Greg is away this weekend and I was meeting a friend for breakfast. I live in West Bay and she lives on the Pearl so we decided to meet half way at Al Jazeera Cafe in Katara, a restaurant I’ve wanted to visit for a while.

Katara can get very busy but on Friday morning it was really quiet and we didn’t have a problem finding a parking space or getting a table. We chose a table with an interactive screen where we could browse the menu, watch tv and play air hockey! If you’re on a digital detox there are ‘normal’ tables too. The restaurant is lovely and light, very comfortable  and relaxing.

We were like kids swiping through the interactive menu and we both chose from the breakfast / brunch section. The staff were friendly helping us overcome technical difficulties (note the screen won’t work if you keep putting your iPhone on top of it!) and answering questions about ingredients of some dishes and drinks.

I ordered toasted rye bread with whipped goats cheese and smashed avocado and Louise choose the smoked salmon with walnut spread and quails egg. We also ordered fresh juices each – then we played air hockey! The server soon came over and set our screen to look like a table-cloth in preparation for our food. The food arrived in about 15 minutes and was nicely presented. My drink arrived but was quickly whisked away with an apology as they realised it wasn’t what I’d ordered!

We both thoroughly enjoyed our dishes, they were freshly made with good quality ingredients. Personally I would have preferred a more generous spread of goats cheese on my rye toast because I love it but overall the flavours worked well together and the portion size was spot on. Louise felt her portion was less filling but equally delicious. Our drinks were excellent, my mango emotion was thick and creamy with slices of fresh strawberry at the bottom.

It was soon 11am and the restaurant was closing for Friday prayer so we asked for the bill and wandered outside into the beautiful sunshine. We paid 143QR for both breakfast dishes and drinks which I felt was good value for the quality of the food. I’ll definitely go back and would recommend it as a place to eat when you’re at Katara. I wish I hadn’t left it so long to visit.