If you are eating out five or six nights a week in the Sanaiya, you are spending more than you think. A plate and a roti most evenings comes to somewhere between AED 250 and AED 400 a month, and that is before the mornings.
A monthly mess is a flat rate for the same food, paid once at the start of the month. In Ajman the going rate sits between AED 170 and AED 350 for one meal a day depending on the kitchen and the cuisine, and between AED 320 and AED 500 for all three. Dubai runs higher. Our own rates are AED 200, AED 350 and AED 450 for one, two and three meals a day.
What the rate should include, and what it often does not
A cheap mess is usually cheap for a reason, and the reason is almost always one of these three.
Reheating. A kitchen cooking one large batch on Sunday and warming it through until Wednesday can charge very little. You can taste it by the second day. Ask what time the pot goes on and whether it is cooked that morning.
Rice as filler. A plate that is four fifths rice costs a fraction of one with a proper portion of salan. Ask what a serving actually looks like, or better, go and look at one.
No breakfast. Plenty of "three meal" plans quietly mean lunch, dinner and something small. If breakfast matters to you, ask specifically what it is on a Tuesday.
Our rotation is published in full on the mess menu page precisely so none of this needs asking. It does not change week to week, which means you can look at it once in August and know what Thursday dinner is in November.
The week, as it actually runs
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Chana paratha | Vegetable | Aloo chicken |
| Tuesday | Vegetable | Chicken palak | Biryani |
| Wednesday | Anda chana | Vegetable | Beef pulao |
| Thursday | Chana paratha | Daal | Chicken qorma |
| Friday | Aloo paratha | Curry pakora | Daal |
| Saturday | Anda chana | Daal chawal | Vegetable |
| Sunday | Mutton paya | Vegetable | Chicken qorma |
It is the same kitchen, the same morning and the same tandoor as the à la carte menu. The mess is not a separate, cheaper operation running in a back room.
Working out whether it is worth it for you
Do the arithmetic on your own habits rather than on ours.
One meal a day, AED 200. That is about AED 6.70 a meal over a thirty day month. Buying the same plate off the weekly menu at AED 8 for a small portion comes to roughly AED 240. The mess is cheaper and it includes the option of taking breakfast instead of dinner.
Two meals a day, AED 350. About AED 5.80 a meal. This is the one most people take, because it covers the shift and the evening and leaves the third meal free.
Three meals a day, AED 450. Five dirhams a plate. If you are eating every meal out, nothing else in the Sanaiya gets close on a per plate basis.
The honest caveat: if you eat with us three or four times a week rather than most days, paying by the plate off the weekly menu is cheaper than any mess plan. We would rather tell you that than sell you a subscription you will not use.
Joining takes about a minute
Message us the plan and the date you want to start, pay for the month at the counter in cash or by card, and come and eat. There is no joining fee, no deposit and nothing to sign. Eat in, or collect it boxed on your way past.
The kitchen is on Amman Street, Ajman Industrial Area 2, near Nesto Hypermarket, open every day from 7:30 am to midnight.
WhatsApp 050 720 8707 and tell us one, two or three meals a day.
Common questions
- How much does a monthly mess cost in Ajman?
- Across Ajman and Sharjah the going rate is roughly AED 170 to AED 350 a month for one meal a day, and AED 320 to AED 500 for three. Zafran Kitchen in Ajman Industrial Area 2 charges AED 200 for one meal a day, AED 350 for two and AED 450 for all three, per person, per month.
- What is included in the Zafran Kitchen mess?
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner on a fixed weekly rotation that does not change week to week. Sunday breakfast is mutton paya, Tuesday dinner is biryani and Wednesday dinner is beef pulao. There is no joining fee, no deposit and no contract.
- Can I pay for one month and then stop?
- Yes. Mess rates are per person per month, payable in advance, with nothing locked in. Most people start on the two meal plan and move up or down after the first month.
- Can I collect the mess, or do I have to eat in?
- Either. Most people on the mess eat at the table, but you are welcome to collect at the counter instead, and plenty of the shift trade does exactly that on the way past. We do not deliver, so it is one or the other.
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Hungry now
Order it instead of reading about it
The kitchen is open every day from half past seven in the morning until midnight.