Samantha Wood

A new London opening, Impala by chef Meedu Saad is the type of restaurant that Dubai both lacks and needs. By type, I mean a homegrown licensed establishment serving a modern interpretation of cuisine from the wide Arab world. Something I have preached for a while, ever since Q’bara sadly shut shop a decade ago. A game-changing restaurant that was ahead of its time and hindered by an inconvenient location.

Why?

Let’s take an example. When travelling to Japan, for instance, we prioritise Japanese fare at casual izakayas and ramen bars right through to upscale sushi omakase restaurants, like residents do. To ensure that both Dubai visitors and us dwellers seek out culinary traditions and innovations from the UAE* and wider Middle East, we need a diverse collection of restaurants championing regional cuisine at all levels, in particular licensed - the gap in the market. Shawarma joints, as good as these may be, will not suffice alone.

To clarify, I certainly don’t want Impala imported to Dubai, however budding restaurateurs here would do well to take inspiration from the overall concept and its immediate success.

Whilst researching restaurants for my recent London trip, Impala topped my list, and when reservations went live four weeks in advance, I managed to secure a table for two at this busy, hyped Soho establishment.

All explained in my longform review. Plus several more recommendations from a summer visit to the capital, along with my personal Google maps link of 80+ restaurants. Link in bio. Or comment and I will DM you the link.

* Note: this post addresses broader Middle Eastern cuisine which includes Emirati fare, but for my musings specifically on the latter, I have linked into another review.

So do you think Dubai’s restaurant scene would benefit from this kind of novel concept? Or are we missing something else? Pray tell 🙏🏼

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Kraken is @chefgregoireberger’s new seafood restaurant, having left Atlantis’ Michelin-starred Ossiano. Once and for all, I hope (he has previously departed and returned).

His new baby is a homegrown concept housed in a villa conversion, a stone’s throw from Khadak on Al Wasl Road.

Impressively, according to the menu, 70 per cent of ingredients are locally sourced, with the seafood, sustainably line-caught, partly down to the restaurant’s own fishing boat. Gregoire and his head chef @chefrobinhoefer - also formerly Ossiano, use the Japanese ikejime technique of humanely killing and preserving fish that is meant to elevate quality, texture and flavour.

I managed to sneak in and out, dining completely incognito for the whole experience, which, as you know, gives me pure pleasure. Gregoire was out catering for an event, and the front-of-house team didn’t bat an eyelid. Happy days. But was it a happy experience?

Link in bio 🔗 to have a read of this month’s review.

Would love to know where you’d like me to review next? 🙏🏼😋

@krakendubai

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A decade after opening Marina Social for Jason Atherton, accomplished Scottish chef @tristinfarmer has returned to Dubai following his five-year tenure at three-Michelin Zén in Singapore.

He’s now helming a new Dubai-born concept as culinary director and chef partner for a Singaporean business, Culinary Arts Group.

@maisondali_dubai at The Opus by Omniyat hotel in Business Bay is pitched in the press release and on the website as “a laid-back brasserie with character, where Japanese ingredients and techniques meet Mediterranean flavours. This innovative dining experience immerses guests in culinary artistry. Every element - food, drink, service and decor - is meticulously curated to transport diners into a world of imagination.”

Meanwhile, the name “draws inspiration from Salvador Dalí’s surrealism and mirrors the personality of Tristin Farmer,” - and the ambience “constantly surprises, transforming dining in Dubai into a captivating work of art.”

On the flip side, the dictionary definition of brasserie dictates “an informal, usually French restaurant, serving simple hearty food.”

In today’s review, I am addressing all these differing messages; how they translate into the dining experience; and determining whether they serve to complement or conflict.

I am utterly relieved to have reviewed incognito from start to finish.

Link in bio and stories to have a read 🔗 This review landed in inboxes earlier this morning - feel free to subscribe if not already.

