POP! dinner brings Dubai residents and Syria together at Fairmont The Palm

POP! put on its first dinner on Thursday night, called Makloubeh - A Culinary Evening for Syria. (Makloubeh refers to the “upside-down” Levantine rice dish.) Dish name TK.CREDIT: Courtesy Maureen GannonShow less

The UAE isn’t lacking in a variety of food or cultures, but a new pop-up dinner club brings both together with a finesse that’s rare - and welcome - in these parts.

After warming up with a few smaller events in February, POP! put on its first dinner on Thursday night, called Makloubeh - A Culinary Evening for Syria. (Makloubeh refers to the “upside-down” Levantine rice dish.)

The centrepiece, of course, was the braised lamb shank and wild mushroom makloubeh of chefs Mohammed Orfali and Tomas Reger, prefaced by a dried fig and date tabbouleh, eggplant moshatah and baterch, a chargrilled moutabbal topped with meat confit.

Guests sat at tables of their choosing in the lantern-lit courtyard of Dubai's Fairmont The Palm and, in between courses, were encouraged to converse with one another and read aloud tidbits about Syrian culture from postcards at their place settings (Did you know the earliest mermaid story dates back to Syria? Or that a Syrian invented the ice cream cone?). Among some of the brief but charming speakers were Orfali (you might know him from Fatafeat TV), who talked about his passion for his native cuisine, and film director Nabil Maleh, who addressed people in Arabic before a clip from one of his films was screened on one of the courtyard walls.

All of it had more creativity and intimacy than one could expect from the usual hotel dinner, so we’re looking forward with much anticipation to future events in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, including the next one, an Afghani pop-art barbeque. For more information, go to