Born in Sheffield, British chef Jason Atherton ran away from home at 16 to pursue a life in food. Early in his career, he trained with chefs such as Pierre Koffmann and Marco Pierre White. In 2001, he joined the Gordon Ramsay group and opened Ramsay’s restaurant Verre at the Hilton Dubai Creek. He returned to the UK in 2005 to open another Ramsay restaurant, but by 2010, he left to follow his own restaurant dreams. He opened Pollen Street Social, in London in 2011. It won a Michelin star that same year. Atherton now has 19 restaurants in places such as New York, Hong Kong, Dubai, Shanghai, Australia and the Philippines. He visits Dubai a few times a year to work with his chefs at Marina Social, in the InterContinental Dubai Marina. He loves the city, in part, because he met his wife, Irha, while working at Verre, but also because of how the emirate has changed since his first visit nearly two decades ago. “I’ve enjoyed seeing a city rise out of the dust and fulfil its potential of what they said it was going to be. ” Atherton and his wife live in London with their daughters, Keziah, 11, and Jemimah, 5.
How often do you travel?
I’m normally on a plane about every two weeks. My wife Irha looks after both of our diaries. She’ll make sure the travel is spaced out and that family life fits in.
When you travel for business, do you always make time for leisure?
I’m either going to look at new restaurant locations or working in one of my restaurants. People always ask me if I wasn’t a chef, what would I be. I say: “Lonely. And bored.” I’m so lucky to have a job where I get to create beautiful food for people to eat and enjoy. I get to fulfil my creative side, I get paid for it and I get to travel.
How many countries have you visited?
I’ve been to Japan, China, all of South East Asia, Australia, all over. The only places I’ve never been and I’m desperate to go are Canada and South America. I’ve also never been to India.
When on holiday with the family, do you prefer the beach, city or mountains?
They’re all different. I look forward to them all very much. In the summer, we always go to Italy. We start off at Hotel Splendido in Portofino. It’s this hotel that time forgot. It’s one of the most beautiful hotels. It’s very expensive, so we normally only stay for two or three days. Then we’ll hire a car and go to Milan, drive down the Amalfi Coast, hang out in Positano or Capri. It’s just the best couple of weeks ever. When the kids leave home, we want to have given them as many memories as possible.
What’s the most challenging part about travelling with young children?
I’m a neat freak. If you go to my hotel room when I travel solo, everything is in order. Even my toiletries face the same way. When I go with the kids, it’s a whole different ballgame. I end up being more like mother hen. Trying to keep them on the straight and narrow is the hardest part.
Do you have a favourite travel gadget?
I love Star Wars. My wife bought me a limited-edition Star Wars Montblanc that has a floating emblem in it. It’s made of titanium. I always carry that with me, along with my moleskin sketching pad. I’m constantly sketching food and new ideas. I’ll be thinking about next season’s lamb dish because it’s just popped in my head, and if I don’t write it down, I’ll forget about it. I’ve just started writing Pollen Street: The Cookbook, for chefs. Some of those sketches will be in there. It will be next Easter by the time it comes out.
What’s your favourite food city?
New York. You can eat fine-dining food as good as anywhere in the world, but food critics can get as easily excited about a burger. Same for pizza. A pizza chef there is just as revered as a three-Michelin-starred chef. I love that.
How much can you learn from a city through its food?
Everything. Food is so powerful. It’s nourishing for your body; it’s a powerful tool for expression; we’ve all got to eat on a daily basis; food employs people, and it connects people. With food, there are no brick walls.
What’s the best part of travel?
For me, it’s the food. For chefs, when we travel, it’s heaven.
What’s the worst part about travel?
Missing my family; missing my kids because they’ve got to be at school. That stops me from opening more restaurants, if I’m honest. I’m 45 now. I don’t want to get to 65 where I’ve spent all that time doing everything for me, which is a bit selfish. I know the kids are getting a good life out of it, but did they really get valuable time with me? It’s really crucial to me. It’s like a restaurant. If you work really hard at a restaurant and you’re really good at what you do, how can that restaurant not be doing good stuff? You’re tending to it. It’s the same for your marriage and the same for your children. I’m very conscious to make sure I’m there for them, and that they see me as a real father and we do things together.
What’s on your travel bucket list?
I think my ultimate trip is to go, with a couple of chefs, for two weeks around Japan and just completely immerse myself in the food culture. We’ve been to Japan many times. But just to go and purely concentrate on food, for 12 or 14 hours a day, I think you’d learn so much. Their culture is so intense. That would be my dream trip. Their respect for food is like no other country. Every country has their traditions and food culture, but Japan is different. Everything stops for food there.
sjohnson@thenational.ae
Stree
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Movies
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
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Episode list:
Ep1: A recovery like no other- the unevenness of the economic recovery
Ep2: PCR and jobs - the future of work - new trends and challenges
Ep3: The recovery and global trade disruptions - globalisation post-pandemic
Ep4: Inflation- services and goods - debt risks
Ep5: Travel and tourism
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
Jawab Iteiqal
Director: Mohamed Sammy
Starring: Mohamed Ramadan, Ayad Nasaar, Mohamed Adel and Sabry Fawaz
2 stars
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women & the Food That Tells Their Stories
Laura Shapiro
Fourth Estate
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
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Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
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Palestine and Israel - live updates
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'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Scores
Day 2
New Zealand 153 & 56-1
Pakistan 227
New Zealand trail by 18 runs with nine wickets remaining
The five pillars of Islam
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Day 5, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day When Dilruwan Perera dismissed Yasir Shah to end Pakistan’s limp resistance, the Sri Lankans charged around the field with the fevered delirium of a side not used to winning. Trouble was, they had not. The delivery was deemed a no ball. Sri Lanka had a nervy wait, but it was merely a stay of execution for the beleaguered hosts.
Stat of the day – 5 Pakistan have lost all 10 wickets on the fifth day of a Test five times since the start of 2016. It is an alarming departure for a side who had apparently erased regular collapses from their resume. “The only thing I can say, it’s not a mitigating excuse at all, but that’s a young batting line up, obviously trying to find their way,” said Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s coach.
The verdict Test matches in the UAE are known for speeding up on the last two days, but this was extreme. The first two innings of this Test took 11 sessions to complete. The remaining two were done in less than four. The nature of Pakistan’s capitulation at the end showed just how difficult the transition is going to be in the post Misbah-ul-Haq era.
Race card
1.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
2pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 84,000 (D) 1,400m
2.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,200m
3pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 100,000 (D) 1.950m
3.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 76,000 (D) 1,800m
4pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,600m
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 68,000 (D) 1,000m
