Where does Michele Johnson @findmichele - co-founder of @pitfirepizzabakers dine out? 😋

In this month’s ‘Where Restaurateurs Eat’ column, I asked this super woman of not just pizza fame, but garlic knots and hot honey margs, to share her five go-to, favourite restaurants encompassing:

🔪 Three in the UAE
🔪 One in her home country
🔪 One located elsewhere internationally.

Click second link in bio, and stories to find her top picks 🔗 My newsletter tribe received this post in their inbox yesterday. Feel free to subscribe, if not already.

🔪As always, would love your nominations for female restaurateurs here leading their businesses🔪 You never know, they might not be on my radar - and could land themselves a feature here 🙏🏼 #WhereRestaurateursEat #UAERestaurantsUnite ...

A staggering 95% of my newsletter readers (many of you on here too 😜) voted for my new header-style format that I had proposed for my restaurant reviews, which actually brings great joy to the organisational freak in me 😉

It’s now become de rigueur for every restaurant to boast about its so-called “concept.” A word I am also guilty of using time and time again - and hence the first header of my restaurant reviews moving forward. The FT’s restaurant critic @timhayward makes a sarcastic dig in a recent London restaurant review that warrants a giggle.

Onto this month’s review. @threecutsdxb is a new licensed steakhouse perched atop Rooftop West, Nakheel Mall. In a world where Google mapping is the norm, who cares whether it’s the west or east side of the rooftop? How does that help us with directions? Does anyone use their smart phone compass app, or even know they have one? Anyhow, digressing. We’ll come on to the challenges of this location a little later on.

I should have known by simply looking at the restaurant’s Instagram that a strapline of “FOOD. COMMUNITY. MUSIC” would guarantee a booming playlist, albeit a nostalgic one - especially given the upper case font. But they did reduce the volume upon my request. Another content-worthy discussion point.

The restaurant’s name is a nod to the three steak cuts on the menu - striploin, tenderloin and ribeye. Cuts that are also incorporated into the t-bone and tomahawk. The waiter does not explain “the concept.” A good thing, in my book. It’s self-explanatory. The only time I don’t mind storytelling is for a tasting menu concept, and even then, the less said, the better, so I can enjoy my food whilst still warm. Unless it’s the 14-seater by @gaggan_anand Only then will I happily soak up both the storytelling…and the music.

Click second link in bio to have a read 🔗 My newsletter tribe received this review in their inbox last week. Feel free to subscribe, if not already 🙏🏼

Do you like a restaurant’s “concept” explained to you in person on arrival? Or does a synopsis on the website and menu suffice? #UAERestaurantsUnite ...

Where does Lily Hoa Nguyen, co-founder & executive chef of Vietnamese Foodies dine out? 😋

In this month’s ‘Where Restaurateurs Eat’ column, I asked this super woman, of legendary beef pho fame (pronounced feu please 😜), to share her five go-to, favourite restaurants encompassing:

🔪 Three in the UAE
🔪 One in her home country
🔪 One located elsewhere internationally.

Click second link in bio, and stories to find her top picks 🔗 My newsletter tribe received this post in their inbox last week. Feel free to subscribe, if not already.

🔪As always, would love your nominations for female restaurateurs here leading their businesses🔪 You never know, they might not be on my radar - and could land themselves a feature here 🙏🏼 #WhereRestaurateursEat #UAERestaurantsUnite ...

Dearest Greg,

I am reeling from shock. How could you leave us so early? 💔

💔From the moment we first met when I interviewed you a decade ago in Dubai, your emotions not only poured out of your mouth, but onto the plate with every single dish you knocked up. All you wanted to do was feed people. I will cherish every single memory and bite over the last ten years.

💔You were always quick to participate in my dining experiences. And on one occasion, even putting your hand up for the dessert course. Other than pastry chefs obviously, it’s rare to find chefs keen to challenge themselves with pastry. Thanks to your talent, I fell in love with your desserts and would demolish every morsel.

💔Your art-filled homes were a haven for dinner parties. THAT salmon kibbeh nayyeh was legendary. And who knew you could pair Reblochon with Kalamata olives? You did, of course. On my first visit, I accidentally wandered into your bedroom when looking for the toilet, only to stumble upon glorious copper pots perched on your bed. You lived and breathed cooking.

💔A trip to Lebanon where we bonded over Massaya’s wines and your endless cooking. I spotted a seasonal fruit and vegetable calendar that you insisted on buying for me. It sits forever framed in my kitchen.

