Some like it hot
Following frankincense routes in Oman, new lives in Cairo, and bold ambition in Abu Dhabi.
While Dubai may have spent much of the past two decades building tall towers and hosting parties, Abu Dhabi, its more reserved rival city, has been pursuing soft power of another kind in an effort to shore up an oil-free future. A long-term campaign by the Abu Dhabi government to persuade marquee cultural institutions to open outposts in the city – part of its blueprint to create an essential stopover between hemispheres – came to fruition spectacularly last year when the Louvre Abu Dhabi opened in a cluster of 55 pavilions designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. It joins the distinctive gold-domed UAE Pavilion events space and Manarat Al Saadiyat arts and cultural centre on Saadiyat Island, a 27-square-kilometre island adjacent to the main island of Abu Dhabi.
The Louvre is among the first of a number of cultural institutions designed by high-profile architects planned for Saadiyat; but agreements have been signed for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, designed by Frank Gehry, a maritime museum by Tadao Ando, a performing arts centre by the late Zaha Hadid and the Zayed National Museum by Norman Foster.
Add a vibrant food scene, big-ticket sporting events such as the Formula One Grand Prix, the Ferrari World theme park and OTT malls seemingly designed to test the limits of retail endurance, and this city of 1.8 million people gives Dubai a run for its oil money.
EAT AND DRINK Al Aqssa You haven’t been to the Middle East if you haven’t had knafeh, a sweet pastry of cheese baked between layers of semolina dough, fillo or thin, crisp noodles and topped with crumbled pistachio nuts. Al Aqssa is one of the oldest knafeh cafés in town, and it has an arresting display of enormous shallow trays filled with the snacks. The delightfully gooey knafeh are sold by weight and are best eaten immediately, drizzled to order with warm sugar syrup scented with rosewater. Al Salam St, Al Zahiyah; +971 2 644 2159
Mezlai
Restaurants serving genuine Emirati food can be hard to find in a place where local-born residents comprise less than 20 per cent of the population. At Mezlai, however, the traditional cuisine eaten by the nomadic ancestors of modern-day Emiratis has shifted from home kitchens to centre stage. It’s one of nine restaurants housed in the bonkers Arabian wonderland of the Emirates Palace Hotel. Emirati chef Ali Ebdowa is flying the flag with dishes such as lamb medfoun, which riffs on the traditional technique of wrapping meat in banana leaves and cooking it in an oven dug in the sand. Another signature is honey-glazed camel tongue with garlic and coriander, the sauce mopped up by local flatbread known as rgag. West Corniche Rd; +971 2 690 7999; kempinski.com
Royal Rajasthan
Distinguished by glittering tiles and purple trim, the Bollywood-style interior of this vegetarian Indian restaurant in the heart of Abu Dhabi’s old commercial centre is worth a look, but it’s more fun to order at the counter, take your token to the street-side window and watch the chef wok-fry pani puri. The fragile shells are filled with a fragrant tamarind-spiked broth, potato and a minty yoghurt sauce. Eat in a single mouthful or wear the results. Hamdan St, Al Markaziyah; +971 2 635 3763
Asia de Cuba
There’s seating inside at this London-via-New York restaurant, but the beach deck with lantern-lit bar and cabanas overlooking the Arabian Gulf is the place to be. Part of the St Regis Hotel’s beach club, Asia de
Cuba occupies prime position on the Corniche, the eight-kilometre promenade on the city’s north-western shore. This is the home of “Chino-Latino” mash-ups – Cuban fried chicken meets bao and seafood paella gets a shishito pepper shake-up. Cocktails set the party mood and electronic music competes with the call to prayer coming from the mosque across the water. A city of contradictions? You betcha. St Regis Hotel, Corniche Rd; +971 2 699 3333; asiadecuba.com
Shish Shawerma
The original Levantine fast food is updated at the bright new-school Shish Shawerma, where spit-grilled meats are stuffed into pita pockets with parsley, onion, tomato and chilli sauce, then grilled. It’s on a one-way street lined by restaurants where waiters take orders directly from customers in their cars, who then drive around the block until their food is ready – what locals call the “Abu Dhabi Drive Thru”. Behind Corniche Towers, 2 Al Khalidiya; +971 2 650 5576; shishshawerma.com
Vansha Ghar
The maxim that taxi drivers know where to find the best cheap eats holds true at this humble hole-in-the-wall café specialising in Nepalese food. The menu includes rugged chicken momos accompanied by an innocentlooking green sauce with a chilli kick, bhatmas
(fried soy beans) and biryani. Most meals cost about 15 dirhams, around $5. Waves of uniformed drivers eat with their hands, gracefully palming up saucy rice without spilling a drop; there’s cutlery for the less practised, but only if you ask for it. Zayed the First St; +971 2 644 0788; facebook.com/VanshaGhar
STAY Jumeirah at Etihad Towers
