Another month, another restaurant. The dining scene in the UAE, especially in Dubai, is dominated by interesting launches.
Some of these are outposts from famed international brands — think Joe & the Juice — while others are first-time or home-grown concepts that specialise in a particular cuisine, such as burger bistro Eleven Green.
Here's a list of the restaurants that are, or will, open in the Emirates this month.
Joe & the Juice
Cuisine: Sandwiches, healthy snacks and drinks
Following from its Dubai debut last September, Copenhagen healthy food brand Joe & the Juice is coming to Yas Mall, Abu Dhabi, in April.
The menu features more than a dozen juices, including Joe's two most popular options — the Green Mile, with broccoli, spinach, avocado, lemon and apple; and Go Away Doc, with carrot, ginger and apple.
The brand is also famed for its protein-infused power shakes, and offers four vegan options. The Insta-hit Blue Magic is made from blue spirulina, avocado, dates, lemon and oat-coconut, while Re-build 2.0 comes with raw cacao, banana, avocado dates and choco-almond. The team reveals its most popular drink with dairy consumers is the Power Shake, made with strawberry, banana and vanilla milk.
There are plenty of lattes, cortados and macchiatos for coffee connoisseurs as well, with blends and beans sourced from Uganda and Guatemala, while tea lovers can sip on vanilla-matcha or green mandarin among others.
The compact food menu comprises six types of sandwiches, plus a couple of salads and breakfast bowls. The spicy tuna mousse sandwich is something of a signature, while vegans can get one with avocado, mozzarella and vegan pesto.
Daily, 8am-11pm; Yas Mall, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
The Coterie
Cuisine: British
The venue in Dubai's The Ibn Battuta Mall is split between a sporty brasserie (Coterie Social) and an artisanal restaurant (Coterie Kitchen). The former will screen football, rugby, cricket horse-racing and Formula 1 from its 19 high-definition screens paired, we are told, "with delicious and nutritious" cuisine courtesy of the latter.
The menu offers classic fish and chips, stout pie, flatbreads and roasts, as well as acai bowls, avo on toast and eggs Benedict, plus two signature dishes: Coterie hot potato, and Ticklemore goat's cheese tart.
Daily, 8am-10pm (Coterie Kitchen), 3pm-2am, Monday to Thursday and noon-2am, Friday to Sunday (Coterie Social); Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai; 058 566 4240; reservations@coteriegroup.com
Eleven Green
Cuisine: Burgers
A home-grown burger bistro, Eleven Green, the brainchild of Tano's at 8 supper club chefs Sultan and Kinda Chatila, will be opening at Meyan Mall in Dubai.
The duo will serve handcrafted burgers with creative flavour profiles, including angry chicken burger (Hokkaido milk bun with hot honey, overnight brined fried chicken and Bull sauce); and bull burger (with Wagyu and Angus cuts), plus a selection of desserts and milkshakes.
Tuesday-Sunday, 12.30pm-4.30pm (closed Monday); Meyan Mall, Jumeirah, Dubai
The Strand
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Billing itself as a "craft kitchen with cocktails", The Strand will open on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah in April, offering all the popular Dubai tropes: breakfast, a Friday drunch, a Saturday brunch and a ladies' night.
On the menu are dishes such as shakshuka, eggs Benedict, French toast, beef tenderloin, salmon and meatloaf with Yorkshire pudding.
Sunday to Thursday, 8am-midnight; Friday and Saturday, 8am-midnight; closed Monday; Palm Views West, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai; 04 430 2221
La Sirene
Cuisine: Lebanese, Mediterranean
La Sirene is a casual venue in Avani Palm View Dubai Hotel & Suites and draws inspiration from Beirut’s contemporary cafe culture.
This translates to sharing-style dishes including sea bass sayadiyah, a fish and rice dish with roasted fish sauce, fried onions, pine nuts, and sayadiyah rice; tiger prawns and avocado salad; grilled octopus; and red snapper with potatoes ragout, artichokes, green olives, tomato and coriander mash, tahini and pine nuts sauce, and black lemon powder.
Also look out for the artworks by contemporary Lebanese painter Michel Rouhana, who has created seven pieces for the restaurant using his popular waves motif in keeping with the venue's name "sirene", which comes from the French word for "mermaid".
Daily; noon-3pm, 6pm-10pm; Al Sufouh 2, Dubai; 04 604 2220
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
'Peninsula'
Stars: Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Ra
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Rating: 2/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
THE%20SWIMMERS
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Greatest Royal Rumble results
John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match
Cedric Alexander retained the WWE Cruiserweight title against Kalisto
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt win the Raw Tag Team titles against Cesaro and Sheamus
Jeff Hardy retained the United States title against Jinder Mahal
Bludgeon Brothers retain the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos
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Braun Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble by eliminating Big Cass last
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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The biog
Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents
Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University
As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families
Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too
The Beach Bum
Director: Harmony Korine
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg
Two stars
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
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Try out the test yourself
Q1 Suppose you had $100 in a savings account and the interest rate was 2 per cent per year. After five years, how much do you think you would have in the account if you left the money to grow?
a) More than $102
b) Exactly $102
c) Less than $102
d) Do not know
e) Refuse to answer
Q2 Imagine that the interest rate on your savings account was 1 per cent per year and inflation was 2 per cent per year. After one year, how much would you be able to buy with the money in this account?
a) More than today
b) Exactly the same as today
c) Less than today
d) Do not know
e) Refuse to answer
Q4 Do you think that the following statement is true or false? “Buying a single company stock usually provides a safer return than a stock mutual fund.”
a) True
b) False
d) Do not know
e) Refuse to answer
The “Big Three” financial literacy questions were created by Professors Annamaria Lusardi of the George Washington School of Business and Olivia Mitchell, of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Answers: Q1 More than $102 (compound interest). Q2 Less than today (inflation). Q3 False (diversification).
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
How does ToTok work?
The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.
What is Genes in Space?
Genes in Space is an annual competition first launched by the UAE Space Agency, The National and Boeing in 2015.
It challenges school pupils to design experiments to be conducted in space and it aims to encourage future talent for the UAE’s fledgling space industry. It is the first of its kind in the UAE and, as well as encouraging talent, it also aims to raise interest and awareness among the general population about space exploration.
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