olea - kempinski hotel mall of the emirates

came with some friends for friday brunch .. had a wonderful time and the food quality is excellent. only bag thing is it advertises 'brunch with house beverages' but it's not house beverages it's only beer and wine. so no spirits unlike every other brunch that includes 'house beverages'. also for an arabic restaurant the staff don't speak very good english and only a couple seemed to speak arabic which for a country where the two main languages are english and arabic i found this poor planning haha but on the whole it was great, the shisha was very good quality and it's nice to have somewhere in summer you can sit outside and stay cool!

great service, great starters, up side down chicken was interesting but lacking flavor. loved the open kitchen view! the waiter brought us fruit as present from the chef which was a sweet surprised.

what a restaurant! i'm arab and i have tried all the dishes that were served at the friday brunch before. i have to say that this restaurant did almost everything perfectly. if you want to try delicious upscale levantine food then this is the place for you!

recommendations: lamb ouzi, meat mansaf, the traditional ice cream with pistachio, and the kunafa

we recently dined at the brand new levantine restaurant at the kempinski dubai after the insightful zomato conference at the same venue. as we entered the restaurant we were offered a colorful, refreshing welcome drink (i forget what it was) after which we made our way to the intimate circular couch style seating areas.

i really don't like going out for iftar. it's the first meal after a day's fast and i keep it simple and enjoy the peace and contentment of being with loved ones at home. having said that, going out for a ramadan iftar, at least once during the month, to see and experience what many clamour and book ahead for, is good... to maintain perspective at the very least.

so it's olea, mainly because of the proximity to the cinema... we took the kids to see finding dory afterwards... but back to the restaurant. it's on level 2 of the hotel... it's a neat elegant comfortable setting and we were seated very efficiently at a nice and spacious table. as expected it was packed and the lines at the buffet stations were long but moving quite efficiently. there was a good spread of levantine cuisine... and most of what i tried was very good. i thought that the buffet spread was a little rice heavy (with at least 5 different rice based main dishes) but there was plenty of everything else from grills to curries and stews. i sampled the mansaf rice with the lamb shank in the yogurt sauce. it was excellent... and the lamb shanks so tender the succulent meat flakes of the bone. i also sampled the chicken maqlouba which was equally good. the ghouzi looked excellent, but did not live up to the standards set by the first two dishes i tried. i tried the a couple of items from the mixed grills selection... the lamb cubes and shish taouk both good. forgot to mention the lentil soup i started with... rich and thick... and though very good perhaps a lighter more dilute soup is more suitable for the fasting stomach.

all the traditional ramadan sweet drinks are there (qamariddine, jallab, ward etc)... but the nice touch was the traditional drinks pourer with the giant ornate back carried dispenser... drink dispensed with a bow and the jallab pours out and is captured in the glass. kids loved the spectacle of this rarely seen levantine tradition.

the dessert station is a large spread of overpoweringly sweet middle eastern desserts. i sampled the qishta kunafa (called osmalliya i think), another pistachio and cream based dessert and a refreshing mastik flavored levantine ice cream.

at the very end we realized there was another sweets station. literally a sweets station with sweets candies and cookies akin to a sweets factory kiosk. that sent the kids into a frenzy... like sharks who've found a lot of fresh warm blood! though it fun for the kids it really had no place sitting in a ramadan iftar buffet!

olea restaurant produces some good levantine food. authentic arabic middle eatern food right down to the drinks and desserts. the iftar buffet had a variety of dishes, hummus, baba ghanush, lentil soup, falafel, shawarma etc. the drinks were refreshing.. rose water, labnah, tamarind juice etc. they also had a candy bar!

sunday's iftar tasting was simply amazing! read all about it my post here 👉🏽 http://fromwetsandtodrysand.com/2016/06/02/tasting-ramadan-olea/

tried olea today. the food was very good. a wide levantine selection from salty & sweet. i had a bigger salty selection in mind but it ended up being slightly less than what i expected. however the arabic desserts corner did not disappoint.

zomato blogger conference was held last month attended by a huge number of foodies , active zomato bloggers/members and many guest speakers who were part of the panel discussion ,panelists also included country manager of zomato viraj sawant. discussion was truly useful at the conference featuring tips and tricks for growing your blog following, creating a great photography. experts shared how to be a perfect blogger and to use your blog as a platform to launch your business etc.

