< Previouscaterermiddleeast.com December 2020 10 “Which words can best describe a typical ‘dolce vita’ night at Bella, the warmth of our Italian welcome, the smiles, the fun yet spectacular restaurant and lounge, and even the simplicity of the menu, which pays tribute to all the magni cent produce of Italy?” When even restaurant manager Stefano Bella Putting beautiful in Business Bay, Bella is a collaboration between two Roberto’s alumni WHAT’S THE FUSS ABOUT... Bassanese nds it hard to sum up an average night at his own venue, you know there’s a lot on offer. Bella reconnects Bassanese with chef Alessandro Miceli, the two previously forming an award-winning partnership at Roberto’s in DIFC. They’ve kept the Italian in uence for the newest addition to Grand Millennium Hotel Business Bay, and are continuing the area’s transformation to somewhere you may nd yourself on non-work related matters. The location was chosen, says Bassanese, because of a feeling of simpatico between the hotel and the 11 December 2020 caterermiddleeast.com 132 The rooftop restaurant has 132 seats (under Covid-19 guidelines) and features a retractable glass awning to give customers an al fresco option in winter. “We have the same recipe and the right ingredients for true hospitality from the heart” Bella team born out of a mutual desire to give customers something special. “The hotel wanted to gain in visibility and increase in performance, adapting to the current market trends. They believe in awareness, evolution, exibility, dedication and synchrony. We have the same mission. We have the same ‘recipe’ and the right ‘ingredients’ for true hospitality that comes from the heart.” The key word from both Miceli and Bassanese is “disruptive”. From the front of house where the staff will be encouraged to be “cool, all the while remaining professional”, to the kitchens where the chef is expecting a form of basic brilliance. “I want the menu to be a unique, simple Italian menu with Mediterranean touches with the best ingredients on the market,” says Miceli. “There will also be a tasting menu ‘The Taste of Bella’ and a bites menu for the lounge, showcasing premium and seasonal products. We also have a wonderful sh tank with live lobsters and seafood crudo display. “As Stefano always says, there are things that are not negotiable in any restaurant: values, integrity, and culture. Bella wants to become the disruptive Italian lifestyle and dining destination that provides the latest evolution in the hospitality industry.” It’s a tough time to do that in the midst of coronavirus, but Bassanese says “we have faith that magic can happen, despite the dif cult circumstances”. The bar in BellaTrending caterermiddleeast.com December 2020 12 Time to move beyond risotto Meeting friends for lunch is still an event tinged with anxiety for me, even as I’ve seen the number of vegans grow exponentially in the last few years. It’s never a casual affair when your dietary needs are slightly different from the norm. Viewing a menu in advance, I check what I might eat, check if there’s a vegan section, and if anything might be easily veganised. It’s often suggested that we vegans can call the venue in advance to discuss options, but who wants to do that every time they leave home for a meal; Never mind spontaneity! The thing is, I don’t really like to make a fuss, like so many other vegans I know. We simply want to enjoy the company we are with — or crack on with the meeting — without worrying that what we are eating could make us seriously ill, or go against our beliefs. The F&B business is all too aware of allergens in food, but Dubai — and certainly the wider Middle East — seems behind in terms of vegan offerings, given its self-proclaimed status as something of a haven for foodies. Check out a vegan food app like HappyCow, and you’ll see just six outlets offering a purely vegan menu. (Gypsy, Mylk Lab, Seva Table, Folia at the Four Seasons Resort, Soul Sante and Just Vegan). Like many, I keep up with the next year’s food trends — and have seen tastes shift towards more exotic and eclectic dishes. Many of these are also following the trend towards greater understanding of the provenance of a dish, sustainability and eco-friendly awareness. But those analysing the markets still seem to underestimate the growing global trend towards a plant-based diet. Here’s the thing. There’s a growing number of vegans in the UAE. My estimates (there aren’t of cial gures that I can nd, but based on the global average of 1 percent of the population) sit around 98,000 people. When we started Dubai Vegan Days — a community dining initiative — in 2018, the idea was to bring like-minded people together to eat nice vegan food in a non-judgemental environment. We welcome non-vegans, of course, but never proselytise or preach. We have seen more than 100 people at a few of our events. It’s a chance for a restaurant to launch a vegan menu, to test dishes on a willing, keen and knowledgeable audience, and from our perspective, encourage restaurateurs to develop vegan menus. We have seen outlets like The Daily at Rove Healthcare City launch a vegan menu thanks to the success of our events. Café Isan, the award-winning Thai venue in JLT, a client I’ve worked closely with, has had enormous success with simply veganising some of its favourite dishes. Vegans have money to spend on good food. We enjoy ne dining as much as the next person. Vegans are quite often more ‘foodie’ inclined