💔The grandest of restaurant openings, Cle, where you couldn’t care less about Khloe Kardashian and Paris Hilton. Or the free-flow vintage Dom Perignon. Actually you did care about that one🥂😉 You simply wanted to cook for us.

💔But your cooking was so often misunderstood. Because you were brave to challenge Lebanese cuisine, and with a few expert tweaks, created a whole new cooking style that revolutionised “Middle Eastern” cuisine forever. Not only were you the master of Middle Eastern cuisine, but the master of flavour. You may be gone but your talent lives on with your protégées @trotskie @bethanykehdy and every single chef you have mentored.

💔Greg, I raise a glass to you and your loved ones. Only DP🥂for you. Thank you for being you, my fellow Arian. I will forever miss you. May the angels guard you until we meet again. Gutted I won’t see you next week. Samantha. x @gregmaloufchef #gregmalouf ...

International accolades from Michelin and 50 Best have catapulted Palestinian chef-owner Salam Dakkak’s @bait.maryam in JLT to stardom. Seven years after opening her first baby, her second-born @sufretmaryam in Jumeirah’s Wasl 51 complex pays tribute to the Levant region with a compact, elevated menu of meze plates - in contrast to the cosy charm and mammoth selection at the OG.

A pause here to flag the use of the words ‘Levantine’ and ‘Levant’ and their colonial adoption. Something I had never considered until I saw chef, cookbook author and historian @bethanykehdy ‘s recent video and article. All linked in my newsletter on this new opening, emailed to my tribe yesterday - see second link in bio, and stories 🔗 So will you join me in referencing this cuisine as Shami?

This is NOT a restaurant review. Why? A couple of reasons.

🍉 I broke my rule of visiting new restaurants in their opening month. In line with my editorial policy, I like to give new openings a month or so to settle in and iron out any teething issues. However, I was keen to include Sufret Maryam in a feature that I wrote for an international publication - and paid it a visit a month ago.

🍉 Palestinian-owned restaurants can benefit from as much love and custom (i.e. paying the bill) as we can shower upon them. So whilst I find it hard to turn off my critical eye and palate anywhere I eat, it’s unfair to willingly dish out criticism to restaurants whose owners, families and friends are suffering from a genocide. 🇵🇸 #UAERestaurantsUnite ...

🇵🇭What do you do when you land in Manila during a typhoon?🇵🇭

Eat, shop, eat 😜

We arrive in Manila as a typhoon lashes through the capital. Fortunately, our plane lands right at the start, before Gaemi, as she (or he, or they?) is named, gathers pace, as she certainly does over our three-day stay.

We’re staying in Makati, the business district, which isn’t as affected as other parts of the city, and the rest of the Philippines. But we are forced to skip the sightseeing across town, and remain glued to this bougie neighbourhood, eating and shopping. Not exactly a hardship. And my kind of city break.

I am ashamed to admit that this visit is my first to Manila (and the Philippines), en route to a wellness retreat, @thefarmatsanbenito - less than a two hour drive. Even Filipino friends downplay the capital, claiming the city is far from tourist-friendly, whilst encouraging everyone to prioritise one or two of the gazillion islands. But I am suitably impressed. Chaotic Bangkok meets pristine Singapore.

Here’s a culinary travel guide with everything we soak up. Almost literally too. Sheltered from the rain. Link in bio & stories 🔗

This guide landed in the inbox of my newsletter tribe. Feel free to sign up for future posts, if not already 🙏🏼

Any other restaurant tips for Manila? Pop these here so everyone can benefit 😋

#ManilaRestaurants #Philippines #PhilippinesDiva ...

Where does Natasha Sideris, the CEO & founder of @tashasgroup that owns @avlibytashas @bungalo34 and @flamingoroomae amongst many restaurants dine out? 😋

In this month’s ‘Where Restaurateurs Eat’ column, I asked this super woman for her five go-to, favourite restaurants encompassing:

🔪 Three in the UAE
🔪 One in her home country
🔪 One located elsewhere internationally. She might have shared more!

Click link in bio and stories to find her top picks 🔗 My Substack tribe received this newsletter in their inbox. Feel free to subscribe, if not already.

🔪Would love your nominations for female restaurateurs here leading their businesses🔪 You never know, they might not be on my radar - And could land themselves a feature here 😜 #WhereRestaurateursEat #UAERestaurantsUnite ...