The sharply dressed Dubai lunch crowd probably didn’t choose Nobu because they fancied a hamburger. But according to the chef de cuisine, Hervé Courtot, a miniature burger slider has become one of the exclusive Japanese restaurant’s most popular starters since it appeared on the menu a few months ago. Of course, these are no ordinary quarter-pounders: think Wagyu beef, shiitake mushrooms and truffle mayonnaise, all encased in an egg-tofu bun invented by Nobu Matsuhisa himself.
And Nobu isn’t alone: a global trend for luxury burgers means that fine-dining establishments everywhere are putting their own spin on a dish that was once the preserve of fast-food outlets. At Kitchen 45, the Wagyu beef burger is topped with Boschetto al Tartufo, a soft cheese made of cow’s and sheep’s milk while, at his Twenty10 restaurant, Gary Rhodes has dispensed with the traditional bun, placing chopped fillet-steak patties on discs of roast confit potato and topping them with foie gras.
“It was just giving a burger a different identity,” says Rhodes. “Ours uses the finest, most melting-textured meat. It’s got a devilled sauce made with crushed black peppercorns and that piquancy cuts through the foie gras. And then we’re making these lovely potato cakes, which are slowly confit in either butter or duck fat. It’s really quite sensational to eat and something that we’ve become renowned for.”
The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal’s steakhouse, The Forge, offers the WOW Burger, which offers 300 grams of Wagyu beef, pan-fried duck liver, truffle sauce, caramelised onion and ceps (mushroom) compote – all for Dh350. The restaurant has a High-End Burger promotion until the end of March, featuring six selections including the Black Truffle Kobe and Surf and Turf. Some chefs have gone even further – at Le Café in the Emirates Palace, camel burgers are scattered with edible gold leaf – but for Chris Lester, the regional chef director for Caprice Holdings, simplicity is key. “A burger is the ultimate comfort food; a little reward after a hard week,” he says. “At Rivington Grill, we make the patty ourselves, chopping Angus rump beef and serving it with either a Welsh rarebit or applewood-smoked cheddar topping and a small garnish of fat chips.”
Under Lester’s purview The Ivy Dubai has served a lobster burger, and while a shrimp burger appears at Scott’s in Abu Dhabi from time to time, he fears to take the beef burger off the menu at Rivington Grill. “I think I’d be lynched,” he says.
The trend for premium burgers is generally traced back to Daniel Boulud, the French chef and restaurateur whose New York restaurant, Daniel, holds three Michelin stars. When his countrymen protested against McDonald’s in the early 2000s, Boulud remarked that the French were jealous that they had not invented the hamburger themselves – and went on to create the DB burger, a dish that changed the landscape of the American staple. A sirloin burger with a cube of foie gras in the middle, topped with braised short ribs and black truffle, served in a Parmesan-dusted bun, the DB inspired chefs around the world to come up with their own luxury creations using everything from caviar to veal bacon.
In the process, they often created an accessible entry point to their menus for cautious or cost-conscious diners. “People love a good-quality burger and it tends to be a more affordable option on what can otherwise be quite an expensive menu,” says Samantha Wood, the founder of the restaurant review blog www.foodiva.net and contributor to The National.
Happily, for those who rarely frequent luxury restaurants, there has been a trickle-down effect, with several mid-range gourmet burger brands appearing in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Wood is a fan of Elevation Burger’s lettuce wrap as a lighter take on the dish (certainly lighter than the “vertigo burger”, a stack of four or more cheese-topped patties), while the New Zealand chain Burger Fuel recently opened the world’s first gourmet burger drive-thru on Sheikh Zayed Road. Now connoisseurs are looking forward to the first international outpost of Krush Burger, a Californian chain that began life as a high-end burger truck, in Dubai.
With so much activity in the market, Krush’s “chief burger flipper” Davin Vculek believes that staying premium is the key to success. “It will be interesting to see how the ‘better burger’ segment plays out in the next few years,” he says. “I think many businesses are riding the heat while forgetting about setting themselves apart.”
But with the likes of Nobu and Rhodes at the luxury end of the market, the heat is certainly on.
