The f-word, fun, has always been an essential fix for me when dining out - from my upscale restaurant tour concept #DineAroundDubai in 2014, with a strapline of ‘fun is the new fine dining’ - to my new dining experiences. For my reviews. And for when I dine out socially.

But we all expect different things when dining out; something restaurants have to juggle to retain our custom. Restaurant awards and lists also differ widely in their judging criteria. Unlike Michelin that only rates food, I crave more than good fare from high-end restaurants.

Good food and good service should be a given at all restaurants. But it’s the atmosphere that differentiates, turning dining out into a positively memorable, magical experience. Atmosphere can come from one or many things. The buzz of a busy restaurant. The lighting just right for cosy dining. Round tables that encourage conversation. A playlist that makes you smile. Live entertainment that feeds into the food and service flow. All these things contribute to energy, to intimacy, to novelty - and can upgrade a meal to an experience worthy of my limited time. I know restaurants have ticked the atmosphere box when I’ve had a bloody good time, and can’t wait to return. Life’s too short for stifling, serious dining. A la Cyndi Lauper, I just wanna have fun.

And that’s exactly why I have always rated @gaggan_anand in Bangkok as my favourite dining experience in the world. From my first dinner at his flagship in July 2019 for Mr S’ birthday just before it shut shop. To dinner at his then new-ish 14-seater in June 2023 on a press trip. And more recently, last month, over an industry trip. Even at his pop-ups over the years in Dubai at Royal Mirage and Chez Wam. It’s always bloody good fun.

So why do I crave more than good food? And how does Gaggan tick the fun box? Link in profile for a read, plus where else to dine in Bangkok. On this trip, we were also hosted by @cheftonn @chef.pam @mathias_suhring and @thomas_suhring I’ve included a Google maps link📍adding some of my own tried and tasted recommendations and tips from other foodies, giving you 38 spots in total.

So what do YOU look for when dining out? 🙏🏼 ...

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

#UAERestaurantsUnite #FooDiva Dubai Restaurants ...

Flicking through official photos after my events lets me relive the dining experience through a photographer’s eye. Even though he’s briefed with a strict shot list!

Here are some favourites from my debut #OneNightOneDinner last week. A celebration of homegrown concepts and chefs who have made Dubai their home and are making their mark in our flourishing independent restaurant scene.

Chef @gabriela.chamorro505 of @girl.and.the.goose transported us on a culinary journey through Central America, a core component of Latin American culture with a staggering 15 off-menu dishes that guests raved about 😋

Vintage Champagne and fine wines by @mmidubai @moetchandon with presentation by Master Sommelier @stephen_towler_ms_dubai 🥂🍷 As always @monvisowater kept us hydrated 💦

Food and wine aside, it’s the people that differentiate a dining experience. One of the most efficient and talented restaurant teams I have ever worked with - Gabriela, Tatiana, Rowan @onceuponapot @ziadkamel @heimo.grasser I am looking at you. And the most gracious guests a girl could ask for, of which three even chose this dinner to celebrate their birthdays 🙏🏼 Thank you to longstanding partners @stefano_iorini @sophiechampagnebubble Monique Mass and @leigh_mmi for your ongoing support.

So, where next? Name your favourite homegrown restaurants please, preferably relatively new. Keep in mind these dinners take three to four months to organise. Like weddings but ticketed 😜

You can sign up for dining experience alerts at the link in bio.

📷 @_brandon__fernandez_

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My first attempt at dabbling with AI to create an image 😋 I had so much fun playing around with this hero pic. All in aid of my new #OneNightOneDinner on the 20th November. Please note, only humans have developed this dining experience 😜 And only humans can book via the link in bio 🔗

🪿 Join me on a culinary journey through Central America, a core component of Latin American culture at the new @girl.and.the.goose by chef @gabriela.chamorro505 in Anantara Downtown.

🪿 Vintage Champagne to kick us off, specifically Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage 2016 followed by Rosé Impérial – paired with canapés.

🪿 A seated dinner ensues by Nicaraguan chef Gabriela Chamorro, who turned her sell-out supper clubs into a bricks-and-mortar restaurant reimagining Central American cuisine, a first for Dubai. Expect a flurry of off-menu dishes exclusively developed for this evening and served sharing style across starters, main courses and desserts, with Gabriela explaining the dishes.

