Brunch of the month: Mina Brasserie at Four Seasons DIFC

Some chefs put together a Dubai brunch like a football manager who’s been given £400 million to spend on transfer deadline day and panic-buys five left-wingers and a goalkeeper. Mina Brasserie, however, is more like one of those professorial Bundesliga coaches with a clipboard who builds a team using a coherent and long-term scouting plan.

At this beautiful restaurant inside the Four Seasons DIFC, you won’t find yourself staring at a scattergun plate of sushi, fried chicken and Yorkshire pudding as can be the case at so many Dubai brunches. Burrata salad with cherry tomatoes grown in Abu Dhabi and a seafood platter of king crab, poached prawns, lobster and salmon tartare is a gentle opening.

Some light pasta follows in the form of a few squares of gooey venison ravioli with roasted mushrooms, and orecchiette (those little ear shapes) with a simple Bolognese sauce. All the pasta was cooked al dente – hearty but not overwhelming.

Next came roasted salmon with marinated feta, olives and more of those sweet cherry tomatoes, and a plate of sticky, smoked short rib with horseradish potato mash. A three-tiered platter of desserts was definitely decadent but they were only bite-sized, the highlight of which was the coconut semi-freddo.

With a team of players like this, Mina Brasserie’s Friday brunch should win the league.

Friday 1pm – 4pm, packages are priced at AED 350, AED 450 and AED 650.