DUBAI

NAMMOS DUBAI A glamourous Mykonos hotspot lands in the Emirates I n the original Nammos in Mykonos, celebrities from all over the world – including Mariah Carey, Valentino, Queen Latifah, Hugh Jackman and Leo DiCaprio – regularly swan in, eat lunch and party day-to-night by the beach. With this kind of clientele swinging through the doors, it made sense to bring the brand to Dubai, a ‘twin seaside town’ if ever there was one.

Tucked next to the main entrance of the Four Seasons Resort Dubai, Nammos has its own private beach, terrace and restaurant. Breeze past the rather frosty reception served by the trio of pursedlipped hosts (why upscale restaurants insist on hiring them remains a mystery) and head inside. There, swathes of white linen invite you to sink into a whitewashed timber chair and hunker down for

the day. The sunshine streams through the tall windows, large green plants provide a burst of colour and smartly dressed – and far friendlier – waiters dash around the restaurant with intent.

The menu is presented with pride, along with a breadbasket and olive oil. The friendly sommelier offers expert tips from a stellar list – anyone for a 2011 Chateau La Mission at Dhs24,450 a bottle? True to the Greek provenance, the menu exudes a lightness of touch that takes you to the Mediterranean. The burrata (Dhs149) with four kinds of tomatoes, avo, grilled asparagus and olive oil is a classic, creamy start. From the raw range, the line-caught fish of the day carpaccio (Dhs129) with sea urchin, seaweed and finger lime is beautifully tangy, while the unique aubergine mille-feuille (Dhs86) is a towering masterpiece layered with feta cream cheese.

The spaghetti with shrimp, scallop and basil pesto (Dhs149) is firm to the bite with a delicate hint of garlic and pine nuts. Main courses are perfectly fresh and

suitably dramatic, served on enormous platters (for the fresh fish) or wooden boards (for the meat), with highlights being the world-renowned Kobe beef (starting at Dhs486/100g) and the fish of the day (up to Dhs620/kg), both of which are filleted or carved tableside.

No surprises on the sweet menu with profiterole,

pavlova and ice cream. The chocolate mousse may be a little light

and fluffy for pedants, but by this stage you’ve been well serenaded by live singers, and generally swept up in the glory of it all that you’ll either be dancing or slumped heavily in your chair. Come with a frisky credit card and give those celebrities a run for their money. a Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach, daily 12.30pm to 12.30am. Tel: (058) 1210000. nammos.gr

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KIMPO Will Korean fried chicken be enough to tempt residents to the busy end of Sheikh Zayed Road?

If you ask us, there’s a time and a place for fried chicken; the time is ‘always’, and the place is now Sheikh Zayed Road. Kimpo, a new Korean street food-inspired restaurant has opened at Conrad Dubai, in the street-level location once occupied by Little Black Door. Inside the restobar, it’s neon-heavy. There’s a huge fluorescent Kimpo sign on the ceiling, intermixed with colourful graffiti and TV screens playing K-pop on repeat. It’s loud and quirky but actually a lot of fun, too.

The half-page food menu is dominated by Korean fried chicken and diners need to first choose a flavour (spicy barbecue or signature barbecue) and then pick from wings (Dhs32 for six pieces, or just Dhs36 for 12) or drumsticks (Dhs34 for three

pieces). Korean king of the crisp at Kimpo is Chef Lee, who breads the chicken in a special way, making the skin of the chicken mixed with the batter incredibly crunchy and flavourful. In addition to the customordered poultry, there’s a range of Asian specialities, each with a twist, including Korean bulgogi sloppy Joe (Dhs52) with kimchi and homemade barbecue sauce; an East-meets-West take on tacos (Dhs58)

served with slow-cooked minced meat and Korean pickled onions; and Kimpo pizza (Dhs68) with salmon, kimchi mayonnaise, and yuzu jelly.

