“Us humans are 90% water. We’re just cucumbers with anxiety.” Skinny Genie
Looking for a health conscious and environmentally friendly cafe in the capital that serves organic food that not only looks but also tastes good? Look no further than UAE homegrown concept Skinny Genie Abu Dhabi that’s located at Masdar City.
All the dishes, sweet and savoury, are 100% gluten free, there’s a variety of vegetarian and vegan options and an extensive menu that emcompasses everything from breakfast through to dinner using, where possible, locally sourced products. Fresh organic smoothies and cold pressed juices are made daily along with a range of baked goods and pastries, Sunrise Bites for breakfast, salads and protein pots, soups, sandwiches, wraps, pasta and main dishes as well as healthy desserts. Skinny Genie also serve fair trade Raw Coffee roasted in Dubai and healthy snacks such as organic bars and protein balls.
The selection of dishes is well presented with the majority of the products served in recyclable glass, kilner style jars imported from Germany. The concept is simple but effective, each customer is provided with a wooden tray to self-select jars from the open fronted fridges and once payment is made the contents are then warmed through if necessary, then decanted onto plates and served to your table. A choice of Daily Specials are available at the counter along with hot beverages and homemade cakes such as dairy-free pumpkin chocolates brownies.
We opted to try a range of dishes that included a Mediterranean Frittata from the Sunrise Bites range (all breakfast dishes are discounted by 30% after 3pm), pesto pasta, braised lamb shank and a superfood salad with kales, broccoli, goji berries, chia seeds, edamame and crumbled feta. All the dishes were beautifully presented in their respective jars and equally appetitising once plated and unlike other ‘healthy’ food we have tried before it actually tasted as good as it looked. We also tried the green cold-pressed juice with a winning combination of kale, spinach, celery, parsley, kiwi, cucumber, apple, lemon and ginger and a sugar free fresh Kenyan mango smoothie.
Never one to forgo a dessert especially one that claims to be healthy we sampled the homemade tiramisu and the raspberry baked cheesecake, both get a thumbs up from us, as did the coffee. Skinny Genie can also be ordered for home delivery or takeaway, the recycled jars can be purchased for AED 5 and if then returned a voucher for said amount is given that can be redeemed off your next order.
The small retail section offers a range of goods to take home including healthy snacks, gluten free cereals, organic honey and cotton bags. Skinny Genie also offers catering and wholesale services with a wide selection of 100% gluten free products both chilled or frozen. The cafe has introduced ‘Wellness in the City’ with FREE interval training and pilates classes every Sunday and Wednesday mornings with partner Torn Fitness.
Skinny Genie certainly has your nutritional needs covered, all calories are listed on each product for those counting, they support and promote local farming, they use only no GMO, chemical and additive free products, no artificial food colourings and reduce sodium and sugar levels (agave syrup and fruit compote used as sweet replacements) in their recipes. I recommend popping into the modern cafe where the friendly and knowledgeable staff will be pleased to get your health kick off to the best start.
Skinny Genie
Location: Masdar City, Abu Dhabi
Telephone: 02 55 558 97
Home Delivery: 800 SKINNY (754669) available 10am – 10pm weekdays and 12 noon to 11pm at the weekend
Website: www.skinny-genie.com
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Skinny Genie is also in Dubai located at Exit 43
I was invited to review Skinny Genie at Masdar City. Unless otherwise stated, all views and photos on this page © Jo Brett 2018. All rights reserved.