Yeah, so this is not IHOP. More like iCat. Heh.

Luca’s gotten used to the camera being in his face. Whether it’s the SLR or phone camera, he will gladly hold his pose and let us take photos. Most of the time. One of these days I am going to capture him on video where my husband flips his foot and makes Luca jump. I swear it’s the funniest thing!

Okay so there is now an IHOP in Dubai. Located at the Mall of the Emirates, right next to Shake Shack. It opened around the time of Eid, so two weeks ago, and everyone wants a taste of it.

The queues are long, but not crazy long like at The Cheesecake Factory. Okay, so that’s for another post but yes, we have a Cheesecake Factory here in Dubai now too. And no, Penny and Bernadette don’t work there, and Sheldon, Leonard, Howie and Raj are not regulars there. I wish they were though!

Anyway, so IHOP. Hmmm…good. My brother and sis-in-law went there first and they said it was all good. So the following day the entire family went. We had to wait 30 minutes for our table I think. It was busy; brunch time Eid holiday crowd gets crazy and one elderly Arab gentleman even threw a clipboard down and stormed off because he didn’t understand the concept of queueing and waiting to be served. They all want it now, now now.

The menu was extensive. Who knew choosing omelette or pancakes or sausages could be so difficult? Good thing my brother had been because he had scanned the menu through and helped us cut through the chase. The coffee was good, decaf for us with 2% milk. The crew messed up some of the orders for eggs (uncooked yolk whereas we asked for well done) but they came through, or rather Debbie the manager came through with the correct eggs for my sister.

I asked for the Simple n Fit Two x Two x Two and wanted my eggs poached. I think it’s a new concept for our server so I asked her to find out from the kitchen if they can poach the eggs instead of frying them, she came back and said yes they would do it so I was set. I don’t normally make a fuss when we eat outside, but if I had a choice I would choose the less oily one.

The pancakes were great, soft and warm and fluffy and the best syrup has to be the butter pecan. Yum yum yum. Oh and the hash browns were the best part of the meal. A bit buttery for my liking but tasted really nice. We might be going back again soon to try out the other items on the menu.

After brunch, the kids decided they wanted to burn some of the calories off so we headed upstairs to Magic Planet. It was busy of course but they managed to go on all the rides and play basketball and ski ball and earn enough tickets to collect some items afterwards. Patrick got an earphone and Tech Deck set for under 600 points. Bellybutton wanted every pink thing in the shop!

Okay, that’s it for now. Next up, The Cheesecake Factory.