Lunch Room opened its doors in Riyadh last winter and is so busy that a week’s advanced reservation is required.
It is one of the few spots in Riyadh with a true appreciation for brunch — a midday meal with a delightful combination of breakfast and dinner — a preferred option for many locals these days.
Everyone can find something they like on a single sweet and savory menu, though it might take you a very long time to decide on what to order.
The menu is divided into six sections: the “Market” section, which includes a variety of salads; the “Clay Oven” section with 48-hour sourdough flatbread; the “Panouzzi” section; the “Ode to Egg” section; the “Sweet Instinct” section; and the “Coffee Commune” section, which offers delicious baked goods.
There are also options for sharing. The double-cooked sweet potato with miso-caramel aioli is a great one, and the pide bread with honeycomb and gaymar, which is a thickened cream traditionally made using water buffalo milk, is a dish that you will most likely see at every table there, as it is the most ordered item at Lunch Room.
Some of the sweet options include the buckwheat Dutch pancakes with salted honey butter topped with whipped mascarpone and honeycomb, sourdough pancakes priced at SR46 ($12.26), salted dark chocolate babka priced at SR52, and the famous Lunch Room French toast with yuzu sabayon and poached shiso berries.
For savory lovers, Lunch Room offers a range of options too, including the baked halloumi ragu, zaatar chimmichuri with panouzzo priced at SR44, house lasagna, organic fried eggs and pastrami, sous vide poached egg with hollandaise pulled ribs on potato buckwheat blini (priced at SR88), and the Rolex-inspired Ugandan street bite.
The beverage menu comprises both hot and cold options, with some unique choices that cannot be found anywhere else.
The hot drinks selection includes double expresso, cortado, karpatti kappi, golden milk, and Lunch Room hot chocolate, perfect for this time of the year.
The cold options include frenzy mojito, ruby, samosa latte, sticky date pudding latte, cubano, dalgona, chocini, and dulce iced shake.
The drinks menu also offers cold-pressed juices in a transparent bag, including the Mexican mango, the beet blend, the turmeric tonic juice, and more.
Lunch Room is founded by Kuwaiti chef Ahmad Al-Bader, who also founded other restaurants and bakeries in Riyadh, including Habra, Gun Bun, and the Chestnut bakery. It is open daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Branch Road in Al-Takhassousi.
• For more information, visit @lunchroomksa on Instagram.
