RESTAURANT REVIEW #5 - JONES THE GROCER, THE GATE MALL

My visit to Jones The Grocer, was what you could probably call a deliberate coincidence.

Been meaning to visit this eatery after reading several reviews, I was more than delighted when I won a gift voucher of QAR 200 from Zomato Qatar at a lucky draw at the 2^nd Food Bloggers Meet.

Initially deciding to head out for a Saturday breakfast, it ended up being a lunch with our leisurely weekend pace. And wasn’t I one pleased customer on seeing that breakfasts are served until 3 pm on weekends !

What I particularly liked about the layout of this branch at the Gate Mall was its widespread area with a gorgeous and inviting display of bakes, pastries , breads among many other treats. They most definitely justified their name since in addition to being a restaurant, they also sold premium coffee, extra virgin olive oils, several varieties of organic pastas, vanilla and gift hampers with a collection of these products which certainly would make excellent gifts.

Getting down to business, once we settled down and examined the menu, I right away zeroed down on one of my biggest breakfast favourites- The Eggs Benedict, inspite of having a full breakfast at home! The husband chose the Wagyu Beef Burger. We also ordered a starter in form of a Olive toast with Fresh Ricotta, Cherry Tomatoes and Avocado.

What I especially liked was the striking presentation of all the dishes. The food looked fresh, healthy, colourful yet unpretentious. 

On the appetizer: It was my first time to taste this unique combination of fresh ricotta with cherry tomatoes and avocado and truly found it to be a delight. Ingredients were super fresh and we loved the explosion of flavours and textures in this dish.

Coming to my Eggs Benedict, the eggs were perfectly poached to my choice and the Hollandaise as well was smooth, rich and buttery just as how a good Hollandaise should be. This was served with smoked turkey ham and sautéed spinach. Mixed greens also served on the side perfectly cleansed one’s palate after the richness from the eggs and Hollandaise.

The husband also found the Wagyu Burger to be top-notch and he rated the quality of meat as great. Fries were decent as well. The quantity was so overwhelming that I thought he almost struggled to finish the dish.

Even after all the above, we definitely were not going to give up on desserts. So we ended up choosing the Crème Brulee , Vanilla Cheesecake and a Brownie Cookie with Chocolate Chips. It’s a weekend after all !

The husband being a big fan of Crème Brulee was converted into a major fan with this dessert ticking all the right boxes in terms of taste, presentation and even the Masterchef spoon tap test where the burnt sugar top cracked perfectly on a tap of the back of the spoon.

Frankly, am not big on plain vanilla flavours and am a chocolate person hands down. But this vanilla cheesecake was a taste of heaven with the prime ingredient- “Vanilla” shining throughout and more so, that one could actually spot the specks of the vanilla in the dish. Cheesecake was smooth, creamy and perfectly sweet.

I most definitely couldn’t cheat on my love for chocolate and hence went for the Brownie Cookie with Chocolate Chips. This was crumbly, chocolate-y and decadent. It was aptly named and tasted like a brownie and a cookie.

Overall from the review, you can evidently see that we loved the food and infact I look forward to returning very soon to try more of the breakfast fare and the much raved about pot pies.

Thanks JTG and Zomato Qatar for a memorable lunch !

Restaurant Info:

Jones The Grocer

Ground Floor

The Gate Mall

West Bay, Doha

Ph:+974-44077175/40296928

Verdict:

Criteria	Weightage	Points given	Overall
Food	50%	4.0	2.0
Service	20%	4.0	0.8
Ambience	15%	4.0	0.6
Value for Money	15%	4.0	0.6
			4.0

Rating: Excellent JJ

We used a gift voucher from Zomato Qatar at Jones the Grocer but obviously the opinion I have expressed here is completely mine and honest.