Have you dined at Maison Dali? Does this interior give you brasserie feels? Would welcome your thoughts 🙏🏼

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The hostess escorts us to our semi-banquette table, sandwiched so tightly between two tables, LPM-style, we can hear every word of the neighbouring conversation. I request another table for two that I spot with a little more room in the middle of a busy dining room, but I am politely told that’s reserved for an anniversary. Soon after we are seated and presented with the menus, the hostess returns to guide us to my desired table. My cover is blown. This kind of table hierarchy happens more often than not across many a Dubai restaurant, sadly. I just hope I didn’t rob the “anniversary couple” of a decent table.

We’re dining at @girl.and.the.goose by Nicaraguan chef @gabriela.chamorro505 who has whisked her home supper club of five years to a bricks and mortar restaurant, replacing the Peruvian, Waka, in the @anantaradowntowndubai (ex-Oberoi). She’s partnered with Rosy Hospitality of CQ French Brasserie and Couqley fame.

Central American cuisine is a first for Dubai and for me, spanning Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Belize and Panama. Countries that I have never visited even though I spent the early years of my life growing up in the neighbouring Caribbean islands. There’s a little known fact about me! The geography is well illustrated with a map on the menu and on the website, which is one of the most informative and user-friendly restaurant sites I have come across in Dubai. A best practice blueprint for restaurateurs.

Gabriela or Gigi, her nickname, is quick to point out in person (also confirmed on her website) that the menu marries her modern interpretation of Central American cuisine with her travel experiences as ex-Emirates crew. Only one dish is traditional, and despite its northern neighbour Mexico which I have visited, the cooking differs, she explains.

So how does Girl & The Goose fare across not solely food, but service, interior, atmosphere and price point? Thankfully, I pay the bill in full - with no freebie extras sent to the table. Link in profile for a read 🔗 This review landed in inboxes this morning - feel free to subscribe, if not already.

Have you tried Central American cuisine? 😋 Less

I have one prerequisite for a staycation. A pool villa. An added bonus is a beach-fronted pool villa with the mesmerising sound of the sea lapping the shore. And that’s one of the many reasons I have returned countless times to @sixsenseszighybay on Oman’s northern Musandam Peninsula since my first visit in 2012 with my parents. Sometimes with loved ones for leisurely jaunts, and sometimes on press trips - most recently last month. Mind you, work trip itineraries are always jam-packed, pool time is limited. Aside from the five-star product, and the mere two and a half hour drive from Dubai, what’s so special about Zighy, affectionately named after the village that the resort supports with employment and sustainability donations?

Link in bio and stories to find out why. Plus a listicle of more go-to pool villa resorts in the UAE & Oman. And…a special edition of my Where Restaurateurs Eat column with @naim.maadad the chief executive and founder of @gateshospitality (think Folly, Jardin Des Arts, Bistro Des Arts and Reform) - as well as a partner in the owning company of Six Senses Zighy Bay.

Swipe for more pics and videos including moi hugging a kid goat. As you do. This post landed in email inboxes this morning. Feel free to subscribe, if not already.

Would love to know your fave pool villa resorts pretty please 🙏🏼💙

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Where does @imansnazemi the chef-owner of @kishmishdubai dine out? 😋

In this month’s WHERE RESTAURATEURS EAT column, I asked this super woman to share her five favourite restaurants encompassing:

🔪 Three in the UAE. She may have added a delivery option too 😜
🔪 One in her home country.
🔪 One located elsewhere internationally.

Click link in bio and stories for her top picks 🔗 This post landed in email inboxes this morning. Feel free to subscribe, if not already.

As always, nominations for female restaurateur-entrepreneurs are always welcome. They might not be on my radar, and could land themselves a feature here 🙏🏼

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I struggle with many tasting menus, especially in Dubai. Why?

Sky-high price points. For one imported concept here, the exact same menu is AED400 more expensive than its home country.

