Jones the Grocer, Dubai - Worth it for lunch, but don't do your grocery shopping here

The crown for best cafe in Dubai is hotly contested with a number of golden oldies now having to compete with some newcomers who are raising the bar in terms of quality and choice of dishes, customer service and overall atmosphere. Baker & Spice dethroned the Limetree Cafe in 2013 to take the Time Out Restaurant Award for best cafe. But it was the chatter that we were hearing about Jones the Grocer, that had us eager for a friday mid-afternoon cafe outing.

Jones, similar to the style adopted by Limetree, has gone for the "destination" style of cafe. Rather than being located in any of the major shopping malls and attracting the casual passerby, you have to be on a mission to head to Jones (located on Sheikh Zayad Road opposite Time Square Centre - which means if you are coming from the south, it requires a few u-turns to get over SZ Road and back down the slip road that it is located on). However, make the effort, and you will be rewarded.

My first impression walking through the large glass doors at Jones was... Wow! Was I in Dubai? We were greeted promptly by a friendly waiter who showed us straight away to a table and produced a menu for our perusal. The cafe is huge, airy and bright and has a fantastic layout with a coffee bar off to one side, a large cooking/preparation area in the middle of the cafe and a mix of table arrangements from the more casual couches to small and large dining tables. The piece de resistance is the cheese room at the back of the cafe which houses an impressive range of imported cheeses which can be bought to enjoy in the cafe or taken away for later. Not a cheap way to satisfy your cheese craving, but good luck finding some of these cheeses without jumping on a plane to Paris!

After ordering two coffees (not bad, but I think i still rate the coffee at Limetree slightly higher), we settled on the eggs florentine, a chorizo bagel, and the french toast to end on a sweet note. The eggs were cooked perfectly and covered in just the right amount of hollandaise sauce. The bagel, although a little on the small side, was packed full of grilled zucchini, feta, rocket and chicken chorizo which was perfectly complimented by the sesame bagel. Fantastically fresh and flavoursome, we gobbled it up eagerly. However, the winner by a country mile was the french toast that was served dripping with maple syrup and creme anglaise. OUTSTANDING. It was warm, crunchy on the edges but soft and gooey in the middle from it's syrup drenching. A small caveat was that this dish was shared between two people and I am not sure one person should be legally allowed to digest that much sugar in one sitting.

One large serving of diabetes, please.

We left on a sugar high having thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast and vowing to return to tackle more from the menu than just the breakfast items (which are kindly on offer on the weekends until 3pm to allow for that extra sleep in).

The Wagyu Burger.

Heaven.

Only a week later, and we were back this time for dinner. We ordered the famed Jones Wagyu Burger and a ceasar salad to start with. At 72Dhs for the 'starter' burger (which can then be upsized to add all sorts of exotic ingredients) we expected something incredible. What we got was good...but not incredible. The meat was cooked medium-well, which was a little overdone considering the quality of the meat being cooked and there was a lack of salad to counterbalance the huge chunk of meat. On the other hand, we were more than happy to pay the 43Dhs for the ceasar salad which was fresh, crunchy and laced with just the right amount of creamy dressing. It was then time to venture into the Cheese Room.......

If only this review was Scratch-N-Sniff

There are pre-set cheese board options that you can go with, or you can just wander in and choose a bunch yourself like we did and they will bring them to your table nicely served on a cheese board with some bread and crackers. We also ordered some basil pesto dip and olive tapenade to complete our degustation. While some cheeses were way to "stinky" for my liking - the fault here lay with our erroneous selection rather than the cheeses themselves which despite almost making my eyes water, were of very good quality. The pesto was clearly home made, but a little runny and probably better suited for pasta then as a spread.

My new favourite carrot cake.

We had bitten off more than we could chew, so the staff helpfully boxed up our left overs to take home with us. After the salty overload, I needed to finish on a sweet note and eyed off the amazing looking cakes and tarts on offer in the counter. I opted for a slice of carrot cake to put Jones to the ultimate test - could it stand up to the Limetree carrot cake, reputedly one of the best in the world! I was doubtful, but thought it deserved the chance. WOW! Hats off to Jones, they make one hell of a carrot cake - it was moist, had more complex spices and richness in flavour and was topped with baked walnuts that took my taste buds to a whole new level of bliss. Go and try it for yourself, but in my book I have found a new winner.

RECOMMENDED

I think it is pretty obvious that this place is a recommended in my book - but why not highly recommended? The atmosphere and service is spot on. The food hit the mark on most occasions, but our wallets felt a little bruised by what really is just fairly simple cafe food. I will be back, but I won't be making this a regular stopover for the sake of my bank balance.


The bill (for 2 for 2 meals):
1 x french toast - 31 Dhs
1 x eggs florentine - 49 Dhs
1 x chorizo bagel - 32 Dhs
1 x long black - 18 Dhs
1 x flat white - 18 Dhs
MEAL 1 TOTAL: 148 Dhs (Approx. US$40)

1 x caesar salad - 43 Dhs
1 x wagyu burger - 72 Dhs
1 x olive tapenade dip (small serving) - 7.50 Dhs
1 x basil pesto dip (small serving) - 12 Dhs
6 x small slices of cheese - 80.85 Dhs
1 x Homemade Lemonade - 17 Dhs
1 x slice carrot cake - 25 Dhs
MEAL 2 TOTAL: 257.35 Dhs (Approx. US$70)

Restaurant address: Sheikh Zayad Road (opposite Time Square Centre), Dubai

for exact locations of all reviewed restaurants, take a look at our map.