I rarely talk about food on Bonjour Chiara because honestly it’s not my favourite topic. But in these last 10 days I discovered two gems in Dubai that I think it’s worth to share with you. They are both very Bonjour Chiara’s style!

COMPTOIR 102

One of my favourite places in Paris is Merci. Merci is a concept store which sells a delicate selection of deinty jewels, all fashion brands you need to wear to be a Parisienne, the best interior pieces and a fabulous selection of stationary. There are also few in-store coffee bar and restaurant where you can eat heathy food or grab a coffee (or, even better, fresh juices).When I lived in Italy and I worked in Fashion I used to go to Paris around 4 times a year, for the fashion weeks. Each time ended with me grabbing all the things I could grab at Merci. It’s really my n.1 place in Paris.

Explained this fact about me, you can now understand how I felt when I visited Comptoir 102. I felt like I was in Paris again. This place reminds me Merci so much. It took me less than 10 mins to declare that I had officially found my favourite place in Dubai.

Comptoir 102 is perfect to host you and your girlfriends for a breakfast full of gossip, healthy food (that kind of food that we, women, LOVE to eat) and a bit of shopping. You can also have lunch and a light dinner.

LA CANTINE DU FAUBOURG

First time I heard of La Cantine Du Faubourg I was still in Doha. They hosted an event in collaboration with an illustrator that I really like: Camille Walala. At the time I thought how nice this place looked like and what a shame that I wasn’t in Dubai.

Now that I live in Dubai I finally paid a visit to this place which satisfied all my expectations.

La Cantine Du Faubourg is located in Emirates Towers, which makes this place perfect for business lunch or post-work dinner. The best part of the place is the outdoor terrace, kept private from the rest of the city thanks to a lot of green and plants. The restaurant serves Parisienne food, which is a mix of different cuisines, exactly as Paris is: a multicultural city.

Also the table where Massimo and I seated reminded me very much about Parisienne coffees and those tiny wood round tables.

Talking about food. We went for dinner and we ordered:

-Quinoa and kale salad with apple, goji berries and Parmesan cheese. A new in into the menu.

-Fried calamari with scallions and spicy mayonnaise. Very delicious, not greasy at all.

-Pan fried foie gras with beetroot and cranberry sauce and crispy carrots. I didn’t try as I don’t eat meat but Massimo said it was his favourite choice.

As main courses we had:

-Jumbo prawns with home-made sweet chilli sauce. OMG! It was so so good.

-John Stone tenderloin façon parisienne. Again, only Massimo tried it and he gave the thumb up!

And then desserts came. I was thinking just to mention that if you visit this place you HAD to order dessert, without adding any other details to avoid to ruin you the surprise. But I can’t talk about La Cantine Du Faubourg without mention:

-The GIANT champagne glass of fruit salad, cream (cream, and again more cream) and meringue. You easily say Au Revoir to your entire year of work out for the amount of calories presented in this dessert. But it’s sooooo worth. Really really worth! In fact it’s the signature dessert.

–We also had a chocolate warm cake, but between all the things I tried that night, this wasn’t my favourite.