Three to four hours (and sometimes more) of my life that I will never get back, thanks to snail-pace dining.

Long-winded storytelling for every single, bloody dish. I really don’t care if the chef’s grandma, or a jaunt to an obscure corner of the world have inspired the cooking. I can read about all that, and more, on the website. I just want to eat my food. In peace. And preferably warm. Unless we’re feasting on sushi and sashimi. But even then, the tale must be kept to a minimum. There’s only so much inane chatter I can stomach.

Good food should speak for itself.

And then along comes @manao_dubai An affordable, by Dubai standards, of AED450 for an 11-course tasting menu. Served in one and a half hours. A printed menu on the table, from arrival. Something several of these concepts don’t give you until, dare I say, the bitter end. A succession of different staff members explained the dishes, succinctly in seconds. The chef only popped out once to briefly present a dish, swiftly scuttering back to the open-plan kitchen. You wouldn’t even know he was the chef, unless you had stalked his good looks on Instagram.

Chef @abhiraj_khatwani is the [handsome] Indian chef whose cooking expertise was honed in north-east Thailand before opening The Yellow Monkey, a casual Thai gem at JBR that I used to frequent years ago until Covid shut its doors. @m.orfali of @orfalibros_bistro fame, the Midas touch chef has backed him to open a 34-seat restaurant in Wasl Vita, solely dedicated to a Thai-inspired tasting menu.

So how does Manao fare? 🔗 Link in bio/ stories for my review which scored a five out of five knife rating. The first restaurant in my 14 years of reviewing where I have dished out this pinnacle of a rating.

Is Manao the most affordable tasting menu in Dubai? Are you a fan of tasting menus? Or do you prefer à la carte dining?

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Where does @panchalimahendra - the CEO of @atelierhousehospitality behind 11 Woodfire, Mohalla & soon-to-open Gerbou amongst other restaurant concepts, dine out? 😋

In this month’s ‘Where Restaurateurs Eat’ column, I asked this super woman to share her five favourite restaurants encompassing:

🔪 Three in the UAE. She might have sneaked in four 😜
🔪 One in her home country.
🔪 One located elsewhere internationally.

Click link in bio and stories for her top picks 🔗 My newsletter tribe received this post in their inbox yesterday. Feel free to subscribe, if not already.

🔪 As always, nominations for female restaurateurs here leading their own businesses are always welcome. You never know, they might not be on my radar - and could land themselves a feature here 🙏🏼

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When I heard that the ex-chef director of the sensation that is Dishoom, one of my go-to restaurants in the UK, had moved to Dubai to open his own concept, I had an inkling @khadak_ae would impress.

Chef-patron Naved Nasir @chef_naved helped the founders conceptualise Dishoom, engineered the menu, and co-authored the bestselling cookbook, which, interestingly, is on display at Khadak.

🔗 Click link in bio and stories for this restaurant review which landed in inboxes yesterday.

How important is the licensing of a restaurant when deciding where to dine out? Or is traffic and therefore location a bigger consideration now? 🤯 #UAERestaurantsUnite #FooDivaReviews #FooDiva Less

Where does Stasha Toncev, the chief soulkitchen officer @soulkitchendubai of @21grams.dubai - my favourite all-day breakfast spot dine out? 😋

In this month’s ‘Where Restaurateurs Eat’ column, I asked this super woman of burek and ‘brunch bestie’ fame (my hero photo here) to share her five favourite restaurants encompassing:

🔪 Three in the UAE. She might have sneaked in four 😜
🔪 One in her home country.
🔪 One located elsewhere internationally.

Click link in bio for her top picks 🔗 My newsletter tribe received this post in their inbox yesterday. Feel free to subscribe, if not already.

🔪As always, would love your nominations for female restaurateurs here leading their own businesses🔪 You never know, they might not be on my radar - and could land themselves a feature here 🙏🏼

#WhereRestaurateursEat #UAERestaurantsUnite Less