Sometimes you want the impossible – good food, relaxed atmosphere, activities to keep the children occupied, and all in one place… it doesn’t exist, right?

Well, yes it does – let me introduce you to the Friday Family Brunch at Nidaaya restaurant at the Crowne Plaza Doha West Bay. This April the hotel is expanding their popular Friday event with a focus on keeping everyone in the family happy and entertained. So Marhaba went along to find out!

The restaurant has recently been revamped, so we were told as we were ushered to our table. And very good it looks too, with soothing colours and bespoke pottery pieces adorning the food stations and walls.

At one end of the restaurant is a huge bar area and a very comfortable looking large seating area. At the other end is the new special kids corner – this month, parents can let their little ones enjoy a number of activities, including making their own pizza! A relief for parents who want to relax but also know their children are in safe hands. And from what we saw, the trainee chefs were having a great time!

While listening to the agreeable tunes from the splendid young lady singer, we contemplated our food options. Nidaaya offers a vast array of healthy fare, so we firstly tucked into their offerings on the salad station. Everything is available – Arabic favourites hummus and moutabal, salmon and tuna, Thai beef, and much more. All were super fresh and delicious – but we wanted to save some room, so it was necessary to ‘try a little bit of everything…’

The oysters are much lauded and for very good reason; they disappeared swiftly, along with the sushi and calamari. Tempting though it was, we had to progress to the other stations ‘for research purposes…’

Nidaaya has a live pasta and fish station, so you can choose whatever takes your fancy and have it served to your table. For those whose hunger is more pressing, the choice on offer includes beef fillet, salmon wellington, prawn biryani, dahl makhani, hamour tagine – you get the picture, the choice is enormous.

One good thing about brunch is the ability to partake of all the different cuisines we are lucky enough to have on offer in this part of the world. We therefore thought it only appropriate to take a round-the-world culinary journey.

The first leg brought us to the beef fillet accompanied by super creamy mash, and the delicious dahl makhani and prawn biryani. We couldn’t fault either. However, passports in hand, we set off on our travels again, this time opting for hamour tagine and beef tacos. Again, no complaints from this table! Empty plates all round.

Of course, one must do brunch justice by finishing with a plate of simply divine desserts and cheese and biscuits. Somehow we found a tiny space in our stomachs ‘seeing as we were there…’

A quick look around again and it would appear that everyone was in their happy place. Mums and dads were laughing and chatting away while the kids were having a ball. Little one can get their faces painted, there is the activity corner for would-be gymnasts and acrobats, while kids can also demonstrate their mathematical skills with the huge abacus or take up construction with the building blocks. Who doesn’t enjoy some quality family time? And sometimes you really wish you were a kid again..!

Good food, exemplary service, relaxing ambience, live music, entertainment for kids – yes, you can have it all at the Crowne Plaza Doha West Bay Friday Family Brunch!

Important information:

Call: 4019 8876

Location: 6th floor

Opening hours: 6 am – 11 pm for all day dining
Friday brunch: 12:30 pm – 4 pm

QAR195 soft drinks, QAR325 selected beverages, QAR395 special beverages
Children 6 – 11 50% discount; under 5s eat for free


Review by: Sarah Palmer

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