Fitch Rates Café de la Paix 'AA'

Fitch Ratings has today assigned the Abu Dhabi-based Café de la Paix (CDLP) a Long-term Food Issuer Default Rating (FIDR) at 'AA' with a Stable Outlook.

Café de la Paix's rating reflects Fitch's view that there is an extremely high probability of good dining experiences at this local eatery. This is based on a strong history of providing excellent food, an easy-to-get-to location and relatively low prices.

The restaurant serves a variety of French and French-inspired fare, and all of it can confidently be called scrumptious, if not superb. The crèpes (both sweet and savory) will satisfy you if you're in the mood for a light meal, while the salads, sandwiches and pasta dishes are all excellent choices for a bigger sit-down dinner. The caesar chicken salad is highly recommended.

Café de la Paix, founded in 1998 in Abu Dhabi by a Sudanese woman, imports many of its ingredients from France. Surprisingly, they manage to keep it all fresh and delicious en route. It's some of the best food available in the capital in its price range (meals are around Dh50; locations are at Wahda Mall and Marina Mall). In a word: go.

Map is here:


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Fitch Assigns 'A-' Rating to Cosi

Fitch Ratings has today assigned Cosi an 'A-' rating. The Outlook is Stable.

As a lunch place, Cosi is just okay. It has soups (they change every day, but most are good), sandwiches (go for the TBM or Tuscan Pesto Chicken first), and flatbread pizza (oily, but hits the spot sometimes). The salads are passable, too.

Though Cosi has locations all over the world, the restaurant aims a step or two higher than the average slophouse, priding itself on its bread, a flat-ish roll baked up on location. Thing is, the bread ain't the best thing since, uh, sliced bread, even if it beats a Big Mac roll. Bottom line: meh.

In sum, the upside potential for Cosi's ratings is currently limited given its bad dining risk profile. Downside potential could arise from the failure to deliver good food on time.

Meals are about Dh30 a person. For delivery in Abu Dhabi, call 02 443 7605. You can also look at the menu online.

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Fitch Rates Garden Coffe[sic] Shop 'A'

Fitch Ratings has today assigned Garden Coffee[sic] Shop in Abu Dhabi an 'A' rating. While Garden is mainly a shisha place--food can be had by ordering from outside establishments--it is a justifiably popular café with people in the neighborhood despite the obvious-yet-in-the-end-charming misspelling of "coffee" on its large red-and-white sign.

Garden's shisha is not the best in the world (or in Abu Dhabi, for that matter), and shish quality can vary considerably from night to night, ranging from hard-to-draw-on with minimal smokiness to an easy inhaling experience with thick, rich smoke. Still, it is a cheap and comfortable spot: the Dh10 shish is definitely worth the price.

"Garden's shisha highlights its continued strength in challenging global eating conditions and its relative resilience, so far, to the tastiness crunch," says J.T. Fitch, Head of Emerging Vegetables in Fitch's ratings team. "Nevertheless, Garden faces a challenging near-term outlook given the variable quality of its offerings."

The shish:


Hamdi, the Garden Coffe[sic] Shop shishmaster!



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