Mountain tea adobo, aubergine brulee and kalamae candy. This November, foodies in Abu Dhabi can sample exotic, award-winning dishes as the Michelin Guide Food Festival returns.
The event will run from November 22 to 24 at Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental with tickets going on sale on Thursday starting at Dh85. On the menu is a medley of cooking demonstrations, masterclasses and a line-up of international and local chefs who will serve their famed dishes for a fraction of their usual Michelin-starred price.
Here are the international restaurants – from Japan, Brazil, Thailand, Argentina, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey – bringing their signature cuisines to the capital.
Crony, Tokyo
Status: Two Michelin stars
Fun fact, the restaurant’s name refers to “friends who will drink tea together always”. Also a winner of the Michelin Green Star, the restaurant is big on sustainability. To that end, chef Michihiro Haruta told Michelin he does not use juvenile fish or endangered marine species but does source imperfect vegetables and uses solar salt and honey.
Dishes include abalone with summer truffles; cherry salmon with new onion; sourdough bread with butter made from leftover sake-lees; and guinea fowl with spring vegetables.
Evvai, Sao Paulo
Status: Two Michelin stars
Chef Luiz Filipe Souza fuses Brazilian and Italian cuisines on his tasting menu called Oriundi (the interchange of cultures). This features dishes made from seasonal ingredients, ranging from the chocolatey cupuacu fruit and fermented wild cassava to palm hearts and pumpkin leaves.
A year-round signature on the Evvai menu, since it opened, are scallops sauteed in duck fat.
Restaurant Allen, Seoul
Status: Two Michelin stars
Chef Allen Suh has made a name for himself for serving dishes that are true to seasonal ingredients, notes the Michelin website. This translates to a menu that changes every three months and incorporates ingredients from summer greens to winter radish and everything in between. Dishes served in the past include soy sauce-marinated butterfish; jeju tilefish with turnip; foie gras with peach and brioche; and duck with apricot and green beans.
Casa Vigil, Mendoza
Status: One Michelin star
Chef and sommelier Alejandro Vigil’s restaurant is inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy in its set-up, with rustic rooms, stark vineyards and bountiful gardens, where his mum Maria Sance grows 50 varieties of tomatoes.
These are used in ways both simple and complex on the menu. Think tomatoes with celery and burrata; as well as a dough made from dehydrated tomato skins, topped with cured pejerrey fish, onion, coriander and a tomato veil, and served with green olive caviar and an emulsion of wasabi and bisque.
Esquina Comun, Mexico City
Status: One Michelin star
The only way to snag a limited spot in chef Ana Dolores Gonzalez’s rooftop restaurant is via direct messaging on Instagram. The Michelin Guide lauds the restaurant’s “strong techniques and good ingredients”, which shine through in dishes such as salmon in mountain tea adobo; camote gnocchi with rice, bread, ricotta and kumquat; cod green mole with crushed plantain, fava beans and pumpkin seeds; and masa and plantain tamal with red-tinted fish and salsa macha.
Samrub Samrub Thai, Bangkok
Status: One Michelin star
Chef Prin Polsuk draws his inspiration from rare cookbooks and age-old Thai recipes for his restaurant, which only accepts (or doesn’t) reservations via social media. Accordingly, shrimps from the Tapi river will be served with garuda claw leaf crackers; oysters with mini sour mango and krill; and salted king mackerel with turmeric. Even dessert takes the form of ice cream made from traditional kalamae candy and a doughnut with the flavour of Thai coconut.
Vino Locale, Izmir
Status: One Michelin star
Co-founders and couple Ozan and Seray Kumbasar change their set menu every six weeks depending on seasonal produce and creative inspiration. The former includes a butter from the town of Ikizdere where the cows are only fed spring flowers. The latter is evident in every course, including a salad of crunchy asparagus, pea cream, goat's cheese, crispy fried artichokes, herb oil and radish vinaigrette.
Other dishes of note include octopus and spicy tom yum; aubergine brulee; and lamb with salty yoghurt and apple.
UAE restaurants on the bill
International chefs aside, the food festival will also include Michelin-lauded dishes spanning from haute Japanese to modern Emirati cuisine whipped up by Abu Dhabi’s own award-winning restaurants. These include: 99 Sushi, Erth, Hakkasan, Talea by Antonio Guida, Tean and Otoro.
