Shakespeare & Co: The Victorian Café Returns with a New Abu Dhabi Chapter

A familiar brand starting again

Shakespeare & Co has been part of the UAE café landscape since the original concept was established in Dubai in 2001, but the current Abu Dhabi story is effectively a relaunch. Shakespeare Middle East says the brand is now operating under fresh ownership with a renewed focus, while preserving the theatrical Victorian-inspired aesthetic that made it instantly recognisable. Its current flagship is at Bawabat Al Sharq Mall. That matters because older lists can suggest a wider branch network that no longer reflects the present business. For Simply Abu Dhabi, the correct article is therefore about continuity and reset rather than pretending every legacy location still exists.

Comfort food plus a serious sweet counter

The menu remains deliberately broad. The mall describes a massive international selection designed to evolve with changing tastes, while the brand’s current site shows colourful drinks, café staples and an in-house patisserie programme. Handmade chocolates and French pastries have always been an important part of the concept, and they remain useful reasons to visit outside a conventional lunch or dinner. The appeal is not culinary minimalism; it is choice. This is the sort of restaurant where breakfast, pasta, a sandwich, cake and coffee can all make sense depending on the time and the group, with the decorative room providing a sense of occasion that is unusual for a casual mall café.

The Bawabat Al Sharq flagship is the live address

Current first-party information is unusually clear. Shakespeare Middle East calls Bawabat Al Sharq Mall its present flagship, and the mall lists the restaurant on the ground floor with daily hours from 10am to midnight and telephone +971 2 449 0407. That makes this one of the easier database records to clean: keep the brand, keep the Abu Dhabi feature, but anchor it specifically to the live Bawabat Al Sharq location rather than to a vague citywide footprint. The best way to use it is as a relaxed all-day meeting place – family lunch, coffee, dessert or an easy dinner – with the Victorian décor and patisserie counter supplying the personality.

Practical details

Location: Ground Floor, Bawabat Al Sharq Mall, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Cuisine: International casual dining, café and patisserie
Telephone: +971 2 449 0407
Hours: Daily 10:00am-midnight
Editorial status: Open – current flagship location