Dubai’s food scene is at full boil after years of simmering, and some of the emirate’s 13,000 establishments are winning global awards.
In mid-September, on an artificial, palm tree-shaped island in the Persian Gulf, an avant-garde dinner service – a performance, to use another word – began around 6pm in a dimly lit restaurant on the roof of Dubai’s Nakheel Mall. Outside, the twilight call to prayer echoed off skyscrapers, construction sites and neighbourhoods filled with low white villas.
The nearly 20-course, 695 dirham (about S$257) meal began with postmodern panipuri, crispy pastry cups filled with palm hearts.
A succession of theatrical props and neo-Indian dishes followed: Cinnamon bark stuck with nuggets of baked crab nuggets. Servers deposited grilled pineapple, tomato broth and other dishes with great ceremony. A glass teapot filled with mushroom broth and mushroom noodles. Then the lights went out and “Fly Me to the Moon” filled the room. The last course – white chocolate ice cream with Emirati honey – was consumed with Frank Sinatra’s voice fading away.
This wasn’t a scene from The Menu, the new movie starring Ralph Fiennes as a chef whose dinners are filled with drama, but rather the brand new Tresind Studio restaurant enacting the nearly nightly experience.
I had to hold my applause for Himanshu Saini, the 36-year-old Indian chef who directed this spectacle. At that moment, he was heading for Madrid to attend the Best Chef Awards ceremony, where he would receive recognition for being one of the top 100 chefs on the planet.
There are now over 13,000 establishments in Dubai, more than in New York City, and local chefs like Saini are winning accolades around the world.
The first editions of three top gastronomic guides for Dubai, one of the seven city-states that make up the United Arab Emirates, were released this year.
Several of Dubai’s 13,000 restaurants are winning global accolades after years of simmering.
An avant-garde dinner service – “performance” is a better word – kicked off around 6pm in a dimly lit restaurant on the roof of Dubai’s Nakheel Mall on an artificial, palm tree-shaped island in the Persian Gulf in mid-September. Skyscrapers, construction sites and low white villas echoed the call to prayer at twilight outside.
With postmodern panipuri, crispy pastry cups filled with palm hearts, servers began the nearly 20-course, 695-dirham meal (about S$257) inside.
A succession of theatrical props and neo-Indian dishes followed: Cinnamon bark stuck with nuggets of baked crab. It was served with great ceremony as servers deposited grilled pineapple, tomato broth, and other dishes. In a glass teapot, mushroom broth was poured over mushroom noodles. Frank Sinatra’s voice faded away by the time the last course, white chocolate ice cream with Emirati honey, had been consumed. The lights went out and the music played.
There was no scene from The Menu – the new movie starring Ralph Fiennes as a chef whose dinners are full of drama – but rather the enactment of the nearly nightly experience at Tresind Studio.
A 36-year-old Indian chef named Himanshu Saini, the director of this spectacle, had to hold his applause while directing it. At that moment, he was bound for Madrid to attend the Best Chef Awards ceremony, where he would be honoured as one of the top 100 cooks on the planet.
Despite years of simmering, Dubai’s food scene is at full boil. The emirate now boasts 13,000 establishments – more than New York City – and local chefs are grabbing global recognition.