🪿 All courses are paired with fine wines from France and South America, finishing with Moët & Chandon Nectar Impérial for dessert by @mmidubai - and presented by @stephen_towler_ms_dubai MMI Wine Academy Manager. He holds a WSET Level 4 Diploma, as well as the prestigious title of Master Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers – one of only 300 people worldwide and the first person in the Middle East to achieve this distinction.

🪿 A complimentary nightcap cocktail to wrap up the evening.

🪿As always @monvisowater keeps us hydrated.

Who will you take? Tag your foodie friends. Gracias 🙏🏻

#UAERestaurantsUnite #FooDiva #DubaiRestaurants #DubaiFoodies ...

Thanks to your poll feedback on that other much-adored platform, here’s what I have plated for you this month:

🔪 @middlechildmiddlechild by Lynn Hazim aka @_nosoupforyou at @alserkalavenue reviewed as the lead story. Is it worth the queue?

🔪 I don’t run reviews of new branches, however I’ve included a peek of my dinner at the third @lanalusadxb outpost. Licensed at So Uptown Hotel in JLT.

🔪 A new Sunday roast at @bullandbear.difc - Waldorf-Astoria DIFC.

🔗 Have a read via the link in bio.

Any new restaurants on your radar that you would like reviewed? Please feel free to share 😋🙏🏼

#UAERestaurantsUnite #FooDiva Dubai Restaurants ...

I am trialling something new and would love your opinion pretty please. My latest newsletter (link in stories/ bio 🔗) that landed in subscribers’ inboxes yesterday showcases concise restaurant reviews of three new openings, rather than focusing on one dedicated longform review every month. Take ‘concise’ with a pinch of salt, as I am a woman of many words!

Typically each review that you’ve read from me so far encompasses four days work - the advance research on the concept and menu; the dining out itself; writing; fact-checking and editing; photography; publishing; and social media promotion. Yes that’s a helluva lot of time.

So whilst visiting more than one opening each month is even more time-consuming, let alone expensive, the writing element can be consolidated, and you get to read about these newbies promptly.

When you have a moment, I’ve included a poll for your feedback in the newsletter. It’s getting bundles of traction - and looks like we already have a consensus. This first ‘trial’ run with restaurant reviews of @yubidubai @threebros_kitchen and @piehaus.dubai is free for everyone to read. Enjoy, I hope 😜 And where would you like me to check out next? 😋

[ #UAERestaurantsUnite #FooDiva Dubai Restaurants ] ...

Happy new month! I have some exciting news that I’ve been desperate to share with you, so I’m glad I can finally spill the beans 😋

My sell-out Three Chefs Dinners (sometimes four, and once even ten!) have been running for six years now, so time for a change…before we hit the seven year itch 😜 Whilst this experience will continue for corporate and private clients, I’ve been busy cooking up a new ticketed dinner concept just for you, my foodie tribe.

My new #OneNightOneDinner event will celebrate a different new homegrown restaurant every time, with off-menu dishes exclusively developed for this evening, whilst the chef introduces each course.

Expect a pairing of vintage Champagne and fine wines from @mmidubai - presented by @stephen_towler_ms_dubai - MMI Wine Academy Manager who holds a WSET Level 4 Diploma, as well as the prestigious title of Master Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, one of only 300 people worldwide and the first person in the Middle East to achieve this distinction 👏🏼

The first launch dinner that I am hosting is on Thursday 20th November with a Latin American culinary theme. I have moved the date from a Tuesday to a Thursday as I know this works better for many of you. Please consider this post a save the date 🗓️

If you’re not on the FooDiva dinners database, sign up with your email, and an alert will land in your inbox when the experience is ready to book: www.foodiva.net/dinneremail/ Also linked in bio and stories 🔗 Note: an advance notice email will go out first to paid newsletter subscribers later this month.

If you have friends who may be interested, feel free to tag and forward this post.

Fancy guessing the launch host restaurant? One clue - it’s a new homegrown Latin American opening 💃🏻🕺🏼

[ #UAERestaurantsUnite #FooDiva Dubai Restaurants ] ...

