Marco Pierre White to open more UAE restaurants

The celebrated chef turned restaurateur has signed a deal that will see more Marco Pierre White restaurants open in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Marco Pierre White outside his DIFC restaurant, Wheeler's, in Dubai. Sarah Dea / The National

When Marco Pierre White announced a new deal with Rmal Hospitality, he quashed rumours that his Titanic restaurant at the Meliã Dubai in Bur Dubai was due to close.

“This is incorrect. I know nothing of that,” says the celebrity chef.

RMAL Hospitality chief executive Anthony P Liddiard added:  “With the purchase of the brands that Rmal has recently bought, that doesn’t include the Titanic, but going forward, if we saw an opportunity for the right fit for a Titanic, we would certainly look at it.”“With the purchase of the brands that Rmal has recently bought, that doesn’t include the Titanic, but going forward, if we saw an opportunity for the right fit for a Titanic, we would certainly look at it.”

The UAE-based hospitality group Rmal will take control of Pierre White’s restaurant brands outside of the UK. In the UAE, that includes Frankie’s Italian Bar & Grill in Oasis Beach Tower in Dubai Marina and Wheeler’s Of St James’s in Dubai International Financial Centre, as well as Frankie’s Italian Restaurant & Bar and Marco Pierre White Steakhouse & Grill at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr in Abu Dhabi.

The first UAE restaurant to open following the deal will be the Marco Pierre White Grill at the new Conrad Hotel in Dubai, due to open in late August.

“It’s going to be a grill room; it’s going to be a straightforward grill room,” says Pierre White. “We have the steakhouse in London and then we have the steak restaurant in Abu Dhabi, so it will be very similar to that, just on a larger scale.”

“The grill encompasses a lot more choice,” says Mr Liddiard. “You can have classic dishes from Wheeler’s on the seafood section, you can have classic steaks from the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, and chicken dishes, vegetable dishes, but with a grill you’re widening the net.

“It is very much a dining out experience, but it’s not just the food, we’re going to create a very nice bar element with piano, live music, possibly a DJ – that’s what the people want today.”

Pierre White would continue to be involved in the running of his UAE restaurants and would have to sign off on any new concepts.

Because, as he puts it: “The name above the door is my name.”

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