Bakery Delivery to Downtown Dubai: Bread for an Evening In

Farah has one kitchen, in Nadd Hessa, Dubai Silicon Oasis, and no shop, counter or branch in Downtown Dubai. What we offer Downtown is delivery: bread, focaccia, cake loaves and cookies, baked to order in Silicon Oasis and brought to your door in the window you choose. This page is about one use of that in particular: an evening with people over at home.

The short version: order the day before, change the delivery window to tomorrow 3–6 pm, and the bread is due in the afternoon, ahead of your guests. Keep it out of the fridge, warm it just before you sit down, and finish with a cake loaf and a plate of cookies.

Why the afternoon window suits an evening in

Checkout offers four delivery windows: tomorrow 7–10 am, tomorrow 3–6 pm, the day after tomorrow 7–10 am, and next Saturday 9 am–12 pm. The morning window is preselected, so for a dinner tomorrow evening, switch it to the afternoon before you pay.

That window does two things for a host. The bread spends fewer hours on your counter before dinner than it would after a morning delivery, which matters most for crusty bread: a baguette has one good day, and the less of it spent waiting, the better it eats. And the bag arrives while you are still getting the flat ready, so you can unpack it, sort it and leave it alone until the oven goes on.

If the evening is further off, work back from it. For a dinner the day after tomorrow, take that morning's 7–10 am window; for a Saturday dinner later in the week, next Saturday, 9 am–12 pm. Everything is baked to order for the day it is due, so a morning delivery is still bread baked for your day; it simply waits longer, and the keeping notes below matter more.

There is no same-day delivery. If the guests are coming tonight, the earliest we can bring anything is tomorrow morning, so this is an evening you plan a day ahead.

Bread for the table: focaccia and a sourdough

Bread at a dinner does two jobs: something to tear while people talk, and something to slice alongside the food. Focaccia covers the first, a sourdough the second.

Focaccia to start. Our three focaccias are 12 AED each, all made with extra virgin olive oil. The Focaccia · Rosemary & Olive Oil is the one to put out with a dish of olive oil for dipping. The Focaccia · Cherry Tomato and the Focaccia · Mushroom carry their own toppings and want little beside a green salad. Order one of each, warm them, and cut them into fingers on a board, so guests can take a piece without a plate. Our focaccia guide explains how each topping behaves.

A sourdough to slice. The Country Sourdough Loaf at 25 AED is our signature loaf, slow-fermented for over 24 hours, with a caramelised crust that is best on day one. If the meal suits something slimmer, the Sourdough Baguette at 15 AED is mostly crisp crust around a light crumb, and at its best on the day it arrives. The rest of the range is in our sourdough collection.

Do not worry if the bread is cool when it arrives. A loaf goes on setting as it cools, which is why cutting one hot compresses the crumb; a cooled loaf has finished setting, and you add the warmth back just before serving.

Keeping bread good from delivery to dinner

A few hours on the kitchen counter is not a long wait, but how you spend them decides whether the crust is still crisp when you sit down.

• Unpack as soon as it arrives. Inside any bag or box, moisture from the crumb softens the crust.
• Crusty bread in paper or a cloth, never plastic. Leave the country loaf whole on a board and do not cut it until it is on the table. The baguette goes into a paper bag or a clean cloth.
• Focaccia in paper or under a cloth, at room temperature. The olive oil in the crumb means it holds better than a lean loaf.
• Nothing in the fridge. Bread stales faster at fridge temperature than on the counter.
• Keep it all away from a sunny window and the air-conditioning vent. The sun warms it, and the vent dries any cut face.

Put the cookies in an airtight tin, crisp and soft ones apart. Our guide to storing bread in Dubai goes through every loaf in more detail.

Warming it just before you serve

Warming bread through softens the crumb and crisps the crust again, for a while. Put the oven on when the first guests arrive, and put the bread in when you are nearly ready to sit down. Ovens vary, so check early.

• Country loaf: wet the crust with a little water and warm it whole at 180–200°C, a little longer than the five to eight minutes a smaller crusty bread needs. Slice it at the table.
• Baguette: dampen the crust, then five to seven minutes straight on the oven rack at 200°C.
• Focaccia: a few drops of water on top, then four to six minutes at about 200°C, until the top crisps again.
• Cookies: most are best at room temperature, so this is optional. For a warm one after the main course, three or four minutes at 150–160°C softens the fat and the chocolate again.

Eat warmed bread within the hour, because the trick works once, and keep crusty bread out of the microwave, which leaves the crust tough as it cools.

To finish: cake loaves and cookies

Our four cake loaves are 35 AED each, and a loaf suits a dinner at home better than you might expect: there is no cream to keep cold and nothing to assemble, and it slices cleanly on a board. Cut slices of about 1.5 cm so they stand up on a plate.

