Tasty opening night for Abu Dhabi festival

Food glorious food: visitors flocked to the opening night of the Taste of Abu Dhabi at du Arena on Yas Island. Ravindranath K / The National

ABU DHABI // With The Wailers playing along in the background as celebrity chefs prepared some of their signature dishes, the second annual Taste of Abu Dhabi kicked off in style on Thursday night.

Visitors poured into du Arena on Yas Island for the first day of the event, which attracted 14,000 people last year.

For some, though the lure of food was tempting, it was the one-night-only performance by the late Bob Marley’s band, The Wailers, that was the main selling point.

This year’s festivities also appeared to be better planned than the last, some visitors said, with short queues and people in high spirits.

“It’s much more organised this year. They have shuttle buses to bring you from the car park to the front gate. They didn’t have that last year,” one visitor said.

Among this year’s attractions are the chef’s theatre, cookery school, family lounge, kids’ zone, and entertainment stage with live acts and DJs.

This year has also seen everything go up a scale, with 25 restaurants – as opposed to last year’s 18 – taking part, each lined up neatly along the perimeter of the venue.

Each restaurant serves up small portions of their signature dishes for as little as Dh15, with prices rising to Dh40 per dish.

Among the eateries taking part are Prego’s, Atayeb, Sho Cho, and Caramel.

Al Mrzab is also making its debut as the only Emirati restaurant at this year’s festival.

The cookery school and chef’s theatre are the festival’s main attractions.

Crowds flocked to see their favourite celebrity chefs in action.

In the cookery school’s first session, Food Network star Siba Mtongana taught guests how to whip up herbed seared tuna. During the class, Mtongana joked that people call her the “queen of convenience”, something she said she’s quite proud of. “You should never be intimidated in the kitchen,” she said. “I like to make it easy.” Another celebrity chef, Jenny Morris, also known as The Giggling Gourmet, told visitors she was as excited about Taste of Abu Dhabi as they were.

“I’m so looking forward to meeting our Food Network viewers. Not only do you get to meet your supporters, you get to meet other chefs and get to experience the local flavours and customs of the country,” she said.

Other celebrity chefs making an appearance are Food Network star Reza Mahammad, MasterChef India winner Nikita Gandhi, and master patissier Eric Lanlard.

The festival runs on Friday from noon to 11pm, and on Saturday from noon to 10pm.

Tickets can be bought on arrival, starting at Dh80.

For a complete schedule of events, visit www.tasteabudhabi.com.