Tickets to the gastronomic jamboree surrounding the announcement of MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants are today available for registrations of interest. Between 4th and 8th February, some of the world’s finest chefs will descend on Abu Dhabi for a series of experiential dining events, cooking masterclasses and four-hands dinners. Secure your seat at the table today
Friday 4th February
MASTERCLASSES
Liwa Suite, Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island
For the first time, the 50 Best Masterclass roadshow lands in the Middle East. Chefs from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list will reveal the secrets behind their signature dishes as part of a live cooking experience, with plenty of tasting and insider tips along the way. Each Masterclass ends with Q&A session where the audience can take a one-off chance to learn from the world’s finest chefs.
Buy a ticket to all three Masterclasses for the exclusive price of AED750 ($204), a saving of AED450 on the individual ticket prices.
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15:15-16:00
Tim Raue
Restaurant Tim Raue, Berlin
Price: AED400 ($108)
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Germany's highest-ranked chef and one of the stars of Netflix's Chef's Table series has spent a lifetiem defining a completely unique cookery style. Leaning on Japanese techniques and ingredient preparation with a minimal use of carbohydrates or heavy sauces, Raue’s future-proof cuisine is exactly in tune with the modern way diners want to eat. His Berlin flagship is ranked No.31 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021 and for this Masterclass he will show guests how to make his signature wasabi langoustine and Sanghachi pike perch, with a sprinkling of tips and tricks to top things off.
16:45-17:30
Pía León
Kjolle, Lima
Price: AED400 ($108)
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The World’s Best Female Chef 2021 is the cook behind some of the world’s most seminal restaurants. Peru’s Central, which León runs with husband Virgilio Martínez, was named Restaurant of the Decade in Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021 and the chef recently launched Kjolle, her first solo project. Her cooking focuses on the topography of Peru, exploring its varied ecosystems and the unique ingredients associated with each location. León will be showcasing her country’s produce in Abu Dhabi for this Masterclass, giving the audience a one-time chance to see how it is prepared and, of course, how it tastes.
18:15-19:00
Will Goldfarb
Room 4 Dessert, Ubud
Price: AED400 ($108)
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One of the world’s best-travelled chefs and another star of Netflix’s Chef’s Table, Goldfarb worked in France, Spain, Australia, the UK and his native USA before deciding to settle in Bali, Indonesia to open his restaurant, Room 4 Dessert. His studied approach to sweet cookery saw him announced as The World’s Best Pastry Chef 2021, where he was lauded for his technical skill and style of food that sees him harness the healing properties of ingredients, in particularly herbs and plants native to the Bali island paradise. For this Masterclass, Goldfarb will be preparing and revealing the secrets behind three desserts that each mark a key milestone in his career: Red, Incidente Stradale and The Sugar Refinery.
20:00
Collaboration Dining Series
Tim Raue x Dai Pai Dong
Rosewood Abu Dhabi
Price: AED888 ($240)
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Uniting Dai Pai Dong’s mastery of dim sum and Tim Raue’s outstanding Asian flavours, this unique collaboration within the Rosewood Abu Dhabi hotel promises to be one of the hottest tickets of the 50 Best event week. Raue will be interspersing his signature langoustine, pike perch and sustainable duck soup dishes with Dai Pai Dong’s innovative Cantonese cuisine, including delicious barbecued meat and its legendary bao buns.
Saturday 5th February
13:00-16:00
50 Best Experiential Dining
Pía León: Peruvian Paradise
Zaya Nurai Island
Price: AED2500 ($680)
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The first of two ultra-exclusive experiential dining events in Abu Dhabi, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to discover game-changing Peruvian cuisine created by the ultra-talented Pía León. 50 Best invites you to an intimate lunch for a gastronomic exploration of the culinary ecosystems of Peru in a fully immersive tropical island paradise. A boat will whisk guests from the mainland to the pristine Nurai Island, where the scene will be set for an unforgettable afternoon, with plenty of surprises and culinary delights along the way.
15:00-17:30
#50BestTalks
MENA: United Through Food
Paddock Suites, Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island
Price: AED150 ($40)
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Book your seat for an interactive afternoon of live interviews, presentations and forthright discussions with culinary legends from across MENA and beyond. This thought-provoking and palate-tingling event will explore the power of food and how it can unite cultures across the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.
A host of stars from the MENA region debating the current food scene will be joined by The World’s Best Pastry Chef, Will Goldfarb. The Bali-based cook behind Room 4 Dessert will enlighten the audience about the healing power of food and how we can all harness its positive properties to enhance our day-to-day lives.
The interactive event will also include a one-of-a-kind ‘Falafel Off’, where the MENA regions’ varying takes on this emblematic dish will be presented for tasting to the audience to compare and contrast different flavour profiles at play from Egypt, Lebanon and the UAE.
Sunday 6th February
20:00
Collaboration Dining Series
Julien Royer x LPM
LPM, The Galleria, Al Maryah Island
Price: AED595 ($160) plus beverage pairing at AED250 ($70)
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French chef Julien Royer is the mastermind behind Odette, the Singapore restaurant that was twice named No.1 in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. His lightness of touch and outstanding palate balances Asian ingredients with French technique - and Royer will be teaming up with the LPM chefs to create a unique collaborative menu that will combine some of the greatest hits of both restaurants for one night only.
Tuesday 8th February
20:00
Collaboration Dining Series
Natsuko Shoji x Tori No Su
Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers
Price: AED480 ($130)
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Natsuko Shoji, Asia’s Best Pastry Chef 2020, is the chef-owner of restaurant Eté in Tokyo. She is revered for her pastry craft, making intricate desserts featuring livery of leading designer brands, while her bespoke cake-making business counts the likes of David Beckham and René Redzepi as happy customers. She is also a skilled savoury cook, trained in the classical French style, and will be pairing her finest dishes with Tori No Su, the restaurant in Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers known for its considered Japanese fusion cuisine.
20:00
50 Best Experiential Dining
Dave Pynt: Playing with Fire
BBQ Al Qasr, Emirates Palace
Price: 950 AED including the menu and a welcome drink (beverage pairing not included)
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Aussie chef Dave Pynt has worked at some of the best restaurants on the planet, from the current World’s Best Restaurant Noma in Denmark, to the legendary Asador Etxebarri in Spain and icons St John in the UK. All have influenced the grill-led cookery that define his restaurant Burnt Ends in Singapore, which was announced as No.34 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021. Pynt will land in Abu Dhabi’s BBQ Al Qasr for a one-off barbecue experience, where myriad meat and vegetables will be exposed to the tender kiss of fire and smoke. The experience will begin with an exploration along the beach front and end with decadent desserts by candlelight.
Excited to attend on the events in Abu Dhabi? Full details – including dates, timings, exact locations and ticket prices, as well as other participating chefs – will be announced in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, visit the MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants website to discover how the list is being created and join the community on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be the first to hear about the latest news and announcements.
