Sanjeev Kapoor's Khazana

Market Café

It is true that there is magic in thinking big! Let us step into the largest atrium in Dubai. There is a lush tropical garden with cascading waterfalls, rock pools and ornate bridges. And as this 'natural' sight overwhelms you, look for The Market Café, an innovative self-service style restaurant. It holds pride of place among the fourteen restaurants, bars and cafés at Dubai's newest luxury hotel, Grand Hyatt Dubai.

With seating for 212 diners, the lively ambience in The Market Café sets the tone in the Atrium area early morn, as early as 6 am! Guests gather to enjoy a sumptuous buffet breakfast, which includes morning favourites from Europe, America, the Middle East and Asia. And late birds need not worry for breakfast is served till 11 am.

At lunch which could begin at noon and end at half past three, the focus turns to authentic international cuisine, prepared à la minute by multinational chefs from The Market Café's wood-fired and tandoor ovens, and its rotisserie. Dinner can be as early as 7 pm and a leisurely dessert at 11 pm!

In the restaurant, a constantly changing repertoire of dishes and cooking styles is dictated by the freshest products available daily. Not one of the five kitchens is devoted to any one cuisine - the wood-fired oven could be used to make Arabic bread one day and Italian pizza the next - but what is constant at The Market Café is the flair, imagination and authenticity. This was evident in the `Fresh Dough Pizza’ , which I ordered along with `Penne Arrabiata’. I especially enjoyed the `Rolled Shrimp Tempura’, which was exotic with the shrimp tempura rolled in sticky rice and covered with `Nori’ sheets. Elaborate but very nice. I took the opportunity to taste their `Wasabi’ which was much milder than I had imagined. I believe it is one of the most difficult plants to grow, but as a condiment it has no substitute. Sushi chefs make good use of it.

What was striking was the hubbub of activity at the Indian counter! It was heartening to see that Indian food is a favourite too. I could see many of the Air India crew in the Atrium.

To serve with total flexibility The Market Café has a unique concept of daily menus – the restaurant operates a 'Smart Card' system. When they have been seated, guests are presented with a Smart Card, which allows them to select dishes from any area of the restaurant - either a full lunch or dinner or simply a snack or drink. After they have made their choices, guests hand their card to the chef to be swiped and the details and prices are automatically transferred onto it. When leaving the restaurant, diners simply present their card to the cashier who will prepare their bill. In all this newness, it did strike me that the service could only be labeled as okay. I would give it some time to fine-tune. If they can pull it off, the Market Café would have a lot of serious followers, be it diners or people looking for new restaurant ideas.

The Market Café
Grand Hyatt Dubai
PO Box 7978, Dubai,
United Arab Emirates
tel: +971 4 317 1234
fax: +971 4 317 1235
e-mail: dubai.grand@hyattintl.com