than other diners, and keen to support new openings. Vegans travel, and those coming to the UAE research where and what to eat. In a city with such a strong reputation for amazing global dining, isn’t it time to move on from risotto and embrace a full vegan menu? “Vegans are quite often more ‘foodie’ inclined than other diners” Ananda Shakespeare is CEO of boutique PR agency Shakespeare Communications, and co-founder of Dubai Vegan Days. BIG TALKAdvancing Your Ambitions maxx. just right. You have big plans and success depends on many factors: The right concept, the right time and the right products. With the Convotherm maxx we give you the combi everything you need at a great price. Not too much, not too little. Just right. Maximize your opportunities with the new Convotherm maxx. Win a Convotherm maxx! Five minutes with... Didier Souillat caterermiddleeast.com December 2020 14 Didier Souillat As Time Out Market Dubai prepares to open in Q1 2021 in the shadow of Burj Khalifa at Souk Al Bahar, CEO Didier Souillat told us what to expect FIVE MINUTES WITH...Five minutes with... Didier Souillat 15 December 2020 caterermiddleeast.com What is Time Out Market? It started in Portugal in 2014. That was the fi rst one to come alive. It was created by Joao Cepeda who had a great idea, with his team, to create a physical representation of what the magazine was at the time. With the magazine you could read about art, food, beverages, music, and now suddenly you could eat, you could smell, you could hear, you could drink, so it was really physical and it was amazing. After that we worked the concept and got it ready for export and we opened fi ve markets last year in North America. What exactly will we find in Time Out Market Dubai? The DNA of the model hasn’t changed much — it’s a food and cultural market, editorially curated. Everybody goes: ‘Editorially curated, what does that mean?’ It means I didn’t decide who went in. The shareholders didn’t choose, the general manager didn’t choose. It was Holly [Sands, editorial director, Time Out Group GCC] and her team, who know the city way better than we do. It started with them deciding together how we’re going to fi ll the 17 kitchens we have. How we could represent the city as best we could. Bearing in mind we have 200 nationalities here it’s timpossible, I know, but with 30,000 square feet you’ve got a good chance. We decided what the mix would be and then we started: who’s at the top of their game in their category? Let’s see if they’re interested. What’s the criteria to enter? Absolutely independent. No chains. Somebody can have one, two, three outlets but it has to be limited. In other markets, like in Lisbon, we have let people go because they got so successful. They were the best of their kind when they came in, but then they had six, seven restaurants, becoming a chain, so we had to let them go to get the next generation in. So small, yes, but they have to have experience of volume, because in our market we have 600 seats — we’ll open with 400 with social distancing — so the volume is there. If you come from a small restaurant where you’re used to doing 20 to 30 covers a day and start to do 300 to 400 you won’t cope. Why Dubai and not London? There’s always an opportunity and to me it depends on the right location, the right size, and the right partner. If I could have opened London as number one, being the birth of the brand, I would have, but it didn’t happen that way. Dubai we’ve been looking at for four years, but it’s very demanding. There’s a lot of offers there, a very discerning customer base, very well-travelled customer base and they know what’s out there so if you bring it here you have to be at the top of your game. Dubai is an icon in the Middle East and a gateway to the rest of the GCC countries and to Asia as well. What will attract visitors to Time Out Market Dubai? It’s about that location. 30,000 square feet, one fl oor. Not three fl oors, one fl oor. And it’s an area where people live, people work, and where tourists will go. We all know that location — every single tourist at one point in time in their stay in Dubai will come. Having the biggest mall in the world right next to us, having Emaar as a partner, having Time Out so strong in this area will ensure that people will come. The fi rst thing people pick up at the airport is Time Out. The moment they turn that page they’re going to see that we’re open, that Time Out Market, the physical incorporation of the magazine, is actually there, and if they want a snapshot of what Dubai has to offer in terms of culinary they will get it there. But we don’t create this only for the tourists — the tourists won’t know any of the chefs as they’re not big international chefs with three Michelin stars, no. Every one of them is homegrown that the locals will know. So we’re also exposing them, with the Time Out brand being in more than 50 countries and 350 cities around the world, we’re going to let their brand and their cooking be known internationally. How has Covid-19 affected the opening of Time Out Market Dubai? This is the fi rst opening that has happened during the Covid era, but every step we’ve taken in North America we’re bringing here. So that means the hybrid fi ltering systems we have in all other markets we’ll have here from day one. It’s easier to have social distancing in 30,000 square feet than in a mom ‘n’ pop restaurant and the seating height we have makes people feel comfortable. Yes, we