• Look out for Arts&Life’s burger road test on Wednesday, March 26, where we test and rate the many burger offerings in the UAE – and choose the best
artslife@thenational.ae
2017 RESULTS: FRENCH VOTERS IN UK
First round
Emmanuel Macron: 51.1%
Francois Fillon: 24.2%
Jean-Luc Melenchon: 11.8%
Benoit Hamon: 7.0%
Marine Le Pen: 2.9%
Second round
Emmanuel Macron: 95.1%
Marine Le Pen: 4.9%
Neymar's bio
Total club appearances 411
Total goals scored 241
Appearances for Barca 186
Goals scored for Barca 105
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Mozn
Started: 2017
Founders: Mohammed Alhussein, Khaled Al Ghoneim, Abdullah Alsaeed and Malik Alyousef
Based: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Industry: FinTech
Funding: $10 million
Investors: Raed Ventures, Shorooq Partners, VentureSouq, Sukna Ventures and others
Essentials
The flights
Return flights from Dubai to Windhoek, with a combination of Emirates and Air Namibia, cost from US$790 (Dh2,902) via Johannesburg.
The trip
A 10-day self-drive in Namibia staying at a combination of the safari camps mentioned – Okonjima AfriCat, Little Kulala, Desert Rhino/Damaraland, Ongava – costs from $7,000 (Dh25,711) per person, including car hire (Toyota 4x4 or similar), but excluding international flights, with The Luxury Safari Company.
When to go
The cooler winter months, from June to September, are best, especially for game viewing.
Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
Where to submit a sample
Volunteers of all ages can submit DNA samples at centres across Abu Dhabi, including: Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre+(Adnec), Biogenix Labs in Masdar City, NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City, NMC Royal Medical Centre, Abu Dhabi, NMC Royal Women's Hospital, Bareen International Hospital, Al Towayya in Al Ain, NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
WHAT MACRO FACTORS ARE IMPACTING META TECH MARKETS?
• Looming global slowdown and recession in key economies
• Russia-Ukraine war
• Interest rate hikes and the rising cost of debt servicing
• Oil price volatility
• Persisting inflationary pressures
• Exchange rate fluctuations
• Shortage of labour/skills
• A resurgence of Covid?
The specs
Price, base: Dh228,000 / Dh232,000 (est)
Engine: 5.7-litre Hemi V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 552Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.5L / 100km
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLA
Price, base / as tested Dh150,900 / Dh173,600
Engine 2.0L inline four-cylinder
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 211hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 1,200rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.4L / 100km
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group F
Manchester City v Hoffenheim, midnight (Wednesday, UAE)
Bahrain GP
Friday qualifying: 7pm (8pm UAE)
Saturday race: 7pm (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
The years Ramadan fell in May
How it works
1) The liquid nanoclay is a mixture of water and clay that aims to convert desert land to fertile ground
2) Instead of water draining straight through the sand, it apparently helps the soil retain water
3) One application is said to last five years
4) The cost of treatment per hectare (2.4 acres) of desert varies from $7,000 to $10,000 per hectare
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Itcan profile
Founders: Mansour Althani and Abdullah Althani
Based: Business Bay, with offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India
Sector: Technology, digital marketing and e-commerce
Size: 70 employees
Revenue: On track to make Dh100 million in revenue this year since its 2015 launch
Funding: Self-funded to date
Company Profile
Name: Direct Debit System
Started: Sept 2017
Based: UAE with a subsidiary in the UK
Industry: FinTech
Funding: Undisclosed
Investors: Elaine Jones
Number of employees: 8
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
'The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure'
Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, Penguin Randomhouse
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
if you go
The flights
Fly direct to Kutaisi with Flydubai from Dh925 return, including taxes. The flight takes 3.5 hours. From there, Svaneti is a four-hour drive. The driving time from Tbilisi is eight hours.
The trip
The cost of the Svaneti trip is US$2,000 (Dh7,345) for 10 days, including food, guiding, accommodation and transfers from and to Tbilisi or Kutaisi. This summer the TCT is also offering a 5-day hike in Armenia for $1,200 (Dh4,407) per person. For further information, visit www.transcaucasiantrail.org/en/hike/
THE SCORES
Ireland 125 all out
(20 overs; Stirling 72, Mustafa 4-18)
UAE 125 for 5
(17 overs, Mustafa 39, D’Silva 29, Usman 29)
UAE won by five wickets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: PlanRadar
Started: 2013
Co-founders: Ibrahim Imam, Sander van de Rijdt, Constantin Köck, Clemens Hammerl, Domagoj Dolinsek
Based: Vienna, Austria
Sector: Construction and real estate
Current number of staff: 400+
Investment stage: Series B
Investors: Headline, Berliner Volksbank Ventures, aws Gründerfonds, Cavalry Ventures, Proptech1, Russmedia, GR Capital
Tank warfare
Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a+“three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.
“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.
“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”