Dubai: Sand and a bit of drizzle can’t tame the heat coming from the kitchens of this weekend’s Taste of Dubai food festival, which started on Thursday afternoon.
The event, now in its seventh year at Dubai Media City Amphitheatre, brings TV cooks, local restaurant chefs and the UAE’s food lovers together for three days of eating, cooking and shopping, as well as live music.
This year’s highlights are international stars Jean Christophe Novelli, Eric Lanlard, Siba Mtongana, Jenny Morris and Reza Mohammad. 27 Dubai restaurants — from French to Indian to Belgian to Italian to Cuban, among others — are onsite, serving small “tasting” portions of their signature dishes, priced from Dh20-30. The chefs of local restaurants will be at their stands to share their expertise.
French chef Novelli - making his debut at Taste - highlighted the vast array of food on offer. “ For the first time, you will have the opportunity to taste food from every continent,” he said (Antarctica is obviously exempted, although there is ice cream if you need to chill). Novelli is cooking in the demonstration kitchen on Friday at 4.30pm.
One of the most exciting stands is Aseelah, an Emirati restaurant due to open at the Radisson Blu Dubai Deira Creek later this spring.
Director of kitchens at the hotel and a prominent name on the UAE food scene for decades, chef Uwe Micheel said he came up with the idea after requests over the years from guests to eat Emirati food. “We had to send them to Lebanese and Iranian restaurants, and that was a shame,” he said. The recipes include sweet louquiamat and machboos, a chicken stew. “It’s Emirati house food, the concept is simple. I have been asking local chefs and housewives to come into my kitchens to train my people.”
For fans of cooking shows, all the international chefs (as well as many local chefs) will be doing demonstrations in the Chef’s Theatre, and leading small groups in cooking classes at the Kenwood Kitchen, with dozens of sessions taking place daily. Entry to the sessions is free and on a first-come-first-served basis.
Siba Mtongana, a new star on the Food Network channel, is demonstrating three of her family-style South African dishes. “Many people don’t have time to cook. I want to make it easy. But it also should look glam,” said the mum-of-one. “For me, food is nicest when it’s shared with loved ones, which is why my family is in the show.” Children are welcome at the festival, with under 12s entering free, and children’s cooking activities taking place.
