Shai Salon, Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach

The Shai Salon at the Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach serves the afternoon tea Dubai’s pastry people talk about: a seasonal French-school tier with Middle Eastern flavours, scones with date jam and the Gulf in the window.

The salon is a lounge under a painted ceiling with tall windows onto the beach. The tea is built around the season: sandwiches, scones with date jam and clotted cream, a pastry tier that changes every few months with saffron, pistachio, rose and cardamom in French forms; the tea list includes Arabic teas and a mint tea poured from height.

It can be booked online for the same week and is the calm alternative to the Burj Al Arab spectacle.