A delicious detox

Nestled amidst the tall, imposing buildings on the shoreline of Palm Jumeirah is Sophie’s, a rather unfussy, home-style eatery that seemed to offer a perfect antidote to the cheese, chocolate and other sinful high-cal diet I had been following of late.

The waterfall-strewn murals, bright décor and an Astroturf feature lent it a warm, welcoming ambiance on a lazy Friday afternoon when I went there for lunch with a friend. Of course, the term ‘health food’ always raises doubts in the foodie within me (given my appetite for everything unhealthy!) but Sophie’s was a pleasant change. We first refreshed ourselves with fresh juices – a delightful aloe vera juice and a carrot, ginger and orange juice (which was pretty regular). It was then time to explore the menu which, in this case, was a wide array of salads with the fresh and seasonal ingredients.

Sophie’s boasts of 72 (yes, you read it right) varieties of salads which are rotated on a daily basis and while not all of them hit the mark, there were more hits than misses among the ones we tried.

The best ones – the roasted peppers, zucchini and aubergine salad, the potato and avocado with green chives, pepper and olive oil salad and the famous pumpkin and spinach salad with feta cheese. My friend also raved about the whole wheat fusilli pasta with roasted tomato and the wild rice with apricots and walnuts salad. The salads are enough to fill you up but if you want the main course, our suggestion is, opt for the seafood over the meat dishes.

I preferred the grilled salmon and the grilled king fish platter with its flavouring of thyme over the chicken in tomato sauce with aubergine, zucchini and olives.

For once, we chose to give desserts a miss – not because the carrot cake and pastries didn’t look inviting enough – but simply because we felt a tad guilty to stuff ourselves with sugar after the ‘superfood’ we just had.  

Nourishing yet wholesome, Sophie’s will be our address for a delicious detox! 

Info:
Where: Palm Jumeirah, Dubai
Opening Hours: 10am to 8pm, Open daily
Contact: 04 430 9466