Occupying one of the five strikingly irregular glass towers that have become a symbol of Abu Dhabi, Jumeirah commands impeccable views of the city and ocean. Guests are greeted in a glass-walled lobby the size of an aircraft hangar and decorated with huge Swarovski-crystal chandeliers, and the 382 spacious rooms and suites are decked out in lavish Middle Eastern-accented style. Cool off in any of three swimming pools or relax on a private beach where deckchairs are arranged with geometric precision. A buffet breakfast in Rosewater restaurant has a strong suit in Arabic fare with cold meze including labneh balls, local fig jam, and makdous, preserved eggplant stuffed with walnut and chilli. Etihad Towers, West Corniche; +971 2 811 5555; jumeirah.com ➤
Zaya Nurai Island
Could this be the ultimate Persian Gulf island experience? A 10-minute speedboat ride from Saadiyat Island drops guests on the sandy wonderland of Zaya Nurai Island, where 32 villas grace a perfect crescent of beach, each with a plunge pool and a daybed built for two. Larger villas, for groups or families, dot the other side of the island. A pair of bicycles parked outside each villa are for island exploration – use those wheels to hit the Smokin’ Pineapple beach bar, where decking strewn with cushions is the ideal place to lounge with a Caipirinha in hand, and rope swings and hammocks dangle in the water ready for Instagram posing. Eating options include wood-fired pizze at Smokin’ Pineapple, local seafood at Hooked, modern Mexican at Dusk and international fare at Frangipani. Zaya Nurai Island; +971 2 506 6222; zayanuraiisland.com
SEE
Louvre Abu Dhabi The catchcry of the new Abu Dhabi could well be
“art, not oil” as the UAE government diligently diversifies its interests into culture. Opened late last year, the Louvre’s first foreign outpost (the partnership alone came at a cost of $1.5 billion) is the jewel in the crown of the nascent Saadiyat Island arts precinct. The Louvre’s collection is enough to induce Stendhal syndrome, with more than 600 works – many on loan from French institutions – telling the story of shared human experience from ancient times. The Louvre Paris has the Mona Lisa but Abu Dhabi has da Vinci’s
Salvator Mundi, bought last year for a staggering
$591 million, making it the most expensive painting in the world. The building by Pritzker-winning French architect Jean Nouvel is the other star of the show. His build-it-and-they-will-come museum is a play on an Arabian medina, with a matrix of white-washed walls topped by an eight-layer silver dome creating a palmfrond filigree effect – a glorious “rain of light” that alone is worth the price of admission. Saadiyat Island; +971 600 565566; louvreabudhabi.ae; open every day except Monday. Observation Deck at 300 It’s high tea at high altitude – 300 metres above the ground, to be precise – at Etihad Tower number two, the third-tallest building in Abu Dhabi. After an ear-popping lift ride to the 74th floor, take a 360-degree twirl around the room to survey the city (use a telescope to zoom in on the jaw-dropping splendour of the newly built Presidential Palace, which isn’t open to the public). An elegant high tea is presented on three-tiered silver platters bedecked with colourful mini-pastries. Tea, or Champagne cocktail? That’s your choice, but undeniably the best time to visit is at sunset. Tower 2, Level 74, Jumeirah Hotel, Etihad Towers, West Corniche; +971 2 811 5666; jumeirah.com
DO
The Galleria The air-conditioned shopping mall is king in the UAE, thanks in no small part to notoriously hot summers during which the mercury can pass 50 degrees. The Galleria, located on the bijou Al Maryah Island to the west of Saadiyat Island, sits at the top of the retail food chain in Abu Dhabi, with the biggest names in world fashion jostling for attention across two waterfront-hugging levels. For an aprésshop pit stop, head to the terrace at modern Peruvian restaurant Coya for sea-bream ceviche brightened with aji amarillo. Al Falah Street, Al Maryah Island; +971 2 616 6999; thegalleria.ae
Mina Zayed Market
Get to the heart of old Abu Dhabi by swapping shopping malls for souks. The ever-growing vertical city limits stop at Mina Zayed, the traditional market that occupies a spit of land near the main port.
The cacophonous fish souk is lined by dozens of stalls; customers buy their fish, take them to the fish butchers, identified by their red overalls, to clean and fillet, then present their catch to one of the simple restaurants dotted around the perimeter. Here, cooks will grill the fish over charcoal, fry it, or serve it in a masala. Across the road behind the Al Mina fruit and vegetable souk, the national obsession with the date is on show at 20 identikit shops lining one laneway. As well as the popular sticky-sweet medjool dates, look for fresh dates, sold still attached to the stalk, and designer dates stuffed with dried kiwifruit or almonds. Al Mina St, Zayed Port
Saadiyat Beach Club
Saadiyat Island has been called the UAE’s answer to the Hamptons, and Saadiyat Beach Club is doing its utmost to keep the comparison alive. A mostly young crowd of Emiratis park their new-model European sports cars out front and spend the afternoon lazing in the cabanas lining the enormous beachfront pool while a DJ spins tunes. As well as being the natural habitat of the city’s upwardly mobile, this rarefied stretch of beach is also the nesting site for a colony of hawksbill turtles that return seasonally to lay eggs in the sand. Exit 14, Saadiyat Island; +971 2 656 3500; saadiyatbeachclub.ae ●