What is it?

BRIX is Dubai’s one and only dessert restaurant run by the talented Carmen Rueda Hernandez.

Why should you care?

If you have a sweet tooth, love chocolate and think desserts deserve their own space for exploration, development and indulgence then listen up.

BRIX is located in the Jumeirah Fishing Harbour and offers two experiences. There’s BRIX Café and BRIX Journey.

The former is your casual hangout spot for coffee, viennoiserie and cakes.

BRIX Journey on the other hand offers a unique dining adventure of cunningly crafted dishes that reflect Carmen’s pastry experience from around the world. What makes this restaurant unique is not only its dessert-only aspect, but also an experience entirely dedicated to chocolate. It is called Cocoa Novelle and is comprised of 3 dishes with a cocktail or mocktail.

Carmen used to work for big names like The Fat Duck and El Bulli before running BRIX. Plus, she placed 3rd twice in the World Chocolate Masters. So the quality, techniques and ideas that shine in these dishes are extraordinary.

The chocolate journey starts you off with a mocktail and introduces you to the different ideas of chocolate indulgence according to Carmen.

Dish number one is a crispy parcel slash dumpling with chocolate ganache. You eat it in one bite, otherwise you get to share the rest with the dry-cleaner afterwards. The idea behind it is that as a chef you never have a chance to just enjoy chocolate ganache right then and there when you are making it. It usually disappears into a container and emerges later for service. This dumpling comes straight out of the oven and the chocolate within is lovely and warm.

The second mini-course is a bruschetta topped with a quenelle of dark chocolate and sea salt. Utterly delicious!

Number three in the trilogy required more time to assemble and comprises a chocolate cake, chocolate disc, nibs, caramel and ice cream. It’s refreshing, has crunch and chocolate written all over it. Divine!

Carmen also told us that she learned more about chocolate from a pastry chef friend in Vietnam. The chocolate brand may ring a bell, it’s Maison Marou and her friend is Stephanie Aubriot who runs the pastry department over there.

On her visit at the cacao plantations Carmen learned about the entire cacao production process. She is one of few chefs who have a real connection to where cacao comes from and how it is grown and transformed into chocolate.

We visited BRIX in March 2023 and had a wonderful experience. The chocolate tasting journey in itself is worthy of a long stop-over in Dubai.

Let me know if you ate at BRIX and please share your thoughts in the comments below.

I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Robin