Dubai has a new bakehouse with an unusually short menu. SHUKR began online ordering on September 10, 2026, offering a Filipino-inspired ensaymada and a signature coffee made with cheese. One bake and one drink make up its opening offer.
The concept began with an ensaymada brought back from the Philippines by a friend. After trying versions available in Dubai, the team behind SHUKR decided to develop its own. The pastry became the focus of months of recipe testing, while the coffee was created to accompany it.
A Dubai food guide published on launch day identifies Panchali Mahendra and Rashed Yakhlef as co-founders. It also names Carol Contreras, Group Head Pastry Chef at Atelier House Hospitality, as part of the team involved in developing the recipe. SHUKR’s compact menu puts that work on display: rather than introducing a range of baked goods, it opened with the ensaymada that inspired the business.
What SHUKR Is Serving
Ensaymada is a soft, rich bake associated with the Philippines, commonly finished with butter, sugar and grated cheese. Its sweet and savoury topping is a large part of its appeal. For Dubai customers unfamiliar with it, the closest quick description may be a sweet bread, although the texture and generous topping can make it feel equally at home as a pastry or dessert.
SHUKR has made its own version the centre of the bakehouse. The team’s account of the project describes months of research and development before launch, with repeated tastings and considerable attention paid to getting the cheese element right.
The second item is SHUKR’s signature cheese coffee. The drink was developed alongside the ensaymada and is intended to complement it. Its presence gives the two-item menu a clear pairing: a buttery, cheese-topped bake served with a coffee that also incorporates cheese.
Available non-social coverage confirms the broad description of the drink, but does not establish its exact recipe or how the cheese is added. Customers looking for those details should consult SHUKR’s current ordering menu.
The Story Behind the Ensaymada
SHUKR’s founders have shared a specific starting point for the business. About six months before the launch, a friend returned from the Philippines with a box containing an ensaymada. One member of the team found it difficult to settle on a category for the bake: bread, pastry or dessert. The impression it made was much clearer.
That first taste prompted a search for ensaymada in Dubai. According to the team’s account, the versions they tried did not recreate the experience of the one their friend had brought back. Developing a recipe themselves became the next step.
The story gives useful context to SHUKR’s decision to launch with a single bake. The ensaymada was not selected from an existing collection of pastries to fill out a new menu. It was the reason the team began working on the bakehouse.
SHUKR has described the development process as lasting several months. That period brought together its founders and bakery and pastry team around one product, followed by the creation of a coffee designed to sit beside it. The result is a Dubai-made version of a Filipino favourite, shaped by the memory of one particular first bite.
Why the Menu Has Only Two Items
New bakeries often introduce themselves through variety. SHUKR has taken a narrower approach: one signature ensaymada and one signature coffee. It gives customers a straightforward introduction to the concept and makes the pairing the main event.
SHUKR was mentioned before opening in a guide to new bakeries in Dubai. What’s On described it as an ensaymada project connected to the team behind 11 Woodfire and planned to operate from the restaurant’s back kitchen. The guide was published ahead of the September launch, so its “coming soon” listing is background rather than current ordering information.
The two-item menu should not be mistaken for a promise that SHUKR will never expand. The team has introduced the ensaymada and coffee as its opening offer; it has not confirmed whether other products will follow. For now, their limited selection is the most distinctive part of the launch after the cheese coffee itself.
It also changes how customers approach a first order. There is no need to choose between several pastry styles or search for the drink intended to go with the bake. SHUKR has already made that pairing central to its concept.
Why Cheese Appears in Both Items
Cheese is familiar on many Filipino ensaymadas, where it balances the sweetness of sugar and the richness of butter. That combination may be less familiar to customers encountering the pastry for the first time, but it explains the flavour direction of SHUKR’s menu.
The cheese coffee extends the idea into a drink. SHUKR says it spent time developing the beverage to accompany its ensaymada, rather than treating coffee as an unrelated addition. Launch coverage describes the drink as specially created to bring out the best in the bake.
How that tastes will be for customers to judge. The available reporting establishes the pairing and its intended role, without supporting claims about the precise flavour, texture or preparation of the coffee. What can be said is that SHUKR has built its opening menu around a recurring ingredient and a specific way of enjoying the two items together.
What the Name SHUKR Means to Its Founders
The founders explain SHUKR as a reference to gratitude for what they have been able to build in the UAE. They also associate the sound of the name with shakkar, a word connected to sweetness in the languages they grew up with.
Those two ideas give the name a connection to both the team and its product. Gratitude speaks to the people and place behind the launch; sweetness points to the bakehouse’s focus. The founders have also noted that SHUKR’s introduction came during a birthday month, adding a personal reason for choosing September to share the project.
Those details belong to the founders’ account of the launch. They do not change the practical news for customers: SHUKR is now taking orders in Dubai for its ensaymada and cheese coffee.
A Filipino Favourite in Dubai’s Pastry Scene
Dubai’s bakery scene includes businesses built around pastries and baking traditions from many parts of the world. Its interest in the craft also extends to events such as Salon du Chocolat Dubai. SHUKR adds an ensaymada-led concept to that landscape, bringing a well-loved Filipino bake into a new Dubai offering.
The Filipino connection is central to the story, but SHUKR is not presenting the pastry as something unchanged. Its team developed a recipe of its own, then built a cheese coffee to serve alongside it. That makes the opening as much about the choices of this particular bakehouse as it is about introducing ensaymada to readers who may not know it yet.
How to Order SHUKR in Dubai
SHUKR began online ordering on September 10, 2026. Launch coverage lists Deliveroo, Careem and noon as delivery options. Information supplied for this article also mentions SHUKR’s own ordering portal and pickup behind 11 Woodfire. Customers should check the current order page for available delivery areas and collection instructions before travelling to pick up an order.
The supplied launch information lists an ensaymada at AED 18, a box of six at AED 110 and a box of nine at AED 160. Prices and availability should be checked against the live menu, as they can differ between ordering platforms. A verified non-social listing for the cheese coffee’s price was not available.
SHUKR’s launch offers Dubai customers a simple way to try the concept that prompted its creation: an ensaymada inspired by one brought from the Philippines, paired with the coffee the team developed for it.
