I love Fridays in Abu Dhabi! - Leslie Shivamber

I love Fridays in Abu Dhabi!

Friday in Arabic means “Gathering or Jumaa day”.
While the Muslims are called to pray 5 times a day, on Fridays, they gather in a Mosque, or any gathering space, for the special noon prayer called Jumaa prayer, and to listen to the special sermon delivered by the Mosque leader, called the Imam. Like Sunday for Christians, or Saturday for the Jewish faith, Friday here is the holy day – the family day. (There are a few churches in the city and they also offer their services on Friday mornings.)

One of my favorite times is Friday morning before the rest of my family awakes. And with teenagers that can be a quite a few hours! The roads are very quiet – almost empty actually. It is quite peaceful! Not many people work on Fridays and most stores don’t open until Friday afternoon. We live in the middle of the city in Abu Dhabi; our apartment building is right at a main intersection. So like any major city, it is usually noisy – from traffic mostly; cars, motorbikes, honking etc. It took me about a year to get used to the noise after peaceful living on the canal in Melbourne, FL! But on Fridays I love sitting on our balcony with my tea, taking in the beautiful view and the calm!

Another tradition here on Friday is the “Friday Brunch”! I”m not sure how or why this started (maybe to capture the Westerners who needed somewhere to go after the local church service!) but just about every restaurant and especially those in hotels offer a magnificent Friday brunch! Most offer international fare with Arabic food along with Indian, Thai, Italian, Chinese, and desserts to die for (though not as much chocolate as I would like!). Leon had a colleague here who must have tried every Friday Brunch in the city – a different one every week! We think the one at the Fairmont Hotel was his favorite! The InterContinental Hotel here has a great offer where you can eat from any of their 3 restaurants at the same time! This is a wonderful place to go in the winter when the weather is perfect for sitting outside along the waterfront with access to each of the restaurants! Probably one of the most “famous” buffets here is offered at The Shangri-La Hotel. I have never seen so much food! One can sit outside by their infinity pool and enjoy the view of The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. The girls like this buffet because not only is there a chocolate fountain, there are 3 – one for white chocolate, one for milk chocolate, and one for dark chocolate! WIth everything you can think of to dip! But this is pricey and more of a special occasion place.

We enjoyed the outdoor seating at The Shangri-La buffet with views across to Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque when my Mom came to visit last year!

A view looking down at the dessert bar!

Eating at buffets every Friday can be costly-especially with girls who don’t usually eat their share. So we have our own version of Friday Brunch – just Friday lunch!! We have succumbed to the tradition and go out to lunch almost every Friday. It has become our family time where we share what has been going on and what the next week will bring! Our favorite place is Jones the Grocer! A gourmet style restaurant – in a building right next store – which also sells gourmet foods, cheeses, pastas, desserts, and small housewares (think Green Turtle for those of you in Melbourne!). No chocolate fountain here but the “best hamburgers in town” according to the girls! This version of Friday Brunch works great for us!

I love Fridays in Abu Dhabi!

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