Over the past few years, food halls have become a staple in the UAE’s diverse culinary scene. With venues such as Depachika and the Time Out Market championing home-grown brands and creating new concepts, it’s easy to see why they have such a loyal following.
And it looks like the trend is only growing stronger. Limestone Lab, a newly launched hospitality company, recently announced that it will be launching Social Distrikt, which it's calling “an experiential food and bar hall venue”.
The venue will be located at The Pointe on Palm Jumeirah, taking the space Food District once occupied. That means customers can expect views from the waterfront location, including that of The Palm Fountain.
No outlets have been named but Hassan Ballout, co-founder of Limestone Lab, says there will be a mix of cuisines on offer, from American to Asian.
Setting it apart from other food halls, Social Distrikt will also boast a number of “experiential components” he says.
“Downstairs we will have a speciality coffee space and a really great dessert place. We’re also planning something called District Radio, a platform for music curators. In the future, we want to have a podcast, workshops, cooking classes and different kinds of activations.”
The casual venue will also feature grape gardens, entertainment corners, social spaces and more under a single roof.
Although yet to open, there are already big expansion plans in the works.
“We are adamant to see more than one Social Distrikt,” says Ballout. Branches in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh are also in the pipeline.
“We want to create a network, especially for potential brand owners who want to get into a different market without having to spend a lot of money.”
No launch date has been announced, although the venue is scheduled to open to the public towards the end of the year.
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The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
Dubai World Cup nominations
UAE: Thunder Snow/Saeed bin Suroor (trainer), North America/Satish Seemar, Drafted/Doug Watson, New Trails/Ahmad bin Harmash, Capezzano, Gronkowski, Axelrod, all trained by Salem bin Ghadayer
USA: Seeking The Soul/Dallas Stewart, Imperial Hunt/Luis Carvajal Jr, Audible/Todd Pletcher, Roy H/Peter Miller, Yoshida/William Mott, Promises Fulfilled/Dale Romans, Gunnevera/Antonio Sano, XY Jet/Jorge Navarro, Pavel/Doug O’Neill, Switzerland/Steve Asmussen.
Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.
Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
MATCH INFO
Crawley Town 3 (Tsaroulla 50', Nadesan 53', Tunnicliffe 70')
Leeds United 0
The%20team
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Abu Dhabi GP starting grid
1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
4 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
5 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
7 Romain Grosjean (Haas)
8 Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
9 Esteban Ocon (Force India)
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
11 Carlos Sainz (Renault)
12 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
13 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
14 Sergio Perez (Force India)
15 Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
16 Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
17 Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
18 Stoffe Vandoorne (McLaren)
19 Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)
20 Lance Stroll (Williams)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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