Osteria Funkcoolio by chef Akmal Anuar will serve Italian classics with a Japanese twist. @akmalanuarofficial / Instagram
Osteria Funkcoolio by chef Akmal Anuar will serve Italian classics with a Japanese twist. @akmalanuarofficial / Instagram
Osteria Funkcoolio by chef Akmal Anuar will serve Italian classics with a Japanese twist. @akmalanuarofficial / Instagram
Osteria Funkcoolio by chef Akmal Anuar will serve Italian classics with a Japanese twist. @akmalanuarofficial / Instagram

What to expect at Osteria Funkcoolio, the new restaurant by chef behind 11 Woodfire


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A place that “shakes things up” is exactly what one would expect when dining at a restaurant named Osteria Funkcoolio.

It is run by Akmal Anuar, the experimental chef and owner of Michelin-starred 11 Woodfire. Not only will it open its doors in the first week of February, Anuar tells The National, but it will also bring a pop-up to the beloved Taste of Dubai food festival from February 23 to 25.

The Malay Singaporean chef says Funkcoolio is a place “where Italian cuisine meets the best of Japanese Kyoto ingredients”.

The Akmal effect

Chef Akmal Anuar is an influential figure on the Dubai culinary circuit and also helms Otoro in Abu Dhabi. Photo: 11 Woodfire
Chef Akmal Anuar is an influential figure on the Dubai culinary circuit and also helms Otoro in Abu Dhabi. Photo: 11 Woodfire

The chef is no stranger to Japanese cuisine. In 2016, he was one of three partners who launched 3 Fils, the Japanese-inspired dining spot that was named the best restaurant in the Middle East and North Africa region by the World's 50 Best group – albeit after Anuar left in 2019.

After leaving 3 Fils, Anuar set up his own hospitality consultancy firm, White Rice. In 2021, he opened another Japanese concept, Goldfish Sushi & Yakitori, which is included in the latest Michelin Guide's Bib Gourmand category.

11 Woodfire, meanwhile, is a fine dining restaurant along Jumeirah Beach Road which specialises in natural wood-fired cuisine, a labour-intensive cooking method that relies equally on technique and intuition. The Michelin-starred venue's open kitchen means diners can witness the elaborate process where fresh produce is cooked at scorching temperatures that, according to staff, go as high as 700°C.

His accolades and versatility make Osteria Funkcoolio's opening a much-anticipated one. The intimate restaurant, located at Port de La Mer, seats but 30 at a time. Its funky and eclectic setting comes complete with an emerald green ceiling, grand light fixtures and red leather booths.

Osteria Funkcoolio is located at the newly developed Port De La Mer in Dubai. @akmalanuarofficial / Instagram
Osteria Funkcoolio is located at the newly developed Port De La Mer in Dubai. @akmalanuarofficial / Instagram

It all sounds perfectly in character with Anuar, who thinks Dubai's culinary scene is “so unpredictable”. He says: “Dubai is on another level every single time, and the ever-growing process of the city is unimaginable. No crystal ball can tell what's next in store.”

Taste of Dubai pop-up

While Osteria Funkcoolio's menu has not yet been revealed, the chef shares the four “deliberately classic” dishes he will serve at the Taste of Dubai pop-up: Three pizzas (margherita, pepperoni and chilli duck) and meatballs in signature Funkcoolio tomato sauce.

“They all sound familiar,” he admits, “but we are making sure we get all the ticks right.

Anuar adds: “We participated at Taste of Dubai last year, and I found it full of energy and fun.”

The three-day festival brings together some of the city's best chefs and restaurants. This year that includes Michelin-starred Torno Subito; City Social by British chef-restaurateur Jason Atherton; Atrangi, the Dubai venture of Indian celebrity chef Ritu Dalmia; Jun's, Akira Back, Hutong, Sumosan, Tan Cha, Maya by chef Richard Sandoval, Indya by Vineet Bhatia, Rhodes W1 and Bushra by Buddha bar.

The event will be held at Skydive Dubai for the first time this year.

Aside from restaurant pop-ups, the festival will also feature workshops from big-ticket chefs such as MasterChef Australia judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston, plus Dubai chef Kelvin Cheung of Jun's and Arab pitmaster Hattem Mattar.

Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Brief scores:

Toss: India, opted to field

Australia 158-4 (17 ov)

Maxwell 46, Lynn 37; Kuldeep 2-24

India 169-7 (17 ov)

Dhawan 76, Karthik 30; Zampa 2-22

Result: Australia won by 4 runs by D/L method

The five new places of worship

Church of South Indian Parish

St Andrew's Church Mussaffah branch

St Andrew's Church Al Ain branch

St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais

Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais

 

The%20specs
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Multitasking pays off for money goals

Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.

That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.

"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.

Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."

People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.

"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."

Match info

Premier League

Manchester United 2 (Martial 30', Lingard 69')
Arsenal 2 (Mustafi 26', Rojo 68' OG)

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS

- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns 

- Margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars

- Energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces

- Infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes

- Many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts

A meeting of young minds

The 3,494 entries for the 2019 Sharjah Children Biennial come from:

435 – UAE

2,000 – China

808 – United Kingdom

165 – Argentina

38 – Lebanon

16 – Saudi Arabia

16 – Bangladesh

6 – Ireland

3 – Egypt

3 – France

2 – Sudan

1 – Kuwait

1 – Australia
 

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 
Fixtures

50-over match

UAE v Lancashire, starts at 10am

Champion County match

MCC v Surrey, four-day match, starting on Sunday, March 24, play starts at 10am

Both matches are at ICC Academy, Dubai Sports City. Admission is free.

F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

Brief scoreline:

Crystal Palace 2

Milivojevic 76' (pen), Van Aanholt 88'

Huddersfield Town 0

Your rights as an employee

The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.

The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.

If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.

Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.

The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.

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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League quarter-final (first-leg score):

Juventus (1) v Ajax (1), Tuesday, 11pm UAE

Match will be shown on BeIN Sports

Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff
By Sean Penn
Simon & Schuster

WORLD CUP SQUAD

Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Angelo Mathews, Avishka Fernando, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Jeevan Mendis, Milinda Siriwardana, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep

ANDROID%20VERSION%20NAMES%2C%20IN%20ORDER
%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Alpha%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Beta%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Cupcake%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Donut%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Eclair%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Froyo%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Gingerbread%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Honeycomb%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Ice%20Cream%20Sandwich%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Jelly%20Bean%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20KitKat%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Lollipop%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Marshmallow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Nougat%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Oreo%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%20Pie%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%2010%20(Quince%20Tart*)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%2011%20(Red%20Velvet%20Cake*)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%2012%20(Snow%20Cone*)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%2013%20(Tiramisu*)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%2014%20(Upside%20Down%20Cake*)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAndroid%2015%20(Vanilla%20Ice%20Cream*)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3E*%20internal%20codenames%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Updated: January 11, 2024, 3:56 AM`