< PreviousEmerald Palace Kempinski has views of Dubai and the Gulf. in the fi rst of those concepts — Bluthner Hall Lounge — and Mariette draws our attention to a stunning Bluthner piano at its centre. “It’s more like a concert hall than a lobby lounge,” he says. “Every afternoon we have a string quartet performing, then the fi rst week of every month they are serving Italian afternoon tea and they will play from Italian composers. The second week will be Off enbach and there will be French afternoon tea, then Austria with Mozart, and then Beethoven with a Ger- man afternoon tea.” Although the hotel has been open only a month when we meet, Mariette says there are already people coming to see the diff erent compositions and enjoy the food each week. The all-day dining at Emerald Palace is taken care of at Le Jardin, “so called be- cause it leads to the garden of the palace”. It has buff et options for breakfast and din- ner while serving a la carte during the day. Mariette moves on to his personal Mix by Alain Ducasse is the fl ag- ship restaurant. Feature Emerald Palace Kempinski Caterer Middle East | February 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 28/favourite. “Villamore. This is a Mediterranean restaurant that we have on the beach. When you go there you can be in Monaco, or Santorini, or the south of France. You really have the feeling of being in the south of Europe. The food goes from Portugal to Mo- rocco, all the way to Lebanon. So you have Greek food, you have Italian food, you have food from the south of France, Moroccan mezze. It’s a fantastic concept and very nicely done from a design point of view.” Away from the beach and back into the hotel, we come across an unassuming door down one of the royal hallways. “Matagi is a concept that doesn’t exist yet in Dubai,” says Mariette. And when the doors are thrown open it’s like we have walked into a diff erent location entirely as we suddenly appear in a Japanese steakhouse. Mariette says: “What I like about the outlet is when you walk in the corridor you have the feeling to be in Versailles — marble on the fl oor, marble on the wall, gold on the ceiling — then suddenly you open this hidden door and you discover this outlet which is completely diff erent.” With live cooking stations and an open kitchen, Matagi serves Kobe beef and the best of what Japan has to off er while also using a pan-Asian way of doing things to “make a meal you haven’t tasted before,” says Mariette. When asked which of the more than 10 restaurants in Em- erald Palace will be the most unexpected for diners, Mariette www.caterermiddleeast.com /29 February 2019 | Caterer Middle East is emphatic: “I think Yolanda will be an amazing surprise. People all know what Italian food is, but I have to say this is much more than Italian food. As the chef is saying, it is Venetian because it’s Italian food but with infl uence from Asia, and mainly from India, because Venice for many years has had travellers like Marco Polo coming back from Asia therefore the food in Venice is Italian but has a lot of infl uence from India.” Now that the hotel and all of its off er- ings are open, the hard part is getting Dubai diners — a notoriously travel averse crowd — to make the eff ort to come to the end of the Palm to try it. Mariette hopes that the restaurants will speak for themselves and that recommen- dations from people who have tried it will get others to come. “The most important thing is word of mouth. Inviting people, making them discover the F&B off erings is worth more than advertising in a magazine. Either it is through infl uencers, or bloggers, or people who come from the local com- munity by themselves and discover and will write on Instagram ‘I’ve been to this palace on the Palm, what an amazing dinner I’ve had, what an amazing view on the terrace of Mix by Alain Ducasse over the Dubai skyline’, word of mouth is key. I think that’s true for any property in Dubai, whether you are in Downtown or whether you are on the Palm.” Mariette won’t share his targets in terms of numbers through the door, but says for him “the most important target is a qual- ity target. I want to make sure that every single guest who is leaving the property, whether they go for lunch in one of the F&B outlets or they are staying in the property, they have to leave the property and say it was fantastic. “I am convinced that if you drive quality then the business will come. This is very simple. Quality and consistency is the most important. Specifi cally in a market like Dubai where there’s a huge off ering.” So is he confident it can live up to his ambitions? “I am very confi dent about 2019. Now if you want to stand out you have to be consistent when it comes to quality and you have to come up with new concepts and an amazing product. I have an amaz- ing product, I have a fantastic team. Now we will deliver when it comes to quality.” Most nights will end in Skorpeus, the hotel’s evening lounge. Matagi is the Japanese steakhouse Feature Emerald Palace Kempinski Caterer Middle East | February 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 30/A little over a year ago, Reif Othman was on top of the world. His Play and The Experience concepts were among the most lauded in Dubai. But he chose to shutter them both and instead oversee the Sumosan empire across Dubai, London, and Moscow. Now he’s back, having left his Sumosan contract after one year — the constant travelling was far from enjoyable — and he’s ready to give back to the culinary community that he once led Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Although now in his 40s, Othman exudes the energy and enthusiasm of chefs half his age. While others may have been downhearted by the way events had gone over the past year, Othman is palpably excited to start the next stage in his career. So what is next? Well, a new Othman restaurant is on the horizon, and a return Reif Othman Interview Reif Othman Caterer Middle East | February 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 32/for The Experience — his intimate dinner concept which seated only 12 and was catnip for critics — but more on them later, fi rst on Othman’s radar is using his name to help Dubai’s troubled restaurant industry. With