Ladies: As long as you’re happy, Gordon Ramsay is happy.
The British celebrity chef has his female clientele at the forefront of his mind as he opens his new restaurant in Dubai this week.
Called Bread Street Kitchen, the restaurant at Atlantis is his second in the UAE after Verre, a fine-dining, white-tablecloth restaurant at the Hilton Dubai Creek that he opened in 2001 (and departed in 2011). Bread Street Kitchen is a very different kettle of fish, with no white tablecloths, but lots (and lots) of lamps.
Lighting is one of the secrets to dining pleasure, Ramsay told tabloid! on Wednesday morning, ahead of the restaurant’s official opening on Thursday.
“For me, the most important thing in a restaurant is a woman. Food is critical, service has to be attentive, but the most important thing is a woman. And the reason why is just watch their behaviour from the minute they walk in; if there’s something sexy to do with the lighting, and they are comfortable and they look great and they feel great, the service is attentive without being overbearing, if the lighting is spot on and the ladies are glowing and the bathroom is immaculate, that’s 90 per cent of the battle in making sure a restaurant is on track.”
The dishes at Bread Street Kitchen, which has over 400 covers in the space formerly occupied by Rostang, in the Avenues area of the hotel on The Palm, are part of the more casual food trend that’s sweeping the globe, and the UAE: It’s open to children of all ages, there’s a burger, fish and chips and a kale salad — but of course, also Ramsay’s signature scallops. Where before you may have found them with cauliflower puree, now they are with sweetcorn — with the ladies again in mind. “There’s something smooth and silky with sweetcorn,” says Ramsay. “Cauliflower is great, don’t get me wrong. But the vibrancy of the colours and the sweetness, and the caramelisation... and the way we dust the scallops as well, is pretty unique. That’s the nice thing... you can push the boat out a bit more because the palates [in Dubai] are more educated. It’s a lot more difficult market than it was 10 years ago.”
Bread Street Kitchen is taking bookings starting November 1, and is open for lunch and dinner, with a Friday brunch to launch next month. Call 04-4262626.
