Belated seasons greetings to you all!  I hope you had a fabulous day and that Santa overlooked your transgressions and was good to you!

This was my first Dubai Christmas.  I have been living over here for nearly 5yrs, but have managed to arrange my vacation to get away over the Christmas (I like saying Christmas so will do so a lot!), and New Year period.  I spent my first in Qatar, my second and fourth in South Africa, and my third in London. So, when doing Christmas Dubai Stylie, then a brunch must be included!

Because it had been a manic few weeks in the run up to Christmas, we had left it until the last minute (literally, days before) in order to book.  Not ideal really!  I had a top 5 list of places in my mind that I would have liked to go to, but only thankfully got to number three before I could book!

I firstly had called Al Qsar trying to book, and not only were they fully booked but they had over 800 people on their wait list.  I couldn’t believe it!  I knew it was popular but had no idea how much so!

I was wait listed for my second choice too.  In fairness, they were really rude so I was pleased when I rang back to cancel that!

Then I called Fazaris at The Address Downtown.  I had been to their Thanksgiving brunch a couple of years back, and their turkey was absolutely on point!  Not only that, but if I could still get a table outside, I would be able to see an iconic landmark which would be a good Dubai Christmas memory too.

I totally and utterly lucked out… just an hour before they had received a cancellation.  I literally did the happy dance!!

Along comes Christmas day, and I am so ready for brunch.  There will be bubbles, there will be turkey (yes, I checked!), there will be vegetables (yep, including Brussel Sprouts – I checked that too!) and there will be an epic dessert room!  Christmas in Dubai didn’t sound bad at all!!

Fazaris didn’t disappoint!

We walked in and had the obligatory Christmas Tree photos taken (ok, so it’s my suggestion not an actual thing!), and once we had a glass of bubble in hand, we were shown to our table with a view of the Burj.  I was so happy.  Not only was I celebrating my first Christmas with The Boy, I was about to have a delicious and boozy Christmas lunch in a venue that I will never forget!  Then… Santa stopped by to say hello!  AND THEN…. They gave us all chocolate Santas’ as a gift.  It just kept getting better and better!

Ok, so I’ve never had sushi at a Christmas dinner before.  Nor have I had tempura vegetables and prawns.  But I think this is a new tradition to start!  Their sushi really is some of the best in Dubai, and their sashimi was absolutely spectacular.  Possibly the best I have had there.  It was hard to walk away and leave room for the main course!  But no Christmas dinner is complete without turkey!!

I not only had turkey, but I had roast pork and roast beef!  It was so good too!  There were vegetables galore, and mashed potatoes too.  Sadly no roast potatoes or Yorkshire Puddings, but I had no room on my plate really anyway so it wasn’t so much of an issue!  I did however manage to sneak two prawns on there, just to be different!

I think at this point I should not confess to the chocolate fountain, or the giant array of gummy sweets I managed to get onto a plate in the chocolate room on my first visit.  Yep, first.  Because after that I went back for more sushi.  And then a little more sushi.  Then there was the second visit to the dessert room.  Then there was the cheese and pork.

And I wonder why I have gained weight!?

Such a fabulous day though.  If I was in Dubai for Christmas again, I would certainly be more than happy to head back and celebrate with the lovely team at Fazaris!