🇱🇧48 HOURS OF EATING IN BEIRUT🇱🇧
Earlier this month, I joined a media and industry fam trip to Beirut for a whirlwind two-day food tour. Here’s where and what we ate:

🇱🇧 @beihousebeirut The trip was organised by the chef patron of this new opening @tarek_alameddine 😋 A Le Roche graduate, he recently returned to his home country of Lebanon, having worked his way up to sous chef at Noma for six years, followed by Baky Hospitality in Egypt. In the historic Gemmayzeh district, the owner Said Daher of Azadea fame has beautifully renovated three mansions which overlook a magical courtyard housing a trio of concepts - an a la carte restaurant, a tasting menu experience and a bar. A 13-dish tasting menu is priced at USD120. My favourite dish? A textural twist on kibbeh nayeh with puffed bulgur and raw pistachio slivers.

🇱🇧 Street food tour in the Armenian quarter of Burj Hamoud: Maraach Bakery for the crispest of lahmajun. @bastermamano for sujuk shawarma, the only joint in Beirut to sell this delicacy.

🇱🇧 @alfalamanki Brekkie with a view overlooking Raouche (Pigeon) Rocks.

🇱🇧 @buco.lb Chef Tarek’s burger joint with patties cooked to your preferred temperature. Yes to the Australian grain-fed patty (no cows in Lebanon!) with candied pork bacon, cheddar, mulberry jam & Dijon mustard in a potato bun. Paprika-sprinkled fries that taste like Pringles 👌🏼

🇱🇧 @monet_ahel_alkaram Traditional breakfast at a bijou pickling farm in the Druze community of Aley, a short drive up into the mountains.

🇱🇧 And lastly, a lunch feast cooked single handedly by Umm Tarek at the family home in Aitat including lamb brain and spine marrow with the glorious texture of pate. Our ‘canapes’? Barbecued fig birds from Tarek’s shooting expeditions. A seasonal September delicacy. I grew up eating these teeny birds in Cyprus which we call ambelopoulia, but hunting has since been banned back home. An excuse to return next September 😜

And if so, where else should I eat? 🙏🏼 We clearly just scratched the surface of Beirut’s blossoming food scene - much changed since my last visit eight years ago with Greg Malouf, who sadly left us a year ago this month. ...

I am always astonished at the vast number of people who don’t realise Cyprus, my home, has been a divided island since 1974 when Turkey invaded - commonly referenced as the ‘Cyprus Problem’, with the ‘Green Line’, a UN buffer zone as our border. We refrain from labelling the Mediterranean island as south and north, given there’s only one legally recognised country - the Republic of Cyprus.

My birthplace of Famagusta on the east coast, a mostly shelled ghost town to this day (scroll for video), has been Turkish occupied ever since. I was one year old at the time, and with my parents (thanks to my British father), we were evacuated on a nine-hour Hercules flight to the UK. My mother’s parents and two sisters managed to escape to Nicosia, now the last officially divided capital city in the world, where they had to rebuild their lives - as did we in the UK and Caribbean for six years before returning to Cyprus for my schooling and the birth of my sister.

Onto happier subjects - food and travel. For the first time since moving to Dubai (from London) 26 years ago, I have my own summer abode in Cyprus making it easier to spend substantial time exploring the island. We’re the third largest island in the Mediterranean (after Sicily and Sardinia) - and about the same size as Lebanon, which means planning is required to decide where to explore.

To fully appreciate and experience Cyprus’ love for food, one has to head off the beaten track, steering well clear of the island’s hugely, and sadly, commercialised resorts (which boast gorgeous beaches by the way). That’s not easy when as a visitor, you want to stroll out of your hotel into a neighbourhood brimming with restaurants. If you do, you will, mostly, be seriously disappointed. A hire car is money well spent.

To ease the research, I have compiled my largest culinary travel guide to date (link in bio 🔗) with headings for restaurants, tavernas, cafés, bars, wineries - alongside trademark dishes and produce, local wine tips, and boutique hotels. All wrapped up in my very own personal Google maps link with 125+ recommendations.

Any more tips, feel free to share here 🙏🏼 ...