The renowned Brazilian Churrascaria restaurant Ipanema at the Marriott Marquis City Center Doha – and my personal favourite eatery – has a brand-new Saturday offering! The Sabadao Brunch!

When you first arrive at Ipanema, you are greeted by a hoard of friendly faces and eager smiles. This particular Saturday we were welcomed by Mariella who was more than happy to see us and took excellent care of us throughout the brunch. I have to say that her attentiveness, and the friendliness of the whole staff, is a huge reason why this eatery is one of my favourites.

After being seated by the window, where we could enjoy an excellent view of the luscious hanging plants and urban decor of the restaurant, we decided to dive right in with a welcome drink. Served in a coconut, or an elegant cocktail glass, you can enjoy a coconut milk and passionfruit mocktail which is heaped with flavour and so refreshing for your palate. You can even add some rum… If you dare!

After sipping on our cocktails and reveling in the warm atmosphere of brunch which was inflated by the lively music of the live band, we decided to investigate the culinary offering of the Sabadao Brunch at Ipanema. Wow! We were hugely impressed by the quantity, quality and selection of food that was on offer – for just QAR195!

Appetisers

First, we glanced over the make your own salad station and investigated the cold starters. There was plenty to choose from if you want to pace yourself for this four hour brunch expedition. There were plenty of fresh, healthy ingredients to heap together to create your own ultimate salad dish. Or. If you want to sample some premade Brazilian starters I can highly recommend them! They are heaping with flavour and you can tell they’re freshly cooked specially.

Our favourite had to be the burrata with fresh strawberries, mint and figs. It’s not often that you get such fresh fruit here in Qatar! If you prefer something hotter however, there are plenty of options available. There were rice dishes, roast potatoes and fried banana bites. I was partial to the barbequed sweetcorn – its full of flavour and crunchy – a truly unique Brazilian dish. I would recommend small bites though as there are so many more courses to come!

Ceviche

I know that at a Brazilian Churrascaria restaurant like Ipanema, the meat is supposed to steal the show but I was so, so impressed by the ceviche station. There was five different options for the ceviche – white fish, salmon, tuna, shrimp and octopus – with an abundance of ingredients. I’m sure you could create your own personalised ceviche but I had 100% faith in the lads behind the station. They created some excellent, excellent dishes and I just had to try the white fish AND the tuna. Both were delicious and full of flavour made with the freshest fish and lime juice. The presentation was gorgeous as well – you could spend two hours of the brunch indulging in the ceviche alone!

Meat, meat and more meat!

Now it’s time for the highlight of the brunch – the meat! The Sabadao Brunch includes seven different types of meat – beef, rump steak, marinated beef cubes, chicken wings, chicken thighs, and two different types of lamb. Each offering is better than the last but there were certainly a few honorable mentions that I have to recommend. The marinated beef cubes are fall-apart-in-your-mouth fantastic! Because they have been marinated, they are full of flavour and so soft that they just fall apart in your mouth. The chicken thighs were incredible as well – the glaze that they were cooked in was great and the chicken was tender and perfectly cooked. The rump steak was a fabulous treat with soft red meat encased in soft juicy fat. For QAR195 I can’t believe the variety of meat on offer!

This dessert is on fire!

After a long rest listening to the live band, we decided to luxuriate ourselves and explore the dessert station. The dessert station had loads of mouthwatering dishes. There was decadent chocolate cake, Maria Mole (a traditional Brazilian berry) marshmellow, flans, tarts and so much more! Everything you could ever need for dessert is on offer at Ipanema. However, if you don’t fancy leaving your table for dessert the wonderful staff will always bring you the traditional Brazilian dessert of pineapple rolled in sugar and cinnamon and grilled over the fire.

It wouldn’t be the Marriott Marquis City Center Doha if they didn’t have a statement dessert station! But this one has a flaming twist…. It’s a fruit flambe! You can choose whatever fruit you would like and the chef will flambe them up for you. The chef adds sugar and butter to the pan and watches as it melts in to a golden, sticky goop. He then adds your chosen fruit and tosses the pan until every chunk of fruit is thickly coated in the caramel sauce. Then… he adds vodka to the pan and when its all melted and golden – he ignites it! Stand back or you’ll lose your eyebrows! The result is served with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream and is utterly delicious!

About The Brunch:

Sabadao Brunch at Ipanema

  • When: Saturdays, noon – 4 pm
  • Price:
    • QAR195 per person including soft drinks
    • QAR305 per person including selected beverages

For more information and reservations, please call 4419 5510 or Whatsapp 6643 6890.

Author: Charlotte Wright

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