What's it like attending a F&B conference with 80,000 people during COVID?
Terrifying at first.
Then, after settling in and examining the precautions, you could see the event was doing its level best for safety and comfort. While attendees hardly practiced social distancing, constant air recirculation put me at ease. Sit-down forums had helpers wiping chairs every time someone got up. Almost everything was single use.
Gulfood 2021 was dizzying. First, I didn't know there were that many consumer products in the world to market! But what made the show valuable was connecting with chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, academics.... from around the world.
Thanks to an inspiring presentation and personal chat with 3* Chef Norbert Niederkofler, I decided to follow a conference track on sustainability which included amazing talks from organizations including SOMA MATER who broke down supply chain, operational and environmental challenges.
Some of the tech available in the food-loss space could be game changing. I hope to share more about this in the future. I was so impressed that I'm trying to on-board it with some of The Single Table's restaurant investments.
Finally, The Single Table was hand selected by Gulfood and put along side major CEOs and starred chefs to talk about the conference experience.
NOW WHO WANTS TO TALK FOOD?
It was soul satisfying to get the creative juices flowing again and see who's doing amazing food in a global city. There were some definite highs.... and some lows. Examining COVID procedures in varied, real-life situations was extremely useful.
There was the meal at Masti I can't stop thinking about...with an introduction to Indian fusion and a killer cocktail program (half price happy hour people!). The eggplant bartha is worth the trip alone to the La Mer district.
There was astonishment at seeing such a high level of execution at COYA despite it being a gigantic, high-production restaurant. They can make a simple corn three-ways dish explode with flavour and texture.
There was the meal that almost killed me at Tasca by Jose Avillez when I choked on a fish bone (not a hair-pin bone, a bone half the size of a toothpick in a croquette) and not one of half-a-dozen-floor managers came by to check on me or apologize.
There were celebrity chef restaurants galore:
Massimo Bottura's Torno Subito with it's truffle tasting menu to drool over. I love, love, LOVE you Massimo and I love your staff there, but why do I need three different people telling me to post about my meal on Tripadvisor? Why Massimo? WHY?
tagliolino , porcini essence, truffle at Torno Subito
A meal started off with great promise at Jason Atherton's Marina Social and then completely derailed. Apparently when it rains in Dubai, things fall apart. When it rained on the patio, the front of house completely lost control of the dining room. ONE HOUR from main to dessert. I walked up to the open dessert kitchen where the chef was doing absolutely nothing except some light mise en place and had to ask him to fire my dessert. Later, I received a sad, uninspired chocolate lava cake. This was an expensive BLIND tasting menu, the highest spend in the restaurant, with drop offs that included no explanation of the dish.
The winning British chef in this duel, by a mile, W1 by Gary Rhodes for amazing flavours, polished service and a killer lemon and chocolate dessert.
Two visits to Robuchon's new outpost. Not hitting on all cylinders yet, but it should get there in time.
foie at Robuchon with a dated 90's plating
A tasting menu at Yannick Alleno's STAY, where, and please forgive me dear reader, I subbed a foie course for chef's "childhood soup" and it's the best decision I made on the trip. Second best dish I had in Dubai (for the number one dish, see the pasta course above).
beef pancetta, toasted bread, modern aligot at STAY
Plus, I squealed like a little kid when I was in Dubai Mall and stumbled on an Angelina of Paris!
Now, before you start yelling at your screen, YES -- mezze, mezze, mezze galore! Turkish, Lebanese, Syrian! Grilled meats! All amazing!
So while the trip was exhausting in one sense (an entire extra suitcase filled with gloves, wipes, sanitizer, masks), it was also exhilarating to observe people out-and-about and experience hospitality for the first time in a year.