SBE Comes Home to South Beach

SBE COMES HOME TO SOUTH BEACH

Culinarians From Dubai to Baha Mar & Everywhere In-Between Take Flight to South Beach

By Nicole Ashley Schubert

When SBE, the luxurious lifestyle hospitality company, makes a disruptive statement across the globe, from Dubai to Baha Mar, with restaurants that are pushing boundaries, extraordinary is the only way to explain its impact. Changing the landscape on international gastronomy with restaurants that trigger the senses and offer innovatively inspiring dishes, SBE is presenting something boldly new to the culinary industry, with experiences that are emblazoned with personality. Between Carna by Dario Ceccini Baha Mar, Carna by Dario Ceccini Dubai, and Fi’lia Dubai led by Chef de Cuisine Sara Aqel, eating at SBE properties is now like an epic event, with every course offering new celebratory flavors and transporting diners to exotic, far-off places.

And this past fall, as international travel restrictions were lifted, these creative culinarians took flight to the SLS South Beach, for the return of the Taste of the SLS at Hyde Beach, presenting Miami diners with savory samples. They showcased the very best that their kitchens have to offer with exquisite dishes like the saffron risotto, wagyu tomahawk steak, and a 300-pound blue eyed tuna, carved fresh by Chef Katsuya Uechi, founder of Katsuya. Guests were also able to experience a scaled-up set by the Grammy Award-Winning DJ, Mark Ronson.

Metropolitan Palm Beach exclusively interviewed world renown celebrity talents Ceccini and Aqel to hear more on transforming the gastronomic landscape across the globe, the artful dishes that diners can expect to see on the menus at Carna by Dario Ceccini Baha Mar, Carna by Dario Ceccini Dubai, and Fi’lia Dubai, and coming home to South Beach this past fall to celebrate their culinary concepts.

Carna by Dario Ceccini Baha Mar | Carna by Dario Ceccini Dubai

To this celebrity chef and Netflix personality, as star of the series, “Chef’s Table,” bigger is always better when it comes to steak. An eighth-generation butcher, originally born in the small Italian village of Panzano, Ceccini is fiercely known across the world for his love letter to the art of butchery and his commitment to protecting it, while also promoting sustainable initiatives and the elimination of waste. And now helming the restaurant Carna located in both Dubai and Baha Mar, he is showing diners how serving the best prime cuts of meat is more than tradition, but about the energy, passion, and conviviality.

“It’s pure life,” said Dario Ceccini, who explains that above all, his favorite specialty at Carna is the Marinated Grilled Beef Heart Skewers. And at the Taste of The SLS, representing his luxurious chophouse, where in Dubai it sits underneath a canopy of crystal chandeliers, Ceccini was able to show his deeply rooted passion for the art of butchery and contemporary gastronomy, offering samples of his Wagyu Tomahawk Steak “of a fabulous quality” to Miami guests.

Culinary Chefs

Fi’lia Dubai

When we spoke to Aqel about running the first female-led restaurant in Dubai, this 25-year-old Chef de Cuisine said that many critics were initially skeptical. They asked questions like, “can women actually work together?” and “she’s too young to lead such a big operation.” However, these questions soon turned into keen assurances, eagerly asking, “where and when is the next opening?”

Nevertheless, though building a buzzy following among food and wine experts, Aqel is focused right now on elevating her kitchen at Fi’lia Dubai. She continues to roll out dishes that are reminiscent of her childhood in Amman, Jordan, presenting diners with a twist on Italian plates that bring her own culture to the table, like the Feta Al Forno and Seabass Feta. “I think you see it in the simplicity of the dishes,” said Aqel. “The scent of cooking at home was always about using the right ingredients and not just plenty of them. That’s how you see my influences from Jordan integrated into the menu.” And this past fall, creating a home away from home at the Taste of the SLS, Aqel offered diners a kaleidoscope of samples to try, including her beloved signature Tomatino, Pappardelle Al Ragu, and Jerusalem Artichoke pizza. “Heartwarming favorites,” they all worked in symphony together.