Sean Connolly at Dubai Opera the latest big name to fall — and more expected to follow in the coming months — Othman wants to turn his attention to promoting some of the concepts he feels are being undervalued by Dubai’s foodie community. Craft Cafe, Slab, and Waka. Three homegrown concepts that have received rave reviews while struggling to get the numbers through the door it would seem they deserve. “There’s no footfall at Slab,” Othman explains to us. “Sad to say the place is not moving as fast as what La Mer sold to the owner. I want to do what I can with my followers and do a collaboration with chef Omar.” It’s part of Othman’s plan to help drive traffi c to some of his favourite restaurants and get them back in the public conscious- ness. He says: “I just want to help out a few homegrown brands and give that awareness rather just focus on the big boys. I think Dubai needs to focus on the homegrown boys and support them, that’s my vision.” Each of Othman’s collaborations with his chosen concepts will allow him to stretch his creative muscles in diff erent ways (“With Waka I will go in high-end because of the area and then Craft I will go street- side so it will balance out.”) while also providing some much-needed support. Now for the fi rst time in a long time he has the ability to do what he wants. “For the past 10 years I’ve been so focused on my job,” he says. “Play was really taking a lot of time so I had no time do what I want to do and with Sumosan it was a lot of travelling: London, Monaco, Moscow. Let’s take a break for now, help a little bit in the society of Dubai.” Shaking his head, Othman talks of encouraging his peers: “The morale of the chefs in Dubai right now… ‘I might lose my job, I might not get a job’, but guys don’t think that far, let’s do something!” There’s no doubt that Othman wields plenty of infl uence in the industry, and his fi rst pop-up of 2019 at High Joint in Dubai’s Al Safa sold out within a day, but it remains to be seen if he can help turn the tide on a struggling restaurant just by making an appearance. There are surely deeper issues at play than just awareness? Othman believes that landlords need to say “let’s do this together” with their tenants rather than chasing them out in search for another quick payday. “I think landlords should keep their tenants and prolong their stay rather than money, money, money… They’d rather keep the place empty than continue your lease, it’s sad but it’s true.” It’s part of the reason why Othman isn’t opening a new restaurant right now, in- stead saying he is “seeing what the market is like this year” with a view to opening up his next venture after the summer. He says he’s planning to “take it slow” and wait un- til he is in a position that he can “negotiate a better price on the rent”. He adds: “Moving forward I think next is to fi nd a good investor to work with that understands F&B,” explaining that he is looking at something with a small capac- ity and mid-tier pricing so that “people can go every day. I want to make sure that families with kids and friends can go to have good food.” The search for the investor is underway with Othman saying there’s a few in the frame but that he “needs them to know that it used to be two years you got your money back, now that’s moved to fi ve years. Let’s not go rushing in, grow the brand slowly.” For now though, the focus is on helping his fellow chefs be the best they can be, and hopefully it results in a few ground-breaking homegrown restaurants sticking around to achieve their dreams. Reif Othman www.caterermiddleeast.com Interview /33 February 2019 | Caterer Middle East Speciality coff ee concept venues are not only serving gourmet brews, but also investing in interior design and branding to distinguish themselves from the competition Words: Namitha Madhu Industry Analysis Interior Design Caterer Middle East | February 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 34/the perfect Interior Design www.caterermiddleeast.com Industry Analysis February 2019 | Caterer Middle East /35The UAE’s growing economy and its diverse cultural de- mographics have both been crucial in creating a booming market for coff ee. According to Euromonitor International, the Middle East’s coff ee industry is expected to climb to US$4.4bn by 2021. A recent report by Aaron Allen and Associates further states that sales at cafés and specialist coff ee shops are expected to remain strong in the next few years, achieving an 8.9% CAGR between 2016 and 2021. As the market continues to grow, newcomers in the industry are looking for new ways to fi nd a foothold in a crowded market, and design is one point of focus for these businesses to distinguish them- selves from the rest. DISTINCT EXPERIENCE Jasmine Armaly, interior architect, Studio EM Dubai, says that when it comes to trends in specialist coff ee shops, “it is an open market”. “The points of difference from store to store are so much more interesting than everyone copying and pasting a design style.” She says that while the overall look may vary, all designs seek to highlight a single aspect: the experience. “There are so many diff erent approach- es to creating a speciality coff ee space that it’s really opening us up to some awesome designs across the board. However, one constant which I see and love, is that each concept is about the experience, it’s about how the coff ee is poured, roasted, prepared and the story that comes with it from the barista,” says Armaly. Omar Ghafour, founder-principal of Light Space Design, agrees with this view, “The current trend is to have well designed, simple but detailed spaces that concentrate mainly on the experience of coff ee drinking.” “Coff ee is no longer hidden on the back counter or brought from the back of the kitchen due to all the new coff ee machines and processes in making speciality coff ee. The customer is much more engaged in these spaces, as opposed to your tradition- al mainstream chain,” Armaly remarks. Meanwhile, Cameron Fry — owner Jasmine Armaly. Brew92 speciality cafe and roastery in Jeddah. Industry Analysis Interior Design Caterer Middle East | February 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 36/M AD E IN GER M A N Y QU ALITY ADAA RMR QNext >