No matter how much we’ve loved getting our hands messy in the kitchen these past few months, all the weighing out can get tiring. But instead of just wishing ingredients would magically appear on the doorstep, prepped and packaged, the dream is now a reality.
Over the past few months, a number of UAE restaurants have released cooking kits that do all the heavy lifting for you. Here’s a look at some ingenious boxes that will help you whip up a gourmet meal … without needing to step foot out the door.
1. Roberto’s at Home
Home-grown Italian restaurant Roberto’s is giving Dubai residents a taste of la dolce vita with its At Home experience, with 22 dishes available for delivery.
To ensure the food is as fresh as can be, it is pre-cooked and vacuum packed, with customers required to execute the final touches at home – a process that should take approximately 10 minutes. Once the order is placed, customers will received a QR code with a tutorial video from the chef talking them through those last steps.
The At Home box will also contain a recipe card detailing the final touches, and instructions on how to recreate the meal from scratch should they wish to ever make it again.
Some dishes available as part of the experience include Bomba Roberto's pizza and fettuccine Roberto's with Canadian lobster.
The meal, which comes within a marble-patterned box, includes focaccia bread, artisanal oil and balsamic vinegar. Customers will also receive a QR code so they can access Roberto’s Spotify playlist, compiled by one of the restaurant's resident DJs, and turn dinner at home into a fine-dining experience.
Delivery is available throughout Dubai, within one hour of placing the order. Prices start at Dh255 for a three-course meal, including a starter, pizza or pasta and dessert. For details, call 050 514 355.
2. Gia Dubai's Summer in Italy experience
Gia launched its Summer in Italy experience to help customers "bring Italy home". It has two packages, including the Amalfi Coast pizza kit, which allows diners to choose between two flavours – the meaty diavola and veggie pizza primavera. The second is the Roman Holiday pasta kit, which gives customers the chance to make either the penne al ragu di pollo e funghi, with chicken and mushroom, or the casarecce pesto.
In both cases, all the ingredients – from the pizza dough to the toppings and garnishes – are included within the kit, measured out and accompanied by recipe cards.
Both kits serve two. The Amalfi Coast Pizza Kit is Dh79 and the Roman Holiday Pasta Kit is Dh139. Delivery is made across the UAE and orders can be placed by calling 056 699 6544.
3. Folly by Nick and Scott’s recipe boxes
Those missing the taste of Nick Alvis and Scott Price’s dishes can simply order their recipe boxes and recreate the magic at home. The chefs behind Folly by Nick and Scott have created weekly recipe boxes with a new dish available for delivery every Thursday.
Each box comes with pre-weighed ingredients, a step-by-step recipe card and a QR code which links through to ‘how-to’ videos, with novice chefs advised to watch this before cooking the meal. Recipes coming up soon include roasted ribeye of beef with red cabbage and wholegrain mustard slaw, and paprika-marinated salmon with summer salad and sour cream.
Customers can post pictures of their efforts on Instagram, tagging @follydubai and @nickandscott for a chance to win the following week's recipe box for free.
The box is Dh100, serves two, and can be delivered to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Orders need to be placed by 12pm on Tuesday for Thursday delivery. For more information, WhatsApp 050 553 4168.
4. Go! Cook
Chances are you’ve heard about Cloud Restaurants, the home-grown concept that only does deliveries through Deliveroo, with branches including Go! Pasta, Go! Greek and Go! Healthy.
Now, the platform has added Go! Cook to the roster. Available exclusively through Deliveroo, customers can have measured ingredients delivered to their doorsteps so they can make restaurant-quality dishes in under 15 minutes. On the menu are pastas, sauces, marinated chicken and frozen starters. Ingredients are accompanied by nutritional labels and instructions so you know exactly what you’re putting into your body.
Delivery can be made throughout Dubai. A meal for two costs roughly Dh50.
5. Rise and Dawn's sourdough starter
Baking bread has been a popular pastime for many who've been staying at home – but anyone who has given it a go knows that creating that perfect sourdough is no mean feat. Rise and Dawn, the bakery created by the team behind Tom & Serg, know this, which is why they have launched a Sourdough Kit, with every box containing what you need to make two 720-gram loaves.
Rise and Dawn’s sourdough starter is available for next day delivery for orders placed before 5pm, with a pick-up option available from The Sum of Us (orders must be placed before 5pm for the pick-up the following day).
The sourdough kit is Dh85. For details, call 056 445 7526.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Despacito's dominance in numbers
Released: 2017
Peak chart position: No.1 in more than 47 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Lebanon
Views: 5.3 billion on YouTube
Sales: With 10 million downloads in the US, Despacito became the first Latin single to receive Diamond sales certification
Streams: 1.3 billion combined audio and video by the end of 2017, making it the biggest digital hit of the year.
Awards: 17, including Record of the Year at last year’s prestigious Latin Grammy Awards, as well as five Billboard Music Awards
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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.”
Christopher Robin
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Haley Atwell, Jim Cummings, Peter Capaldi
Three stars