Lavanda Bakery Café

Recently opened the Lavanda Café is attached to the Abella Supermarket and provides a nice little respite from the trials of grocery shopping and having to deal with screaming kids demanding 'sweets, Mummy, buy me sweets' and people who insist on parking their overloaded trolleys in the middle of the aisle blocking all and sundry. Funny that, almost like the driving habits of many people here in the Emirates!

But I digress. There is a nice little Terrace that has a lovely view of the car park and the desert, not the best ambiance I would agree but quite pleasant none the less.

The staff were quite attentive, however, there was a little bit of a communication issue, but I cant really blame them as English is obviously not their mother tongue. Another small annoyance was that their knowledge of what was on the menu was limited to looking over my shoulder while I explained in detail what I would like to eat.

After about five minutes of them running back and forth to the kitchen to see if such and such was available I ordered the Salmon with a side salad and my dinning partner had the Greek Salad. Now obviously because this is a café there was no alcohol, not a problem I thought. Let's just order a Ginger Ale. Off ran the waitress to once again inquire if this was an available option, back she came with one of those ‘sweeter than saccharine’ smiles to tell me that “sorry Sir we don’t stock Ginger Alley”. Ok then why is it on the menu and if that’s not available can I please have an ‘Orange Cul De Sac’ instead!

When the food arrived the overall presentation was quite good, the Salmon was hot and remarkably well cooked being not too dry but moist and flaked well, kudos to the chef as I have had some fish in my time that tasted like it had been cooked over a packet of cheap French cigarettes! I was surprised to say the least.

However, the side salad was another story entirely. For those of you dear readers that have ever had a rabbit as a pet you will know that little floppy likes his veggies in great big chunks, however I am neither fluffy or cute, so when I order a side salad take some time and thought in preparing it, be creative and make it bite size ok?

Talking of salad’s and all things green, my dinning companion’s Greek salad was pretty bog standard, lettuce that had seen better days, olives that would were neither big nor plentiful and the Feta looked like it had been placed by a one-eyed Greek with no sense of direction. All in all not very yummy.

My overall opinion is that its an OK place if you want to grab a quick bite, a piece of cake or a cup of coffee, not too pricey and OK if you're stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Otherwise save the drive and cook something at home.