This season’s finest and most impressive Friday Brunch in the UAE’s capital city, by far.

First of all, the Ritz-Carlton is at the top of the game in terms of its entire operations as a luxury hotel, fit for royalty.

And this prestigious sophistication naturally reflects onto the weekend brunch as well.

But let us start from a different angle, and not by admiring the spacious and eminently well furnished and decorated dining space – instead I’d like to take a moment to mention what I found was the beating heart of this superlative dining experience:

The people who work behind the scenes – hospitality professionals from many countries, each with their own expertise, and each devoted entirely to delivering Abu Dhabi’s best brunch – and as I said in my first paragraph – they did it!

My sincere congratulations. I see many brunches, and I’ve been fortunate to experience the best – now I have a new benchmark “best”!

You see, preparing and serving food is one of humans’ most important and caring behaviors; in fact, we can only survive because our parents feed us for the first decade of our life! After age 10, I suppose you could go around digging for roots and picking wild fruits…

And our social relationships, and celebrations, and traditions, are always connected to food, and eating.

And so, yes, most all tip-top hotel brunches will be technically excellent – in the development of the menu, the search for ingredients, the storage, the preparations, the presentation, etc. – but it is only when all this logistical work is carried forth by the sincerity of its staff that the brunch can hope to reach pre-eminent position, as the Ritz-Carlton in Abu Dhabi has done.

May I tell you why?

Care for some cheese?

I counted over 30 different, and exquisite, and rare, varieties and then got distracted and lost track…

Take for example the Crutin, pictured above. Fabulous and unique cheese, and it caught my attention right away – first time I tasted it. I did some research. It is made with black truffle shavings and prepared exclusively in the Langhe hills in the province of Cuneo, in northern Italy. It is one of historical varieties produced in the area, and it is so rare that it is not even mentioned in the Langhe website – and yet, you find it at the Ritz-Carlton brunch!

I can tell you that the Ritz-Carlton cheese section in the buffet was longer than some entire buffets.

See for yourself.

Seafood was another area of excellence…

But faced with such an immense smorgasbord of delights, I should let the photos do the talking.

Drinks included, of course – and not one bar, but several, and each one presenting different fine cocktails or themes.

Here is the trolley specializing in the Old Fashioned cocktail – what a delight!

Not only a very well-made Old Fashioned (whiskey, bourbon or rye, sweets and bitters) but the Ritz prepared it smoked with wood chips and served in a skull glass!

Below, the Gin Master…

And all served with flair, with a joyous professionalism..

There’s a lot more that makes the Ritz-Carlton brunch such a phenomenal weekend dining experience – and they’ve just launched the season starter, so who knows if they can get even better?

Meat carvery, for instance – a whole leg of Wagyu beef, carved in front of your very eyes, accompanied by mashed potatoes that you can customize according to your preference, numerous roasted root vegetables, a basket of scrumptious Yorkshire puddings, a little bucket of corn chips, several sauces… you see, it’s not just a chunk of roast beef carved and off you go – the Ritz has thought of every possibility, and then brought it to reality.

And next to that live station, another one for lamb; and then another one for duck – Peking style!

And again, it’s not just the duck – it is wrapped for you, in a light pancake, and drizzled with sauce, and served with your choice of vegetable…

And then you discover the Indian cuisine section, and the Arabian dishes section, and the Italian, and the steamed Chinese, and the Vegan Carvery section – brilliant!

Oh, I forgot to mention there is also a Vegan Cheese section! And a Vegan Dessert section!!

Ah! Dessert… an entire room of desserts… each one more delicious than the other.

All in all, the impressive Ritz-Carlton Friday Brunch is destined to be one for the history of Abu Dhabi – and I haven’t even scratched the surface of how amazing it was in full.

I really hope the good people in the Food & Beverage Dept can sustain this level of extravagant yet elegant delivery, because if they can, this brunch season in Abu Dhabi belongs to the Ritz. They own it now.