The food across the board is inventive rather than gimmicky. Sure, Asian-style pizza isn’t a new concept but the Kimpo version was sublime with a crispy base, paper-thin layer of fresh salmon, served with sesame seeds and seaweed. The comforting Korean kimchi fried rice (Dhs40) is a good vegan option (and great value, too), served in a large bowl with several hunks of lightly breaded tofu, but the star(s) of the show are deservedly the fried chicken. Salty, battered, and wondrously juicy –we must have ploughed through two portions of the boneless option before even looking up. Would we return? Let’s just say that for fried chicken, Kimpo is high up on the pecking order. a Conrad Dubai, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, Tue to Sun 5pm to 2am. Tel: (04) 444 7444. @kimpodxb

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What’s inside the Opus? From a stunning design-led hotel to glorious new restaurants, here’s what you’ll find inside the magnificent Opus designed by the late Zaha Hadid…

The Maine Land Brasserie This third installment of one of Dubai’s favourite restaurant brands is The Maine Land Brasserie, which occupies the ground floor of The Opus with a capacity for around 100 guests. Similar to the brand’s existing restaurants, inside you’ll find a glorious focal-point bar, an exhibition kitchen complete with a charcoal grill (a first for The Maine), and interiors awash with rich materials, floor to ceiling windows, dark textures and luxurious tiles. The modern American cuisine will include many of your Maine favourites, as well as plenty of exciting new offerings. q themaineoysterbar.com/themaine-land-brasserie-businessbay OPENING SOON

Central A cosmopolitan tapas bar, with heavy Spanish influence, Central serves as the all-day dining restaurant for ME Dubai guests. Guests will be treated to an exciting selection of Spanish dishes, including plenty of fresh meat and fish. q melia.com

Roka Roka Dubai is the sister restaurant to Zuma. Located on the first floor of ME Dubai in The Opus it’s the first international export for the venue, with four already open in London. The cuisine is similar to its overseas siblings, but on a more laidback and affordable scale. The restaurant itself is spacious, with natural influences and an outdoor terrace with Burj Khalifa views. Pull up a chair at the robata kitchen for a front-row seat to the action in the kitchen. q rokarestaurant.com/restaurant/roka-dubai

ME Dubai The much-anticipated ME Dubai hotel, a branch of the world-renowned Melia hotels, finally opened its doors in Business Bay last month. The 93-room property inside The Opus is an asymmetric architectural marvel designed by the late Zaha Hadid. All of the furniture within the hotel was also either personally selected or designed by the architect in her last project before she passed. The entire hotel, from the lobby to the spa and the rooms has a hyper-modern, futuristic design in Hadid’s signature curvaceous style. q mebymelia.com

MORE TO COME… Once complete, there’ll be a total of 15 dining and entertainment outlets within The Opus. Watch this space.

The Maine Man

Meet Joey Ghazal, the man behind one of Dubai’s favourite restaurant brands

The Maine Oyster Bar & Grill, The Maine Street Eatery and now The Maine Land Brasserie – have you been surprised by the brand’s success? Yeah you know, we’re delighted of course. We’re proud to be one of the very few homegrown brands that has grown to multiple units. We have thought very carefully about the areas we would open in to create an even spread around town, thinking about how we can give each location its own twist. You’ve been in the industry for over 20 years. What inspired you to launch The Maine in Dubai in the first place? My father moved here in 1975. I grew up here. I went to Dubai College. I went to primary school here. My family has been part of the Dubai fabric since before there was really anything going on. When I returned to Dubai in 2013, I spent a lot of time looking around and seeing what was missing. I was excited by pockets of homegrown concepts emerging but I realised that there wasn’t anything going on in terms of licensed casual dining. The market was primarily driven by developers, you know, big money guys who import big brands from abroad. I felt like the city was missing a brasserie company – somewhere where no matter which location you go to, you know what you’re going to get: a value-based experience that’s authentic, activated with great events, with great quality food and friendly service. How have you made each location differ? The Streetery has more of a neighbourhood feel with a kids’ play area. The Maine Oyster Bar has a coastal, more nautical feel, and the Land Brasserie is focused on inland Maine – a bit warmer but slightly moodier. I think people will be surprised by how we’ve continued the narrative of the brand. Tell us more about the new restaurant. Well, people have been asking for a Maine Downtown for a very long time. We thought about the DIFC, and Sheikh