i was at the zomato bloggers conference, and after the conference we headed to olea for the dinner . olea serves levantine cuisine, which is unique concept . as we entered, we were offered a welcome drink . the pleasant smile and warm welcome made me feel that this place is going to be something different. as i and my fellow bloggers sat down, we noticed the lovely ambiance with nice seating area and the interiors . completely loved the setup. as we sat, we were being served sweet tamarind juice, by a interestingly dressed man( traditional attire) he made it sure that we drink the juice 😜. i loved the tamarind juice and its thickness with correct amount of sweetness. we moved on to eat our dinner ,food from all around middle east . bouffet is quite big and you can also see the kitchen (open)and chef working at the station . dessert section is a seperate area and it served from kunafa ( my favorite) to baklava and many other. they also served cupcakes (which was not good) and fresh fruits. for all you salad people, don't fret they also have a seperate salad section( which am not a fan). but yes it did look interesting ☺️. i would suggest you to try this restaurant , because of the cuisine they serve and the ambiance.
price for two-
ambiance - very good
service - very good
my reviews are honest based on the experience and not biased . follow me at facebook/instagram for more updates on food .nazish munir tanisha gupta stamps and stubs khloud

firstly, thank you zomato for inviting me to the first ever zomato conference at the kempiski hotel, mall of the emirate. it was so interesting and i learned a lot about blogging, also i met some new friends; we even discussed about blogging and so many things in dubai.

moreover after the conference, we went to olea restaurant for a buffet with the zomato family inside the kempiski hotel. well, the buffet was so delicious and really yummy. lastly, the staffs in olea are very nice, clean and friendly.

i highly recommend this restaurant!!!

lebanese food at it best, what an entertainment and world class home made food with purity of spices and flavor, everything was excellent from starter, main course till dessert. all the staff specially chefs were very interactive with guest and professional. a place to go and experience an unique atmosphere with outstanding food and beverages. :)

we recently dined at the brand new levantine restaurant at the kempinski dubai after the insightful zomato conference at the same venue. as we entered the restaurant we were offered a colorful, refreshing welcome drink (i forget what it was) after which we made our way to the intimate circular couch style seating areas. a lavish buffet of mouth-watering delicacies from the levant was laid out and with it all looking so gorgeous, thoughts of diets were thrown out the window. i thoroughly enjoyed some of the items, others not so much. my favorites from the evening were the ouzi (i can't resist good ouzi and the one at olea was pretty good), the chicken magloba, mixed grill, the sardines and the halloumi while the falafel was not as good as it looked. although i steered clear of it, the raw meat section neither looked appetizing nor was (based on fellow reviewers' comments). now for my favorite part, the desserts! olea has a room full of desserts and this is not an exaggeration. you can feast on a diversity of levantine desserts along with other treats like cupcakes. honestly though, the cupcakes were not great and i suggest you stick to the other delicacies. my favorite in this section was the cheesy kunafa made sweeter by the ever-smiling server doling out generous quantities of it and always ready to pose for pictures. the osmalieh came a close second. there's also an assortment of baklawa to choose from so dessert lovers, you're sorted. the food's tasty, the ambiance sophisticated and welcoming and the service good, but my favorite part of dining there? the friendliest face at the restaurant; the man with the massive teapot serving tamarind juice to the customers who wouldn't take no for an answer and who had a face that you definitely cannot say no to!

attended the zomato blogger conference yesterday and there was a buffet laid out for us at olea. the ambiance is beautiful and the interiors are extremely well-done. the restaurant is super spacious as well.

tried the hummus which was fantastic. the bread was fresh and really soft. there were a lot of meat and seafood dishes and since i'm not a fan of seafood i tried the chicken and lamb kebabs. the quality of the food was good however i felt there were hardly any options for vegetarians.

will recommend this place for the ambiance.

dined there as a part of the zomato blogger conference. being on a vegan diet and having said it is a levantine restaurant, i wasn't sure of how much vegan i could expect. but i was in for a surprise! the food was just too good. the salad bar had such amazing variety like the quinoa tabbouleh and foul salad, which were too good. there was enough on the main course too. the bamia was fantastic and i truly loved their falafels - the best i have eaten! the tamr served was delicious and the gentleman was very friendly. there was nothing on the desserts for me so i had fruits but they did have basbousa, kunafa and other arab desserts along with meringues and cupcakes which as per my companions were just ok. would love to go again for any special occasion!