• The Marble Cake Loaf, with vanilla and chocolate swirled through one loaf, is the safe choice for a table whose tastes you do not know, children included.
• The Classic Lemon Butter Cake Loaf is the one to serve after a rich meal.
• The Double Chocolate & Coconut Cake Loaf is the rich one, built for a dessert plate. With the Banana & Pecan it completes the four, and our marble cake guide compares them all.

Cut only what you serve and press cling film against the cut face. Kept whole in an airtight box at room temperature, the marble and lemon loaves stay good for three to four days, so what is left keeps for the days after.

Our six cookies are 80 g each, large enough to halve for a dessert plate, and they sit in our cookies and bars collection. A mix of textures works best: the fudgy Double Chocolate Chip Cookie at 18 AED, the thick, buttery Lotus & White Chocolate Chip Cookie at 16 AED and the Chocolate Crinkle Cookie at 14 AED, with its crackled crust. Our cookie guide sorts all six by texture.

What we do not make

We do not make custom, decorated, birthday or occasion cakes, and there are no desserts to order beyond what the shop lists: no plated desserts, tarts or cream cakes. If the evening needs a cake with a name on it, that will have to come from elsewhere, and our cake loaves and cookies can sit beside it. There are no drinks in our shop either, so the coffee and tea are yours.

Our kitchen handles wheat, gluten, eggs, dairy, nuts, peanuts, soy, sesame and seeds, and we cannot guarantee that any item is free from traces of them. Several of the sweet things contain nuts or peanuts by design, among them the banana and pecan loaf and the pistachio and peanut butter cookies. If a guest has a food allergy or intolerance, ask us before you order, and do not rely on a product description alone.

An example bag for a dinner for six

• Country Sourdough Loaf, 25 AED
• Sourdough Baguette, 15 AED
• Focaccia · Rosemary & Olive Oil, Cherry Tomato and Mushroom, 12 AED each
• Marble Cake Loaf, 35 AED
• Double Chocolate Chip, Lotus & White Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Crinkle cookies, 18, 16 and 14 AED

That comes to 159 AED at today's prices, over the 150 AED mark, so delivery is free. Leave out the baguette and the bag drops to 144 AED, and the 20 AED fee applies. Check the bag before you pay in case a price has moved. Any sourdough left over becomes the next morning's toast.

Getting the order to a Downtown flat

Downtown Dubai is a central district of high-rise apartment towers, hotels and offices, so the details that matter are the building and the entrance. At checkout, put the building name in the address line and the floor and flat number in the apartment field, and drop the map pin on the entrance a driver can reach; the order cannot go through without a pin. Someone needs to be at home during the window to take the bag in, because fresh items left uncollected cannot be replaced.

Otherwise, delivery to Downtown works exactly as it does anywhere else in Dubai: 20 AED on a bag under 150 AED and free from 150 AED, counted before any discount code, with the same four windows. No area is quicker or cheaper than another. Checkout is a single page with no account needed, and you pay on PayPal's page with a PayPal balance or a credit or debit card; prices are shown in AED and settled in US dollars. The details are on our delivery page and in our guide to fresh bread delivery in Dubai, and our Silicon Oasis kitchen is where all of it is baked.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a Farah Bakery shop in Downtown Dubai?

No. Farah has a single kitchen, in Nadd Hessa, Dubai Silicon Oasis, and no shop, counter or branch in Downtown. We bake there to order and deliver to Downtown addresses. Collection from the Silicon Oasis kitchen is possible only by arrangement with us over WhatsApp.

Can I order today for guests coming this evening?

No. There is no same-day delivery, and the earliest window is tomorrow morning. For a dinner tomorrow, order today and choose the tomorrow 3–6 pm window, so the bread is due in the afternoon, before your guests.

Which delivery window should I choose for a dinner party?

For a dinner tomorrow evening, choose the tomorrow 3–6 pm window, changing it from the preselected morning one at checkout. For a dinner the day after tomorrow, take that day's 7–10 am window, and for a Saturday later in the week, next Saturday 9 am–12 pm. Keep the bread out of the fridge until you warm it.

Can you make a birthday or decorated cake for my dinner?

No. We do not make custom, decorated, birthday or occasion cakes. Our sweet range is what the shop lists, including four cake loaves at 35 AED each and six cookies, all baked to order. They sit comfortably beside a celebration cake from elsewhere.

Does delivery to Downtown Dubai cost more than elsewhere in the city?

No. The fee is the same everywhere in Dubai: 20 AED on a bag under 150 AED, and free from 150 AED, counted before any discount code. Downtown gets the same four delivery windows as every other area, with no faster or cheaper option.

Order for your evening in

Start with the table bread: a Country Sourdough Loaf and a Focaccia · Rosemary & Olive Oil. Add a Marble Cake Loaf and a few cookies, then browse the shop for the rest. Order the day before, switch the window to tomorrow 3–6 pm, and we will bake everything for the day it is due.