good old fashioned fast food. The first delicious bite sends you into a glutinous heaven as you feel your heart rate start to climb. My weakness would definitely be pancakes. They are just little fluffy pillows of goodness (drenched in sweet sugary deliciousness) - how could they be anything but wonderful? So when an IHOP Restaurant (which stands for International House of PANCAKES!) opened within a stones throw of where we live, I knew I was in trouble. It was only a question of 'when', not 'if'. But would their pancakes live up to my high standards established from years of market research?

We arrived mid morning on the weekend and the wait for an outside table was already nudging the 30 minute mark - annoying to some perhaps, but a good sign to us. We settled on eating inside to skip the wait and occupied one of the cozy booths. Almost instantly we had been presented with menus and our drinks orders were taken. We noticed straight away that this place had less of a fast food feel and more like a cute diner atmosphere where we we felt welcomed, comfortable and not pressured to get in and out quickly. Coffees ordered, it was time to peruse the large (physically large and long in content) menu to decide which horrifically calorific combination of grease and sugar I was going to subject my stomach to....

Sometimes too much choice is not better...its just too much choice. While the IHOP menu borders on novel length, we managed to settle on 2 different types of pancakes (the cinnamon/caramel and the strawberry cheesecake), a fry up with eggs, bacon (beef bacon of course being in the middle east) and hashbrown and a Pot Roast melt sandwich. The problem with too much choice is not enough stomach space to match our greedy brains...but we gave it our best shot.

The place was packed so we settled back and sipped on our average-at-best coffees (sorry...minus points there) and were prepared for a decent wait. Hats off to IHOP because within 15 minutes our food arrived and, shock horror, the food all came out at once and was fresh and piping hot. This should never be taken for granted because it is a standard of service that is actually quite uncommon in our experience!

The eggs were cooking perfectly, the bacon crispy and the hash brown, though unusual in appearance, was light and crispy. The sandwich melt also got two thumbs up - the bread was fresh and lightly toasted, the meat had been slow cooked to perfection with a delicious salty gravy and was nicely 'balanced' with two sliced of cheese. Having finished our mains, it was time for desert. The pancakes were warm and fluffy, if not just the slightest bit dry and needed the extra syrup we requested. The cinnamon pancakes scored a higher rating - with the rich cinnamon really coming through in each bite. The strawberry cheesecake flavour just didn't come through enough for our liking, but they were still delicious and were gobbled down enthusiastically.

RECOMMENDED

Would we recommend IHOP? Sure. If you are after a little breakfast indulgence, why not. The food was good, did what it said it was going to do and the service was efficient and friendly. I'm sure that sitting outside on the JBR walk munching away on any one of their 100 breakfast combinations would be a lovely way to spend a morning. I don't feel the need to run back next weekend - I think that was enough salt and sugar to see me through to until next year! But well done IHOP - you have done well what many before you have done so badly.



The bill (for 2):
1 x Pot Roast Melt Sandwich - 39 Dhs
1 x Plate of 2 Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes - 25 Dhs
1 x Breakfast Combo (eggs etc and 2 cinnamon pancakes) - 39 Dhs
1 x Pot of Coffee - 14 Dhs
1 x Latte - 14 Dhs
TOTAL: 131 Dhs (Approx. US$35)

Restaurant address: Jumeirah Beach Residence (at the Bahar Apartments)

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