Marco Pierre White

Dubai; As Titanic opens its portholes this evening at the new Melia hotel in the rather odd location of Bur Dubai, FooDiva meets the man who many say instigated the UK celebrity chef trend in 1995 at the age of 33, when he became the youngest chef to win three Michelin stars.*

Marco Pierre White already has three franchises in the UAE – MPW steakhouse and Frankie’s at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr Abu Dhabi, plus Frankie’s Dubai. He retired from the kitchen in 1999, yet has expanded his restaurant empire to 23 restaurants – so why another opening and why Dubai?

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Is Dubai ready for Michelin? This question has been top of FooDiva’s mind lately especially since Dubai hosted its largest gathering of Michelin stars ever last month, with chefs representing restaurants totalling 12 Michelin stars. Furthermore, for the first time ever, the Dubai outposts of two international restaurant brands, Zuma and La Petite Maison have made the cut for another well respected restaurant rating system, the World’s Best Restaurants at 83 and 96 respectively. And if that wasn’t enough Zagat, a consumer survey-based guide now owned by the Google giant will launch its first Dubai book later this year (as an aside you can now vote here!)

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Si-o-se Pol (the bridge with 33 arches) in Isfahan, Iran - 2003 where we sipped sweet saffron tea under the arches.

Dubai; My love affair with Iranian cuisine stems from a childhood friendship in Cyprus – if you’re reading you know who you are. I have vivid memories of many an Iranian (or the more romantic, ancient term of Persian) feast at her family’s household, followed by a trip to Iran in 2003 during Ramazan (Farsi for Ramadan) where my love deepened in Tehran and Isfahan. Shiraz remains on my travel wish list.

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