have communal tables with four to six seats but with partitions. And they’re not just Plexiglas, you can read something interesting on them about the city you are in. Quotes which were done by a local poet or artist or infl uencer — they’re all curated by the Time Out editors, so the cultural aspect is everything. Souk Al Bahar Who’s Who? The currently announced list of homegrown talent at Time Out Market Dubai, with more to come! Folly by Nick & Scott, BB Social & Dining Pickl Masti Vietnamese Foodies Nightjar Pitfi re Brix Reif OthmanPower List caterermiddleeast.com December 2020 16 POWERPower List 17 December 2020 caterermiddleeast.com It’s been a puzzling year that has rede ned the meaning of success. For some people, success was simply surviving. For others it was paying their staff’s wages. While a few have managed to thrive and expand during the worst crisis to ever hit the F&B sector. However you measure your own success, 2020 has highlighted both how diverse our industry is and how fragile. While big chains have been able to absorb the pain caused by Covid-19, independent restaurateurs have felt it more keenly — and many are ghting for their lives. This made the task of identifying the 50 most in uential people in the region all the more dif cult and has shaken the list up in a big way. We wanted to showcase the restaurateurs and chefs that have inspired us during the past 12 months, even while they were struggling to stay a oat. The ones who did what they could to put their staff rst, or helped the industry through participation in trade panels and discussions, sharing their expert knowledge to encourage others to tackle big issues such as landlords and delivery aggregators. We’ve introduced the Gamechangers category to highlight people who may not t in typical industry boxes, but whose perseverance, creativity, and passion provided inspiration for others and who fought for the survival, literally, of those struggling to get by. While we’ve never been so far apart from one another as we were during lockdown, it also brought many of us closer. Those who made it to the list are just 50 of the countless F&B heroes that shone through in the darkest of times. All the pieces matter. We salute them and we salute you. Find out who we believe are the most important pieces of the Middle East’s F&B puzzle. From independent restaurateurs to hotel culinary directors and everything in between, these are the people who mattercaterermiddleeast.com December 2020 18 Power List When Her Excellency Mariam bint Mohammed Al Mheiri took over as Minister of State for Food Security in 2017, the UAE was ranked 33rd on the Global Food Security Index, now it has risen to 21st. But under Ms Al Mheiri’s guidance, she is aiming to take the country to number one. By working with AgTech investors, Ms Al Mheiri is turning the UAE into an innovation hub in the region, with world leading technology backed up by the nancial support to make it work. She is leading by example by tackling issues such as food waste and she has called on chefs and suppliers to help tackle the issue. When the announcement was made that Zuma Dubai was ranked as the number 23 top bar in the world, according to The World’s 50 Best Bars, for Frenchman Jimmy Barrat it was an accumulation of 12 years of hard work. Highly regarded worldwide, Barrat is the epicentre of Zuma’s bar development globally, and his creativity and innovation have consistently kept the Dubai outlet in the running for multiple bar accolades. Looked up to as a leader in the region, Barrat’s insights have helped shape the way the bar industry is viewed in an area of the world where it previously lacked behind. Now he shares his expertise through trade panels, Tales of the Cocktail seminars, and as a judge at international cocktail competions. Jimmy Barrat Global bar development director, Zuma Dubai Her Excellency Mariam bint Mohammed Al Mheiri Minister of State for Food and Water Security, UAE 1 2 Gamechangers19 December 2020 caterermiddleeast.com Power List away from the kitchen, Al Kodmani has truly brought the concept to life – not only using the freshest of produce, but tackling the idea of food waste as all the items used in the restaurant are those considered “too ugly” for retail. Emirates Bio Farm also hosted the rst ever organic festival in the UAE in February of this year. The three-day event included educational, fun, and immersive experiences for the community, gathering organic brands and supporters all under one farm to celebrate what I means to be organic and sustainable in the UAE. The event was a huge success, receiving more than 2,500 visitors during the three- day festival. The pandemic has encouraged Al Kodmani to expand the farm’s online offering, growing a loyal customer base thanks to its farm to door within 24 hours of harvest policy — you can’t get fresher than that in the UAE. Having spent the last four years building arable soil in the UAE desert, which successfully produces more than 60 varieties of products, Yazen Al Kodmani continues to inspire and innovate in the organic farming sector. While many restaurateurs and chefs in the region love to talk about ‘farm- to-fork’, none can say their restaurant embodies the idea as well as The Farmer’s Table at Emirates Bio Farm. Using fresh produce grown just steps Yazen Al Kodmani Operations manager, Emirates Bio Farm Gamechangers “EBF is actively contributing to the UAE’s food security mission”Next >