Gossip Café and Desserts is known for weaving traditional Emirati flavors into modern desserts. From its Qahwa Tiramisu to its indulgent Rose Milk Cake, the café's culinary creations will make you fall head over heals in love with its pastry chef. Not just popular for its sweet sensations, the café also serves up decent European-meets-Emirati fare and an organic array of teas and coffees. Keeping local farmers in mind, everything on your plate hails from an ethical source. Skip sipping fraps with friends at Starbucks and unwind over a glamorous high tea at Gossip Café, instead. Located in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah – Gossip Café is rapidly rising to fame!
Reservation
Open from 7AM for breakfast to midnight for dinner, you can easily score a table at Gossip Café without making a reservation in the morning. Tables do get snapped up the later it gets, so if you've got a dinner date in the evening, be wise and make a booking over the phone.
Parking
We parked in the hood behind the Box Park complex and walked over. If you're looking to park on site, the shopping and dining district has ample dedicated parking space for visitors. Make sure you have an online map of Box Park on hand because its linear design can get confusing.
Greeting and seating
A waiter greeted us with a beaming smile when we entered the café and offered to seat us. We didn't want to pass up the blue sky and sunshine, so we opted to sit outside. On our table, sat a succulent basking in the sunlight and a rock doubling up as a charming paper weight. We placed our drinks order and proceeded to luxuriate over the café's beautiful breakfast menu.
Knowledge and service of the waiter
The options were virtually endless, tempting me to order everything off the menu. After studying the menu like I had an exam on it the next day, I settled on a popular breakfast dish. My partner consulted the waiter on what to choose, who then laid down his recommendations. It was a tie between Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon or the Mexican casserole. If salmon's on the menu, it's instantly on my partner's plate, so the Eggs Benedict won by a landslide!
Our order
Our mid-morning breakfast featured a plate of traditional Emirati Ryoog, Gossip Café's Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, a bread basket, an espresso and a flat white.
Food
Reserving our coffee for dessert, we fueled up on the bread basket. A basic assortment of lightly toasted white and brown bread with homemade jelly and butter on the side. Our photogenic breakfasts arrived, and we had to battle against rumbling stomachs to land the perfect shot.
A few clicks later, we were ready to dig in! Being a Dubai kid, I knew the Emirati Ryoog was going to come with a side serving of nostalgia. The scrambled eggs were saltier than the Arabian Gulf, but it's not an authentic Arabic meal until your sodium intake is off the charts. While I'm used to brunching my way through a towering stack of fluffy buttermilk pancakes, I'll never underestimate the pleasure of chewing through a sticky chebab (Emirati pancake). Smothered with cream cheese and drizzled with locally-sourced honey, I was seeing stars with every delicious forkful. The vermicelli was the perfect balance between moist and dry – further enhanced with a splash of fiery Tobasco sauce. Saving the best for last, I thoroughly enjoyed crunching through the crispy shards of regag. Every time the meal got too savory, I relieved my palate with a bite of chopped date.
My partner's Eggs Benedict was as delicious as they were expected to be. His eggs were cooked to perfection and the organic salmon was oozing with flavor. A simple joy while eating Eggs Benedict is drenching your plate with hollandaise sauce. Sadly, Gossip Café's Eggs Benedict came with a miserly lash of hollandaise sauce on the side. More artistic than delicious, this left his breakfast relatively dry and took the indulgence out of a classic Eggs Benedict. Accompanied with chopped roast potato and a green salad on the side, it was pretty filling for a casual brekkie.
The minute we cleared our plates, the manager swung by and insisted we try Gossip Café's renowned rose milk cake. I wasn't even sure I had room for dessert but you can't walk away from a cafe that has “desserts” in its very name. PS, the joint's full name is Gossip Café and Desserts. Lotus Biscoff flavored things are currently on fire in Dubai. People are throwing it in their milkshakes, cakes, cookies...and even as a tapenade on their steaks! So, I had my mind set on the Lotus cupcakes only to be persuaded to order the rose milk cake instead. There was something charmingly infantile about the cake's pastel pinkness. Lightly dolled up with rose petals, truly enjoying the dessert involved bathing it in rose milk before sinking your fork into its heart.
My heart skipped a beat as the flavors conquered my tastebuds. Soft, sweet, and sinfully delicious – the rose milk cake flung me into a food coma. The table beside us ordered three slices of it, and I wasn't even surprised! One thing's for sure – I know what I'll be dreaming about tonight! Don't let the fact that it's 45 dirhams a slice turn you off, it's worth every single penny.
Courtesy extended during the meal
The manager visited us twice during our meal, and told us all about Gossip Café and its Emirati founder. He credited all the desserts to her creative mind and knack for crafting original recipes. I was impressed to learn that the eggs are not only organic, but free-range too. Most of the ingredients are naturally and ethically sourced, with a strong focus on supporting the local market. If you've been bitten by the Gossip Café bug but don't live in Dubai, be sure to head over to its sibling branches in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Mark your calendar for Tuesday because the café serves up its signature red velvet cake exclusively on this day of the week. If you prefer drinking your cakes instead of eating them, check out the Pink Milkshake with chunks of red velvet cake.
Ambience
Perfect for a lazy afternoon session of coffee and cake, Gossip Café's interiors are relaxed. Light music hums in the background while the staff softly get on with their day. Dappled sunshine pours into the café through the windows as cups clink and the aroma of fresh baking fills the air. For a livelier experience, grab a table outside in the sunshine. While light music plays inside, the only soundtrack to accompany your coffee outside is the din of whizzing traffic and chatter. But with scrumptious food, a steaming cup of organic coffee, and fresh air – you just can't complain!
Price
Our meal was more of a brunch than breakfast, and rounded up to 208 dirhams.
Overall, would you return?
Sure! Gossip Café's menu is a blend of Emirati and European classics, and all I've tried so far is the Emirati Ryoog. I've still got the Emirati dinner entrées, karak chai pot, and Lotus cake left to try!
Chef's recommendations
Rose milk cake, Mexican casserole, Tuesday's red velvet cake, and the Gossip slider.