These are no ordinary brunches. The City of Gold is one of several global cities with big expat populations where the favoured weekend pastime is a ritzy brunch that lasts several hours, and offers gourmet buffets with unlimited champagne. Usually served up at five-star hotels and the city’s most upscale restaurants, these events include live entertainment and can cost a pretty penny, some touching $800 per person.

Many professionals living abroad have high disposable incomes and live in places without extended family or old friendships. In global cities with large expat populations like Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mumbai, these lavish brunches offer a natural platform to meet people, network, see and be seen. And in cities like Dubai, peerless when it comes to brunch indulgence, the hybrid meal is also a way to skirt the region’s strict alcohol laws with most venues termed “safe havens” for alcohol consumption.

Moveable feast

Monica Metzger, an Italian who moved to Dubai about 10 years ago and works in the hospitality industry, says brunches have become more elaborate in the time she has lived there.