Zayed Road, but honestly the Opus is so iconic. There’s a natural beauty to the space, the triple-height ceiling, and the cathedral-esque windows are so unique that I knew it was where we needed to be. We are still maintaining the casual brasserie feel, but there are a few special elements including a large charcoal grill that’s part of our exhibition kitchen. When you say brasserie, what do you mean? For us, a brasserie crosses all generational lines. It doesn’t matter what the occasion is, whether it’s a business meeting or a date, a family gathering or party, we welcome them all. We love it when people come to celebrate their birthdays. We are one of the few venues where we really love groups. Many restaurants don’t have the facilities or logistics to handle that. What’s on the menu? We have a larger focus on game and meat. We’ve introduced dry-aged beef that we don’t do in the other outlets. You’ll find different varieties of steaks and chops and we want guests to customise them to the way they want. What would you suggest ordering? We have an amazing Irish Angus sirloin. I love it cut about an inch and a half, marinated in Montreal steak spice (that only we import) and when it’s cooked on charcoal it makes all the difference. You’ll see. Any plans to expand internationally? Yes! We are opening a Maine in London, which we hope will open at the end of the year. We’re very excited about that, too. We really believe that our brand has legs. It’s the restaurant that’s at the forefront of people’s minds when they don’t necessarily know what they want. People say “Let’s just go to The Maine, they’ll take care of us.” That’s a great feeling. q themaine.ae

NASSAU Has celebrity chef Silvena Rowe hit a hole in one at Jumeirah Golf Estates?

Silvena Rowe may be best known for her virtuous, guilt-free fare at Omnia Gourmet, but her latest Dubai opening shows she’s not adverse to the pleasures of the flesh.

The clubhouse at Jumeirah Golf Estates is the polished setting for Nassau, a Medleaning restaurant that has luxurious comfort at its core. The dining room acts as an extension of the living rooms of the golf estate’s well-heeled inhabitants, with toffee-coloured leather couches, graceful archways, and lush greenery at every turn. Rowe’s menu is equally cossetting. Perhaps it’s a case of playing to her market, but the millionaire’s burger (Dhs125) with a self-described slab of foie gras is about as far from guilt-free dining as you could possibly get.

We skip the heft of the burger, instead following the lead of Nassau’s switched-on maître d, who helpfully steers us towards some of Rowe’s lighter highlights.

First up is a dish of whipped labneh (Dhs65). Laced with black truffle and topped with a colourful jumble of roasted carrots, sweet potatoes and beets, it’s earthy, creamy and satisfying.

The second starter of sauteed king prawns with chilli, garlic and herbs (Dhs65) has a lilting Southeast Asian accent, with lemongrass and kaffir lime lingering in the background.

You’ll want to scoop up every last drop of the aromatic sauce, but you may wish to bypass the dry toast fingers it’s accompanied by in favour of the excellent bread basket served on arrival, loaded with five different loaves on our visit.

It’s a homey touch that speaks to Rowe’s locally sourced, handcrafted ethos. Mains continue to show her dexterity when it comes to crossing borders and cuisines, melding Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Asian flavours with aplomb.

A copper pot of Ottoman-style lamb shoulder (Dhs125) has been cooked for 48 hours until it falls apart with a gentle nudge of the knife. Poached organic salmon (Dhs155) is served in a frothy, vivid green Thai broth redolent with lemongrass, coriander and ginger.

The quality of the ingredients is clear, but portions aren’t huge, so if you’ve just walked in after 18 holes, you might want to order a couple of sides for your table.

