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Dubai’s leading destination for fresh food, the Waterfront Market is celebrating its fifth birthday. In these five years, more than 50 million visitors have walked through its doors to experience its wide range of offerings – from high-quality fresh produce to locally and internationally sourced fish and seafood, best-in-class meat and poultry, and dry goods and spices.

“We are very proud to have welcomed more than 50 million visitors since opening in 2017,” says Mohammad Al Madani, The Waterfront Market – Centre Manager. “Over the past five years, continuous efforts from the Waterfront Market team to serve our customers have made it Dubai's premier fresh food market.”

Add popular cafes, restaurants, retail shops and a hypermarket to the mix, and you’ve got a one-of-a-kind, one-stop shopping destination. “With different retail options and food and beverage outlets, as well as the finest fresh food, from fruit and vegetables to meat and poultry to fish and seafood, customers can experience everything under one roof at the Waterfront Market,” explains Al Madani. “We look forward to welcoming many more millions of visitors over the coming years."

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Delivering freshness and value to customers, the Waterfront Market continues the legacy of the famed Deira Fish Market, which had been serving fresh fish and produce to the community since 1958. Spread across 120,000 square metres on the Deira Corniche, the purpose-built modern facility has not only expanded in scale but also scope to accommodate all the elements necessary for a one-stop shopping experience such as a pharmacy, money exchanges, business services and more.

Since its inception, the Waterfront Market has sold almost 565,000 tonnes of food – to put the figure in perspective, it is more than what the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa, weighs.

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Fish and seafood form the major portion of the food sold – about 456,250 tonnes in five years. With more than 300 fishermen enabling the market’s straight from-boat-to-plate philosophy, it’s no surprise that restaurants, hotels and households from Dubai and beyond make a beeline for the Waterfront Market to get their hands on the fresh catch. However, the market’s appeal is not limited to locally sourced seafood. More than 350 varieties of fish and seafood from around the world are available at the Waterfront Market catering to all of the 200 plus nationalities residing in the UAE.

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The same goes for meat and poultry, fruit and vegetables, as well as dry goods and spices, with the market sourcing produce from five different continents in addition to 80 plus local farmers.

No wonder that celebrity chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, Nobu Matsuhisa, Giorgio Locatelli and Boy Logro also rely on the Waterfront Market for fresh produce to cook up mouth-watering dishes at their Dubai restaurants.

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Spicing customer experience up at the Waterfront Market is its own Executive Resident Chef, a first for any market in the UAE. Every Friday, chef Christos Lymperis conducts live cooking sessions, taking questions from shoppers on the best seasonal produce, what to buy for a festive family dinner, how to prepare a perfect steak, or what to choose from the vast selection of fish and seafood on offer. If you like what you see on your visits, you can catch up on his cooking classes as well as tips and tricks on the Waterfront Market Instagram page.

To learn more about the Waterfront Market, visit Waterfrontmarket.ae