Name: Maison Margiela Café
Address: Maison Margiela boutique, Mall of the Emirates, Al Barsha 1, Dubai, Al Barsha, Dubai, AE
Price range: $

Our take

Maison Margiela Café sits inside the Maison Margiela boutique at Mall of the Emirates, a small terrace café that carries the fashion house's quiet, minimalist style into coffee and cake. Cream lounge seats, round wooden tables and the brand's bottle-shaped lamps make it one of the calmest corners of a very busy mall.

Cosy, soft and tasty

That is how we would sum it up. The room feels soft rather than showy: muted colours, comfortable seating and little noise, which makes it a good place to stop for half an hour between shops, or to sit down quietly when the rest of the mall is loud. The menu is built around coffee, pastries, cakes, plated desserts and ice cream, and what we tried was genuinely tasty, not just pretty for photos.

The welcome

The staff are what made our visit. We arrived about five minutes before closing with a flat phone, after the rest of the mall had refused to lend us a charger. The team at Maison Margiela Café still welcomed us in and found us a power bank without a second thought. That kind of warmth is rare at a branded café, and it is the main reason we would go back.

Who it suits

Shoppers at Mall of the Emirates looking for a calm coffee and dessert stop.
Fans of Maison Margiela and its design.
A quiet catch-up with a friend, or a short break from shopping.

It is a café rather than a restaurant, so come for coffee and something sweet rather than a full meal.

Opening hours and getting there

Location: inside the Maison Margiela boutique, Mall of the Emirates, Al Barsha 1, Dubai.
Hours: reported as 10am to 11pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to midnight Friday to Sunday, in line with the mall. Check before a late visit.
Phone: +971 4 283 6276.
Getting there: Mall of the Emirates Metro station on the Red Line connects directly to the mall.

Our verdict

Maison Margiela Café is a soft, stylish and tasty stop inside one of Dubai's busiest malls, and its staff turn a pretty café into a genuinely welcoming one. Worth a detour on your next visit to Mall of the Emirates.