DO Eat first
We get it, the prospect of all that food can be daunting and make you want to skip breakfast and maybe even dinner the night before. This can be a costly rooky mistake. Arriving on an empty stomach will lead to nothing but eating too much too quickly, quickly followed by clutching your stomach in pain and a nap, or leaving you susceptible to the effects of accompanying beverages. Be sure to have a piece of toast or an apple before arrival.

DO plan your brunching
Brunch is like a war: you need a strategy to attack and win. Take a stroll through the selection and decide where you will start, pacing yourself through the options instead of diving headfirst into the curry station. Start with light options before building up to a crescendo of food, glorious food. Also, remember, you’re at brunch: if you don’t want the steamed vegetables, don’t waste stomach space on them. We won’t tell your mother.

DO find a partner
The buddy system isn’t just for school kids. Brunch is a sociable occasion, at least in theory. But most of the time we’ve brunched, people only sit together at the beginning, before breaking off for various food and drink rounds. Find someone who eats at the same pace as you, has the same tastes, and similar priorities, whatever those might be.

DO have an exit strategy
Moving to the next location sounds like a good idea at 4pm while full and happy, but it often is a remarkably poorly thought-out idea. You’ll realize this the next day when the photos hit Facebook and you’re wondering exactly when your dignity exited stage left. Our fail-safe scheme? Once the bill is paid head to the bathrooms and never return.

DON’T be fashionably late
The average Doha brunch is three to four hours. Don’t waste precious brunch time being late.

DON’T go out the night before
You might think, at 2am on a Thursday night before a Friday brunch, that you are a rock star, capable of partying all night and rallying for an all-day brunch-a-thon with only a brief disco nap in between. You would be wrong. Of course, you won’t realise this until the harsh light of day finds you using the bread basket as a pillow the next day. Give yourself a bedtime.

DON’T skip the food
Don’t laugh, it’s happened to the best of us. You show up at brunch, excited to see your friends and catch up. You have a few drinks, you chat with the person next to you, have a few more drinks, notice a friend at the table next door, have a few more drinks and before you know it, it’s 3pm and all you’ve had is half a waffle from your friends plate and can no longer stand up. Make a point to get at least one plate of food amongst the chatting.

DON’T mix and match
Repeat after us: your plate is not the U.N. There is utterly no need to pair Mexican burritos with sashimi with a side of Umm Ali. Your stomach will have absolutely no idea what to do with that concoction. Silence your naughty inner child and resist this temptation – some foods were just never meant to touch.

DON’T be a speed demon
We cannot say this enough: you have almost four hours. There is absolutely no rush.