L’Apero, Dubai

BACKGROUND French cuisine served in restaurants, on most occasions, is accompanied by snobbish and intimidating settings and service that can be o -putting. L’Apero, located in Sofitel Dubai Downtown, is the antidote to that and is a brilliant mix of great French food served within a relaxed and inviting environment.

THE VENUE With a fantastic location just o Sheikh Zayed Road in Downtown Dubai, there’s an indoor area as well as a terrace that can be covered with a retractable roof. There are multiple seating options including couches, full-fledged dining tables as well as bar stools set against high tables which are ideal if you need to use your laptop to shoot o a couple of emails before you tuck into the food. Club Millesime members staying at the hotel can drop in here for their breakfast from 9am-11am, LeGouter (Afternoon Tea) served from 3pm-5pm, or a canapé bu et with alcohol from 6pm-8pm. External guests can avail of the à la carte menu from 12pm until 1am. L’Apero is a spacious venue and is sectioned, so even though there are hotel guests dropping into the venue periodically, at no point did we feel our privacy being encroached upon.

FOOD AND DRINK Sofitel’s parent, Accor, was a partner of the French pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai and as such brought in chefs from France to manage the catering at that venue. Post the Expo, some of those chefs were transferred to L’Apero – which explains a special section on the menu called Expo 2020 Heritage. We ordered the excellent Paris and Île-de-France - Gratinée à l’oignon. A comforting French onion soup gratin, it was well received considering we were seated outside in the evening and the weather was cool. From the sharing platter section on the menu, we opted for the Assiette de Legumes which included Croquette de Pommes (potato croquettes),

The prices are signi cantly less than other high-end French restaurants in the city

olives, and gougeres with steaming hot cheese inside – the portions are great for sharing. To visit a French restaurant and not order the croque monsieur would be a grave mistake and hence we did so. One of the highlights of our meal, here it is served with shaved tru les, turkey ham and gruyere béchamel served in sourdough bread – if you have to order just one item from the entire menu, you’d do well to make sure it is this one. Although we didn’t have space for the mains, there’s a selection of a fillet steak, or prawns served with a fennel confit, or even a lamb shank, among

HOURS Club Millesime members staying at the property can avail of their breakfast starting at 9am daily. External patrons can visit from 12pm-1am

LOCATION L’Apero, Sofitel Dubai Downtown, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai

CONTACT +971 4 503 6666; sofitel-dubaidowntown.com

others. For dessert, the delicious crème brûlée here is served in true French style with cinnamon cronuts.

SERVICE The sta here are properly trained in all the ins and outs of French cuisine, but do not come across as condescending if you ask them to explain the di erent items on the menu or make recommendations. In fact, they’ll go refreshingly o -script and share menu recommendations with anecdotes of their personal thoughts on their experiences sampling the di erent menu items, and how the chef even customised creations for them. Unobtrusive, intuitive and thoroughly e icient – the service here is top-notch.

VERDICT This is a venue with genuinely good French cuisine, where the prices are significantly less than what you’d pay at similar high-end restaurants in the city – the croque monsieur is Dhs70, the onion soup is Dhs45 and the mains are priced at an average of Dhs100. With an extensive beverage menu too, head here for a great French-inspired lounge. Varun Godinho