Visitors to Expo 2020 Dubai could never go hungry. With more than 200 restaurants, cafes, bars and food lorries — from exotic molecular gastronomy to gooey gluten-free biscuits — there's something for every palate and budget.
But there's also a set of restaurants with deep roots in the UAE, ones that have earned their place in the country's heritage.
These are restaurants I grew up with, they are woven into the fabric of the UAE
Pallavi Dean,
Roar
Popular Pakistani restaurant Ravi's; Maraheb Yemeni restaurants; Sarouja Restaurant and Cafe specialising in Syrian cuisine; Al Farwania Restaurant which serves karak tea and snacks; Arabic sweet shop Firas; Filipino restaurant Dampa Seafood Grill; Indian grill restaurant Chicken Tikka Inn and Al Reef Lebanese Bakery are all represented at the world's fair.
These local gems are household names in the UAE and showcase the melting pot of cuisines and cultures that make up the Emirates.
The Sharjah-born architect behind the design of a dozen of them is Pallavi Dean, who has lived in the UAE for almost all her life.
“These are restaurants I grew up with, they are woven into the fabric of the UAE,” said Ms Dean, 40, who runs the architecture and interior design studio Roar, based in Dubai Design District.
“We were tasked with creating the 2020 version of them, which was really exciting. We wanted to keep the sense of the nostalgia of that brand and build on it. So we started by figuring out the DNA of each restaurant.”
The journey towards designing the restaurants was fast and furious. Ms Dean and Roar won the contract just before Christmas, and created interior plans for 20 restaurants in only four weeks.
“It was insanely busy, but everyone in the studio was excited to be working for Expo, it wasn't just me,” said Ms Dean, who worked on the projects with 13 of her colleagues.
“I grew up with these restaurants. I can think back to moments in my life, for example, when I had a bad parents-teacher meeting and my mum and dad took me to Chicken Tikka, or after a big night out we'd go to Al Reef.”
The spirit of the original restaurants can be seen in many of the intricate details, many of which only locals will spot.
The Roar team intentionally brought nostalgia into every design, and worked closely with the owners and Expo, said Ms Dean.
“Al Reef is known for its terracotta bricks, so we did a whole wall made out of them. Firas is predominantly an Arabic sweet shop, and they have these little barrels where they display their sweets. So we used those barrels, painted them in the brand colours and we created a whole bar counter using them,” she said.
“The original Al Farwania is on Jumeirah Beach Road, where you have all these little grocery stores that have swimming pool inflatables hanging outside. So we put these inflatables inside the new Expo branch, but in neutral tones.”
The owner of Maraheb wanted to include traditional lanterns that he has in all his restaurants, so those were incorporated, while Chicken Tikka Inn has red-feathered lampshades, as a wry nod to the major ingredient of most meals.
Filipino fish restaurant Dampa has a carnival atmosphere thanks to its lights, and fishing nets hung from the ceiling.
Originally 20 restaurants were planned, but the world was a different place in December 2019. By March 2021, only 12 food outlets were built, including one new concept, a coffee shop called Canvas by Coffee + Culture.
Ms Dean believes Expo's decision to include the local favourites was important.
“Expo is all about the future, but I think it's really important to kind of take a moment and look at the roots that the UAE has and not just, discard them but build on them,” she said.
“Don't forget, a lot of our memories are tied up in those restaurants, so it was very sweet of Expo to have this local gems project to really highlight these brands.
“We all knew about them locally, but now the whole world's going to know about them.”
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Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
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Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
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It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
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FANS WILL LOVE
Uber is ridiculously cheap and, as Diego Saez discovered, mush safer. A 45-minute taxi from Pulova airport to Saint Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect can cost as little as 500 roubles (Dh30).
FANS WILL LOATHE
Uber policy in Russia is that they can start the fare as soon as they arrive at the pick-up point — and oftentimes they start it even before arriving, or worse never arrive yet charge you anyway.
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It’s amazing how active Russians are on social media and your accounts will surge should you post while in the country. Throw in a few Cyrillic hashtags and watch your account numbers rocket.
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With cold soups, bland dumplings and dried fish, Russian cuisine is not to everybody’s tastebuds. Fortunately, there are plenty Georgian restaurants to choose from, which are both excellent and economical.
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The World Cup will take place during St Petersburg's White Nights Festival, which means perpetual daylight in a city that genuinely never sleeps. (Think toddlers walking the streets with their grandmothers at 4am.)
FANS WILL LOATHE
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