Only four months after making its foray into the UAE, Saudi Arabia’s popular Broasted chicken chain Al Baik has announced it will have a presence at Expo 2020 Dubai.
The fast-food joint, which first opened in Jeddah in 1974, will be located in the Opportunity District, between the Saudi Arabia and UAE pavilions.
Al Baik will serve its famous fried chicken, as well as an array of seafood, grilled meats, falafel sandwiches and desserts at the world fair, which begins on October 1.
Al Baik in the UAE
The brand opened its first UAE outpost in June, with customers thronging to The Dubai Mall in droves to sample its crispy chicken, chicken fillet sandwiches, chicken nuggets and crispy shrimps.
At the time, the company said it was “dedicated to operating and expanding Al Baik across the seven emirates”.
Yet to come to the Dubai menu are the Bik Baik sandwiches with fried chicken breast, coleslaw, pickles and a special house sauce.
Other regional dishes to sample at Expo 2020 Dubai
Expo 2020 Dubai will also house Rising Flavours, a three-storey dining hall that serves dishes by some of the GCC’s most popular chefs, in a bid to promote the Middle East’s culinary know-how.
While the full list of participating chefs and restaurants is yet to be confirmed, here are some names that have been revealed.
Douha Abdullah Al Otaishan
Al Otaishan made history as the first female executive chef in Saudi Arabia and is one of the most familiar faces on national TV in the kingdom. Some of her signature dishes include: Happy Kabsa, a fragrant rice dish layered with lamb, potato, courgette and aubergine; jareesh, a savoury porridge made with either white or red crushed wheat; margoog, a stew layered with meat, vegetables and bread; and matazeez, a meat and vegetable stew cooked with dough dumplings.
Roaya Saleh
The Bahraini restaurateur (and former investment banker) heads Villa Mamas, one of Manama’s most popular restaurants, which serves dishes such as chicken mathrooba, lamb shank, harees and hammour with herb pilaf.
Nader Al Aisari
The chef is credited with promoting fine dining in his native Oman through his restaurant and catering company Tanzanite in Muscat.
Mohamad Najem
The Lebanese chef from Qatar is known for his innovative plating techniques and delicious flavour combinations: think chicken waffles with sunny side-up eggs and chilli con carne sauce, ginger and salmon sandwiches and potatoes puffs with caviar and Texan sauce.
Khaled Al Baker
The Kuwaiti chef is the creator of Meem Cafe – a Mediterranean restaurant – and Roto, which specialises in wood-fired rotisserie meats.
Hattem Mattar
The founder of Dubai’s Mattar Farm Kitchen, this pitmaster is known for his smoky barbecued meats and penchant for pop-ups.
Zulfikar Cambaz and Jhon Faver
The two chefs from Dubai’s Westin Mina Seyahi will also be part of Rising Flavours. Cambaz is the Turkish chef behind Baba restaurant and Faver is the chef de cuisine at the hotel’s Spanish restaurant El Sur.
Food aside, the dining hall will serve as a space for GCC artists to showcase their artworks, and musicians and DJs to entertain diners with live performances.
Squad
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
