A star-studded culinary event

Much has been made about the Michelin-starred chefs appearing at Gourmet Abu Dhabi. With the likes of Santi Santamaria, Heinz Beck, Alain Passard and Annie Feoldé gracing the capital's kitchens, we really have been spoiled. They clearly all deserve their plaudits, but their geographical location has a lot to do with their star status. In order to win a such a rating, you must be plying your trade in an area covered by the famous Red Guide. But while there have been whispers about Michelin establishing a presence in the UAE, we're still waiting - and so are the nation's chefs.

The "hosting" chefs at Gourmet Abu Dhabi will be particularly eager to welcome the respected French guides to these shores. These are the executive chefs at the local hotels which serve as venues during the festival, and while their contribution hasn't exactly gone unrecognised, they would be the first to admit that they are not yet among that elite group of crowd-pulling gourmets. A Michelin star in the future might change all that, however, as it might for many of the UAE's up and coming young chefs.

Without the recognition of such established bodies as Michelin, it would be easy for the uninformed to dismiss the product of local professionals. It would also be very wrong. Which is why the Abu Dhabi Gourmet Stars Awards represents an important development for everybody in the capital's restaurant industry, not to mention diners too. On Tuesday night, The Al Raha Beach Hotel played host to a gala dinner billed as a night with the stars. One one hand it was an opportunity to rub shoulders with Abu Dhabi's glitterati and taste the food of the esteemed chefs who had been jetted in from all over the world. But the real purpose was to reward the outstanding chefs, restaurants and restaurant managers of the capital and celebrate their work.

The reception area boasted seven live cooking stations presided over by our masterchefs chefs. There were pan-seared diver scallops from Laurent Pillard and veal sweetbreads from Philippe Massoud, beef tartare with golden Iranian caviar by Alain Soliveres and steamed shrimp dumplings with bird's nest from Sam Leong. And this was all before we'd sat down to a seven-course dinner in the main ballroom. By the time formal proceedings commenced, our palates had been stimulated nicely for one of Gourmet Abu Dhabi 2009's most eagerly awaited events.

The dinner offered the best that the festival could offer. Among my highlights of the evening was a playful yet simple dish called "egg chaud froid with caviar" by Alain Passard, which presented a gloriously runny yolk inside an immaculately cut egg shell. Then there was the homely and rustic comfort food of Santi Santamaria, who gave us a Catalan sarsuela of stunningly soft shellfish and creamy potato purée. But the pick of the bunch was the dessert by master patisserie Oriole Balaguer, entitled simply "substance". You're going to have to trust me when I say that the Grand Cru chocolate cream, vanilla mousse, toffee jelly and cocoa sponge crunch with lemon sorbet was every bit as good as it sounds.

The Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon al Nahyan took to the stage to present nine awards, which saw the honours shared by just four Abu Dhabi hotels. In the regional cuisine categories, Emirates Palace swept all before it, claiming awards for best regional cuisine chef (Ali Charaf at Diwan L'Auberge), regional cuisine manager (Adel Danihasseli at Anar restaurant) and regional cuisine restaurant of the year (Anar restaurant).

Joseph Matar of the Shangri-La hotel was named food and beverage manager of the year, and the Intercontinental's May Labo took the award for restaurant host of the year. But the lion's share went to the Beach Rotana - whose Ernst-Lothar Frank was crowned executive chef of the year - and its highly rated Finz seafood restaurant, which won the gongs for best restaurant, restaurant manager (Thaer Hanna) and chef of the year (Danial Smeenk).

I was surprised that such excellent restaurants as Board Eau at the Shangri La and Sardinia at the Abu Dhabi Health and Fitness Club had been overlooked. Maybe one day the folk at Michelin might have something to say about that.

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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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A star-studded culinary event

Gourmet abu dhabi I was surprised that such excellent restaurants as Board Eau at the Shangri La and Sardinia at the Abu Dhabi Health and Fitness Club had been overlooked.

Specs

Election pledges on migration