Step into the lobby and you just might get a whiff of the pasta from the live station being turned in a cheese wheel or catch the scent of grills being fired up. It’s just a few steps from the door to the Corniche Brunch at Sofitel Abu Dhabi Corniche so you can pile your plate high with the myriad mains post haste.
The hotel is on the Corniche, but brunch-goers don’t get prime views of the water this time around because of the location in the back of the lobby on the ground floor. With a live saxophonist playing intermittently, spaced-out seating and centralised buffet, the Saturday brunch still does the job of creating a brunch atmosphere.
The Corniche Brunch strives to tick a lot of the hallmark brunch boxes from live stations to welcome drinks, but they could do with spending more time on building out an interesting USP. We were expecting to see more stations from the Sofitel’s other eateries like Silk & Spice.
In some areas, the generosity of the brunch wanes, especially the seafood and sushi. (Keep your eyes on the oysters if you want them.) Mains are in rows of Dutch ovens and pots and span everything from Indian to French, but the unifier is they’re comforting classics, and you can get more meat at the grills station. Popular live stations of fresh pasta, foie gras, pancakes and waffles are manned by attentive staff ensuring that plates from the live stations are brought swiftly to your table, and hold the most promise.
In its current guise, the event caters to hotel guests with a mix of people stopping to refuel before moving on, families and groups sometimes celebrating. Pool access is available, but it could do with more shouting about to draw crowds from outside of the hotel.
Overall, it does the job of a Saturday brunch, but it needs more personality (like the attuned staff have) in its food offering to really make it a standout to give those who aren’t hotel guest a reason to check it out.
Dhs255 (soft), Dhs125 (add-on grape, hops, mixed drinks).
