A new restaurant in Dubai serving SOLELY seafood. And a few veggie dishes. But ZERO meat. Not even one single dish. So if you’re in the 15 per cent of my Instagram poll further below, then perhaps don’t read on...
Continue ReadingThe original Okku that opened in 2009 became Dubai’s first independent, homegrown, licensed restaurant concept. Remember the wild disco brunch and Sunday L.O.V.E. promo? Those heady, old-school times are...
Continue ReadingI give you the ninth edition of the annual FooDiva guide to top restaurants in Dubai. A record number of 45 homegrown, locally developed concepts have made the cut...
Continue ReadingI turned 50 in April. And I realised that I have lived in Dubai for just under half of my life, moving here nearly 24 years ago. 27th August 1999, to be precise. Thanks to dining out for a living...
Continue ReadingWhat does the term food sustainability really mean? On the back of recent visits to a resort that fully champions sustainability across all areas of the operation, I decided to do some digging, and...
Continue ReadingThe eighth edition of the annual FooDiva guide to top restaurants in Dubai is here. 38 homegrown, independently operated, locally developed concepts have made the cut...
Continue ReadingAs I press the publish button, I have abstained from alcohol for two months and 17 days, not that am counting. I explained my rationale on Instagram a while back – see further below.
Continue ReadingThe Cocktail Dandy is a man on a quest to find the best cocktail bars in Dubai. So far, he has visited more than 200 bars in this city alone, and reviewed more than 100 on his Instagram page. Here is a FooDiva guide to his top 10 homegrown...
Continue ReadingWhen you first delve into wine, pairing it with food can be so intimidating. Place two things inside a tiny chamber packed with taste receptors, and they’re always going to have an effect on each...
Continue ReadingTraditionally you can identify a wine bar at twenty paces. Atmosphere? Check. Wooden surfaces and a cheese selection? Check and check. Lighting a quarter turn from pitch black? You got it. In Dubai though, it...
Continue ReadingI first interviewed chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud in the Cayman Islands for Ritz-Carlton’s annual Cayman Cookout beach bash in 2014. Digging out my interviews for FooDiva and, separately, for...
Continue ReadingSudeshna Ghosh explores the (often tough) back-stories of Dubai’s new breed of chefs turned restaurateurs, who took the plunge to swap foie gras for finance and...
Continue ReadingThe legend that is chef Alain Ducasse has landed in Dubai. Softly spoken. Calm. Collected. And slightly reticent. His publicist acts as a translator when we meet over an 8am coffee and freshly baked madeleines.
Continue ReadingChef Vladimir Mukhin is busy fiddling with the #crabporn that is Kamchatka crab on his iced shellfish display at his first Dubai restaurant, and his first outside Russia and Kazakhstan. We’re at Crab Market which opened earlier this year in the DIFC district...
Continue ReadingI first met maverick chef Gaggan Anand six years ago in Dubai, when I interviewed him at a pop-up here. His irreverence and wit were refreshing, and his...
Continue ReadingI recently returned to South Africa after my first visit 17 long years ago. A trip postponed by a year thanks to Omicron border closures. Thankfully, despite...
Continue ReadingMy third visit to the land down under, Australia. This time, for three weeks, soaking up Sydney for Mr S’ birthday bashes in his home city – as well as...
Continue ReadingEstonia’s delicious dietary staple, fermented rye ‘black’ bread is reason enough to visit this northern Baltic country and EU member. That, and the fact that this nation is...
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