Restaurant review: Markette

The Boxpark restaurant offers an ambience that's not uncommon to many other places around town - but its breakfast menu is an egg lover's paradise

Breakfast is one of my favourite meals of the day. Actually, make that just: my favourite meal of the day. It's not the time I favour so much as the veritable smorgasbord of options before me: whether classic PBJ or cold falafel sandwiches, or dosas and appams with their corresponding chutneys and stews, or - best of all - the classic English breakfast with its scrambled eggs, buttery toast, hot dogs, mashed potato, and a glass of freshly squeezed OJ (aka "my morning drug"); somehow, it's the one mealtime I'm always up for. Even if I have to wake up early and battle traffic for an hour to get there. It's what happened when a friend and I decided to meet at Markette at Boxpark for a well-anticipated catch-up.
The free parking right in front of the restaurant won the place a bonus point even before we were through the door. Walking into Markette was almost like walking into your mum's kitchen: it's super homey and styled to feel familiar and cosy all at once, even though it was our first time there. Little jars stood on little shelves. The cupboards had glass encasings, through which you could spot an assortment of colourful dishes, tea towels and cereal boxes. As if to drive home the point, there were little placards all over the place that said things like "happiness is homemade" and "there's no place like home". It borders on trying too hard perhaps, considering there are way too many places in Dubai that now proffer the same ambience - but we liked it anyway because, hey, there is no place like home.
The Markette breakfast, which is open from 9am to 12pm everyday, reads like an egg lover's paradise, no joke. Poached eggs, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, Mexican eggs, egg white omelette or served in sauce - I wanted to try them all. In fact, there was only one distinctly un-eggy dish on offer, and that was a Tropical Smoothie Bowl. My friend decides on the Markette Style Breakfast in a trice; it consists of two scrambled or fried eggs, with sausage, turkey bacon, mushrooms, sautéed spiced potatoes, garlic bread, and orange juice. In other words, it's the 'all out' option, ensuring you won't be hungry till well after the sun goes down. Not to be outdone, I opt for the Chicken Tikka Benedict - mostly out of curiosity for how they will incorporate this well-loved Indian flavour into a classic egg preparation - and a tropical drink to sip on while we wait.
The drink arrives fairly quickly but breakfast takes a bit more time; let's just say we had ample opportunity to catch up. The restaurant is quiet this early on a weekday, and it's oddly relaxing to be seated by the large windows, watching Jumeirah traffic coast by. The dishes arrive at last but, glad though we are to tuck in, we're also now on a clock.
Poached eggs are usually considered fairly tricky to get right, so it was time to put Markette's to the test. The eggs were served with jalapeno hollandaise and chicken tikka on bread rolls - and the result was a definitely intriguing twist of flavours. Runny eggs give me the ickies, so I'd asked for mine well done, and was relieved to see they'd come out just right. My friend, meanwhile, seemed perfectly content with his choice, declaring himself unable to complain about any part of it.
We're incredibly full at the end, and have to politely decline the server's offer to check out their sweet crepes or savoury galettes menu. Perhaps, if we'd had time to spare and turned the catch-up into a brunch, we could've sat around - as people are wont to do over brunches - waited for our food to settle and then tried out their undeniably inviting selection of pancakes. As it turned out, we had to dash - it was a weekday, after all! One thing's for sure: we have unfinished business here (there are too many options on that menu we'd like to try). Also, that's the last time I'm doing breakfast on the run.
karen@khaleejtimes.com

• Food and Dining