While the savoury courses were exceptional, we were slightly less wowed by a salted caramel and chocolate ganache tart (Dhs49), which suffered from a toothick crust that was a tad underdone. Instead, zero in on the Eton mess (Dhs39), a light, luscious combination of crunchy meringue, pillowy whipped cream, berry sauce and fresh berries. Unless you’re a local, Nassau takes some seeking, but we wager you’ll be glad you made the journey to Rowe’s latest masterstroke. a The Club House, Jumeirah Golf Estates, daily, noon to 10.30pm. Tel: (04) 3601816. dubaigolf.com/nassau

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Brunch & Cake Dubai Brekkie dishes that are as pretty as a picture, but do they taste as good as they look? BREAKFAST MONTH O F T H E BREAKFAST BOOKMARK T O

In an age when taking pictures of food has become the new norm, cafes are trying harder than ever to become the next viral food trend to hit the internet. One that’s sure to impress your followers is Brunch & Cake, a Barcelona export that’s opened in Dubai’s affluent Jumeira neighbourhood. It’s said that visitors travel from far and wide to bag a coveted table at the original cafe in Spain, with queues out of the door every day. The Dubai outpost has apparently drummed up just as much interest and, when we booked, we were advised to come around 11am, to avoid the earlier queues.

The décor is stunning. Rattan chairs and marble-top tables are surrounded by wicker-woven cacti, golden reeds and large green potted plants, with other tribalinspired decorations illuminated by light flooding in from the huge floor-to-ceiling windows.

But we were really there to tuck into

some of the outrageously Instagrammable dishes that we’d seen dominating its feeds. The avo toast (from Dhs58) is served on thick-cut olive sourdough, with grated tomato and olive oil and a feta avocado smash, and was just as pretty and delicious as we’d hoped. Other highlights on the menu include a breakfast calzone (Dhs68) with a caramelised mushroom sauce and scrambled eggs, and the Brunch & Cake eggs Benedict (Dhs65) – poached eggs served atop charcoal sweetcorn waffles. The surprise hit was the truffle cream and mushroom pizza (Dhs68), which the staff insisted we try (despite it only being 11am). It was an excellent pizza indeed, with a puffed up and slightly charred crust and gooey centre – definitely one of the best pizzas we’ve tasted this year, and who doesn’t love pizza for breakfast? a Ground Floor, Wasl 51, Al Wasl Road, Dubai, daily from 8am. Tel: (800) 4726362. @brunchandcakedubai

AL FANAR SEAFOOD MARKET Why this seafood restaurant should be on your bucket list

You many have heard of Al Fanar. There are several branches around the UAE, but its biggest and most picturesque branch has just opened up in Al Barsha Pond Park.

The themed space reflects how Dubai would have looked back in the ’60s when it was just a small town. Its inspiration is drawn from Al Jazirah Al Hamra, a town in Ras Al Khaimah over two centuries old – a story that the

46_What’s On restaurant has proudly displayed on one of its walls.

Houses back then were built using red clay, stucco, coral stones and clamshells – rather than concrete – and this is reflected in the design. Around the venue you’ll also find authentic antique novelties and goods which are also available to purchase.

While the interiors tell a fascinating story, the food is equally exciting. At the seafood market, guests pick from a variety of freshly caught fish ranging from prawns, lobsters, sea bass etc and you’ll be asked to pick from a range of cooking styles: grill, deep-fry, one-pot

stew or sauteed with sauce of your choosing. We recommend

trying the Indian and Emirati curry sauce.

While seafood options dominate the menu, you’ll also find chicken biryani, chicken tikka, and lamb kebab available, too. Want some privacy? Al Fanar Seafood Market is also the only branch to offer private dining rooms where you’ll dine family-style at a low table while sitting on cushions.

And if you want to enjoy the fresh air and the views of Al Barsha Pond, you can choose to sit outdoors. a Al Fanar Seafood Market, Al Barsha Pond Park, Dubai, 12pm to 10pm Sun to Thur, 8am to 10pm Fri and Sat. Tel: (04) 353 3733, alfanarrestaurant.com/albarsha