I couldn’t stop wishing I’d spent more time on my hair and touched up my makeup.
Those were the self-absorbed thoughts I had while spending almost two hours eating four delicious courses in front of a candlelit mirror Sunday night, tucked into a warehouse at the back of the hip arts hub Al Serkal Avenue. Before Inked Dubai’s Tete-A-Tete popup dining event I’d mostly felt dread, worried I’d be drained by small-talk.
But something happened when I sat down in front of that mirror.
I didn’t look at myself all that much, I listened a lot harder to the person I couldn’t see and my dread turned to curiosity – and then calm.
The concept is simple enough: sit in front of a mirror, with a stranger on the other side, then at the sound of a bell shift to a new partner with each course. There were 24 guests, a mix of women and (mostly) trendily bearded men.
I met Karamah as we gathered our mocktail and sat down for a crispy, tasty appetiser of slow-cooked salmon with a pea, ginger, chive and shallot emulsion. The 48-year-old from Jordan is taking a two-year break from teaching art to find her true passion.
I’m on her inspirational WhatsApp list now.
Next up was a crab and avocado, burrata, mango and beetroot coulis (my favourite part of the meal) and Jason, a 30-year-old tech entrepreneur from San Fransciso. I embarrassed myself by trying to serve our shared appetiser with a fork, spoon and one hand but he seemed unbothered. Clearly buoyed by the success of his food delivery app Caviar, Jason has been travelling for about two years (52 countries and counting) and is only in Dubai for a week.
He and a friend were drawn to Tete-A-Tete because “someone we met at a restaurant in Sweden told us about it”, a global citizen comment if I’ve ever heard one.
By the time I moved across from Shalva, a 26-year-old project manager from Georgia, I was much more relaxed. I also realised I wasn’t drained at all because there wasn’t much small talk going on. We enjoyed our very tender cocoa-glazed beef fillet, potato galette and truffle cream and talked about what Shalva called “imaginary priorities”; those things you believe you should do, even if you don’t want to do them at all. Also, he compared arguments over religion to the ones he used to have with friends at the age of seven about Superman versus Batman. Just as silly, because there is no one who can say what’s right. I wanted to tell Shalva I felt he had the best beard in the room, but I felt it would make me seem superficial and I didn’t want him to think I was flirting.
I’m still not sure if I was supposed to pop over the top of each mirror and introduce myself face to face after each changeover but that’s just how I tackled the evening. And I probably shouldn’t have asked Alexi his age (31) right after meeting.
“Wow,” said the Russian, “so soon”.
With a background in art, Alexi works right at Al Serkal Avenue. Organisers had handed out samples of Marcel Proust's The Proust Questionnaire, and Alexi pointed at a random question under the mirror and told me to ask it.
“Okay,” I asked. “What is your most treasured possession?”
He sounded kerfuffled, said he couldn’t answer and then we never went back to it.
It’s hard to find a good Russian restaurant in the UAE, he said, after I had mangled our shared piece of apple tart under the mirror dividing us. He’d like to bring his aging mother to Dubai but she doesn’t speak much English. He hadn’t had much small talk either, it turns out.
When I told him I was thinking about touching up my makeup again, he gently reminded me why that wasn’t important at all.
“The point is that no one is really looking at you,” he said, “apart from yourself”.
The final Tête-à-Tête takes place tonight at 8.30pm. Tickets cost Dh300 per diner from www.inked.ae
Ann Marie McQueen is features editor at The National.
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
MATCH INFO
World Cup qualifier
Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')
UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45 2')
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Super Saturday race card
4pm: Mahab Al Shimaal Group 3 | US$350,000 | (Dirt) | 1,200m
4.35pm: Al Bastakiya Listed | $300,000 | (D) | 1,900m
5.10pm: Nad Al Sheba Turf Group 3 | $350,000 | (Turf) | 1,200m
5.45pm: Burj Nahaar Group 3 | $350,000 | (D) | 1,600m
6.20pm: Dubai City of Gold Group 2 | $300,000 | (T) | 2,410m
6.55pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 Group 1 | $600,000 | (D) | 2,000m
7.30pm: Jebel Hatta Group 1 | $400,000 | (T) | 1,800m
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
SPECS
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
more from Janine di Giovanni
The biog
Name: Salem Alkarbi
Age: 32
Favourite Al Wasl player: Alexandre Oliveira
First started supporting Al Wasl: 7
Biggest rival: Al Nasr
MATCH INFO
Crawley Town 3 (Tsaroulla 50', Nadesan 53', Tunnicliffe 70')
Leeds United 0
Tips for newlyweds to better manage finances
All couples are unique and have to create a financial blueprint that is most suitable for their relationship, says Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial. He offers his top five tips for couples to better manage their finances.
Discuss your assets and debts: When married, it’s important to understand each other’s personal financial situation. It’s necessary to know upfront what each party brings to the table, as debts and assets affect spending habits and joint loan qualifications. Discussing all aspects of their finances as a couple prevents anyone from being blindsided later.
Decide on the financial/saving goals: Spouses should independently list their top goals and share their lists with one another to shape a joint plan. Writing down clear goals will help them determine how much to save each month, how much to put aside for short-term goals, and how they will reach their long-term financial goals.
Set a budget: A budget can keep the couple be mindful of their income and expenses. With a monthly budget, couples will know exactly how much they can spend in a category each month, how much they have to work with and what spending areas need to be evaluated.
Decide who manages what: When it comes to handling finances, it’s a good idea to decide who manages what. For example, one person might take on the day-to-day bills, while the other tackles long-term investments and retirement plans.
Money date nights: Talking about money should be a healthy, ongoing conversation and couples should not wait for something to go wrong. They should set time aside every month to talk about future financial decisions and see the progress they’ve made together towards accomplishing their goals.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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