Party-hard Dubai ponders new workweek debate: When's brunch?

Friday will never be the same again.

For those with means in Dubai, the former first day of the weekend carried a gluttonous party tradition, an hours-long affair with infinite supply of seafood, pizza, dessert and Veuve Clicquot Champagne set to pulsing music known simply in this city-state as “Friday brunch.” But starting this year, the United Arab Emirates shifted its weekend from Friday and Saturday to Saturday and Sunday — a move to align with global markets and Western schedules. Now, Emirati government employees work a half day with time for worship and family gatherings on Islam’s holy day.

Most of the nation’s expatriate-dominated private sector, however, works the full day.

That has thrown Dubai’s beloved Friday brunch — a key revenue source for Covid-19-battered restaurants that revel in Instagram-worthy, booze-soaked buffets — into disarray. “The traditional 12 pm Friday brunch is extinct,” said Adrian John, who along with his wife Lucy Melts started a popular Dubai brunch review website called Mr. and Mrs. Brunch.

Friday brunch in Dubai involves far more than the midday meals enjoyed in other major cities like New York and London. For those not rendered immobile after four hours of feasting, there’s the post-brunch brunch, evening brunch with more booze and midnight party brunch.

“It’s the experience Dubai is known for. It helped put Dubai on the map,” said Samantha Wood of the Foo­Diva restaurant review website.

Luxury hotels and restaurants each have their own brunch style. One steakhouse offers a James Bond theme with a background of spy movie music. Cash rains from the ceiling of the Waldorf Astoria hotel at a brunch inspired by the Martin Scorsese film The Wolf of Wall Street. There is a karaoke brunch boasting lip-sync battles and another featuring a giant spread of lamb shanks beside a petting zoo. Hotels roll out dessert trays with chocolate fountains evocative of Willy Wonka.