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
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.
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.
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
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2a)
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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
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