Dubai Restaurant Review: Bocadillo, Dubai Mall

In a nutshell: very friendly service, good food and great price!

4/5

On our recce of the Dubai Mall's 2nd floor food court, my Mum and I stopped to look at Bocadillo's menu and told the welcoming hostess that we might come back. Recce complete, we decided that Bocadillo would fit the bill and on our return the hostess smiled broadly and said, "Welcome back!" Yes, we had just spoken to her 3 minutes earlier so she would have been unlikely to forget us, but not all restaurant staff would actually make the effort to acknowledge the previous interaction.

Although located in the food court, Bocadillo is not a fast food restaurant along the lines of Pizza Hut, Hardees or one of the many outlets selling food from bain-maries. The menu is Spanish-focused with hints of Italy and it offers various tapas, salads, sandwiches, wraps and baked potatoes. There are surprisingly few restaurants that sell baked potatoes and it was this that attracted us to Bocadillo. I ordered a potato with tuna & sweetcorn mayonnaise and Mum had a potato with butter and sweetcorn. I was a little worried that we might get one of those awful blackened potatoes that have been sat in a warming oven for hours on end, but luckily our potatoes were fresh and there was a generous amount of filling with a simple side salad. I had requested minimal mayonnaise with my tuna and no pepper (of course!) and that had been followed exactly so a thumbs up there.

I had seen jars of nutella as we walked into the restaurant and sure enough, crepes were on the menu (savoury as well as sweet). I talked Mum into sharing a nutella crepe with me and it was delicious. In my eagerness to tuck into this sweet delight, though, I forgot to take a photo! Buying a nutella crepe from a road-side vendor is one of my favourite things to do any time I'm in France and although this crepe was a little thicker than a French one would be, it was still the perfect end to a great simple lunch.

My biggest surprise of the day came when I got the bill - just Dhs 100 for both of us and we had had drinks as well as the potatoes and shared dessert. This is definitely where I'll be eating next time I'm at Dubai Mall and just want a straight-forward lunch that's light on the pocket.