[UAE] Paul Bakery Dubai International Airport Terminal 3
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The past 2 weeks had been terribly hectic with increasing workload from Law School, oh well, afterall this is the final phase of studying, presumably.
Today's delight was our dining experience during our transit flight at Dubai International Airport. As our flight arrived earlier than expected and it was about 7am (local time) in the morning, we figured it would be worth having breakfast at Paul Bakery since none of us ate much on the plane. Beaming with excitement, we combed the parallel stretch of shops at the airport in search of Paul, and hopefully it would be a much better tasting session compared to the Paul Bakery at Takashimaya Singapore recently.
9,5cm Strawberry Tarte - AED 17 (equivalent to S$6/-)
(+) Crisp taut sponge cake, with rich buttery fragrance.
(+) Texture wise, definitely lived up to standard.
(-) Financier tasted more like madeleine instead unfortunately with the much desired almond taste sorely lacking. Would have been more appropriate to perhaps retail it as madeleines. That would then warrant a much higher verdict score.
The coffee was mediocre standard, but rather exorbitantly priced. Well, it would be close to impossible to deal with all these sweet treats without a cup of fresh brew. Deal with it, I guess.
Today's delight was our dining experience during our transit flight at Dubai International Airport. As our flight arrived earlier than expected and it was about 7am (local time) in the morning, we figured it would be worth having breakfast at Paul Bakery since none of us ate much on the plane. Beaming with excitement, we combed the parallel stretch of shops at the airport in search of Paul, and hopefully it would be a much better tasting session compared to the Paul Bakery at Takashimaya Singapore recently.
9,5cm Strawberry Tarte - AED 17 (equivalent to S$6/-)
(+) You definitely get big chunk of succulent sweet strawberry with every bite.
(+) Very fresh ingredients were used, including the fruits and the custard.
(+) Sufficiently rich butter taste in the tart.
(-) Tart was rather taut, which helped kept the shape of the tart, but was certainly unyielding to the plastic utensils provided.
Personally we preferred the 'stiffness' in the tart tried at Maison Kayser, but this tart was a good variation on its own.
Verdict: 7.5/10
Pie Flan Normand (AED17 = S$6/-)
This was Paul's classic fruit tart, made with a crispy buttery pastry, topped with sliced apples and almonds.
(+) Like the tart, generous serving of the fresh apple fruit and almond flakes.
(+) Was not too sweet, so it appealed to us.
(+) Especially enjoyed the 'toasted' (chao-ta) parts of the crispy pie.
(+) The fragrance of cinnamon and nutmeg was very alluring for another bite indeed.
(-) The buttery pastry was thicker than the one we tried at Paul in Singapore.
(-) Owing to the thicker pastry, the buttery taste was slightly too much for our stomachs.
Verdict: 7.5/10
Pain Au Chocolate (AED10 = S$3.50/-)
Rich croissant style pastry with two bars of dark chocolate in the centre.
(+) Very flaky and crispy with a rich buttery taste.
(+) Amount of chocolate inside was rich and generous.
Could not really go wrong with one of their classics.
Verdict: 8.5/10
Financier and Black Coffee (AED 12/18 = S$4.20/S$6.20)
(+) Texture wise, definitely lived up to standard.
(-) Financier tasted more like madeleine instead unfortunately with the much desired almond taste sorely lacking. Would have been more appropriate to perhaps retail it as madeleines. That would then warrant a much higher verdict score.
The coffee was mediocre standard, but rather exorbitantly priced. Well, it would be close to impossible to deal with all these sweet treats without a cup of fresh brew. Deal with it, I guess.
Verdict: 7.0/10
The coffee were all freshly brewed as per ordered, but the staffs were obnoxiously rude to say the least. I was abruptly being told off and shut down by the server in the picture about photographing them with my phone.
Essentially, there was no customer service. After making your payment at the till, one would need to sidle further down the counter to collect food and beverages. It would not be brought to your table. The server in the picture in addition to his rude behaviour, crushed the receipt and threw it on the tray before shoving it to me. Honestly, it was one of the most outrageous behaviour possibly observed. One would certainly expect better customer service at an international renowned franchise like Paul, not to mention its location at Dubai International Airport, a transitional hub for many international commuters.
Terrible service aside and not forgetting the queue of course, the food suited our palette. It would probably be worth noting that our tastes might be slightly influenced considering we were on a long haul flight.
Being our first visit, we were satisfied with the food in general, but would probably give it a second thought if we do transit at Dubai again.
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