Gelato

Homemade gelato under bright display lighting is the whole idea here. Gelato is the dessert café inside Mandarin Oriental, Doha, in Msheireb Downtown Doha, and the hotel keeps the brief narrow: gelato, an array of desserts, and a counter built to be looked at before it is eaten.

Homemade gelato leads the counter

The gelato is made in house, and the case is where a visit starts. Around it sits a spread of desserts, with the kitchen leaning toward flavours meant to surprise rather than a fixed roster of classics. Presentation is part of the product: colour, arrangement and display do as much work as the recipes.

Read the counter in that order. Take the gelato first, then let the surrounding displays decide the second item. The selection is meant to be chosen by eye, from what is in front of you.

A playful room in Msheireb Downtown Doha

The design is deliberately childlike, with colourful decor and decorative sweets that the hotel says are meant to bring out the child in everyone. It is a dessert stop rather than a formal dining room, and it works as a pause in a walk through Msheireb Downtown Doha as easily as a stop for hotel guests.

Desserts travel, too. The counter is set up for eating in and for taking home, so a box of sweets is as normal an order as a scoop at the table.

Order the gelato first

Start with the gelato, which is what the venue is named for and built around. Then add one of the plated or displayed desserts if the case points you toward something more elaborate.

Keep expectations aimed at dessert. This is a hotel dessert counter with gelato at its centre, not a specialty coffee bar or a savoury café. For a quick stop, one scoop from the display does the job. For a longer pause, a sweet after the scoop keeps the playful spirit the room is going for.