Sometimes you get to enjoy a thing too much and forget to acknowledge it and for that I’m guilty of having never written a post about one of my fave coffee and food hangouts in Dubai, HEAL – breakfast, lunch and dinner + wellness space, located on al Manara Road in Jumeirah. In fact I went there today with my wife and then it suddenly dawned on me that I have never posted about them ….. sigh as my daughter would say.
For me, as you know by now, anywhere that serves good coffee and food that you can enjoy is always a go-to-place for me as it ticks the main boxes for me when it comes to delighting my taste buds and just meeting people. So, when I was working on one of my new ventures last year post-September, I needed to meet quite a few people and guess what my answer always was, when asked “where should we meet?”… Heal on al Manara Road.
Not only is Heal conveniently located about 15 minutes’ drive from where I stay, but it also offers breakfast until 2pm (yes, all my meetings were before 2pm to avail of the brekkie menu), good coffee of course, outside seating (great between November and March in Dubai), keen staff and not to mention an all-day menu offering delicious fluffy pancakes, which we had for lunch today 😋 – see below.
Set in a converted villa, the décor is white with ecru and hints of a Spanish style villa vibe, so its relaxing and a bit noisy sometimes but you can easily chill here for hours – witness the many peeps on their laptops making the space their work-from-home coffee shop. You have two options to enter the main shop from the main road, with the right side dedicated to a more relaxing vibe where they have a small shop offering scented candles and little bits for the home.
The rest of the shop is focused on eating, working and drinking coffee and more. Weekends get quite busy especially for their hearty breakfast menu with both local Emirati and expats mainly from England. During the cooler months there’s ample seating outside, right from the front of the shop all the way down the left-hand side to the back (there’s free parking at the back too).
My fave brekkie item is the eggs benedict with spinach but of course you know that the coffee is my main attraction.
Featuring the classic Synesso Espresso machine with attentive staff, I often order a FLAT WHITE because I think they make one of the best I’ve had in Dubai, Why? Yes, sometimes baristi (plural for barista) often make mistakes pouring a cappuccino and calling it a flat white but here they do it well and if I go in the morning I’ll default to their flat white.
Hint: the milk on top of the flat white should move easily and shouldn’t be too firm (cappuccino) and there should also be a thinnish layer on top, if not it’s a latte. Sounds fussy, BUT hey when it comes to coffee, you’ve got to get it right.
I’ll confess that Heal have been using the same blend for over a year now – Brazil with chocolate and almonds (classic) and Ethiopian Hambela (fruity with red berries and medium acidity) but at least when they make it, they make it right. I usually have Brazil with espresso milk based and of course the Ethiopia for filter options but I have to confess on one occasion I was asked to try the Brazil as a filter using the Hario V6o and I was pleasantly surprised.
Gone were the chocolate tones but what ensued was the light caramel tones with hints of dark berries.
I’ve been for dinner once, but I’d say their breakfast offerings and lunchtime menu is where they shine best.
If you visit Dubai and can make it to Jumeirah, then check this place for breakfast, brunch before 2pm and lunch and of course coffee in a Spanish style villa setting.
Enjoy.
From Coffee With Love 