There’s a new name, of sorts, above the door. It’s still Table 9, but Nick Alvis and Scott Price have moved on and at the helm is a new chef patron and another Gordon Ramsay protégé, the 39-year-old Englishman Darren Velvick. Table 9 by Darren Velvick at Hilton Dubai Creek reopened earlier this month with a new menu promising a more relaxed and rustic dining experience.
Velvick’s CV is impressive; from head chef at Pétrus to the opening of The Gilbert Scott, a stint at Claridge’s working the chef’s table where he crossed paths with Price, before moving on to Marcus Wareing’s The Berkeley, a role that blossomed into executive group chef. Finally, the opportunity for a restaurant with his own name lured him from London to Dubai over a month ago.
“I am so excited. I keep on pinching myself. Is this real? Is my name really above the door? Wow, what an opportunity,” enthuses a humble, sweet-natured Velvick.
“It’s a big challenge for me to keep Nick and Scott’s high standards and excel. The key thing for me is to do something different.”
That’s exactly what Dubai’s foodie community eagerly awaits. Is the new Table 9 different and if so, how?
A quick glance at the menu shows dishes by ingredient with no indication of cooking style, similar to his predecessors, which Velvick says is a London trend to keep an element of surprise and one he sees no reason to change. However, he builds a menu around the vegetable first, by creating as many textures as possible – purée, powder, crumbs – and then pairs with protein. So for instance, a sea bass main course has broccoli florets grilled, the stem is peeled and poached and the crisp leaf is puréed; served with poached egg and hollandaise sauce.
“It’s a deformalised fine dining restaurant. My menu is a little more flexible. A little rustic. It pulls all the techniques I have learnt over the years. Food is broken down a little; deconstructing it and making it casual. Top produce, local where I can. Bigger portions. It’s not tapas style, like with Nick and Scott.”
He adds: “I want anyone to come two, three times a week. It’s not a special occasion restaurant and I will be changing the menu very often.”
There’s one dish on the menu that Velvick wants to become a Table 9 signature, and that’s a roasted cornfed chicken for two people, locally sourced, stuffed with foie gras and served with leeks and potatoes. Fans of La Petite Maison and La Serre will recognise a similar dish but one that is priced considerably higher than Table 9’s Dhs230. And one that doesn’t require ordering 24 hours in advance.
He’s playing with the desserts; a deconstructed carrot cake is inspired by his grandmother’s recipe, while he has reinterpreted the traditional breakfast of cornflakes and milk, adding honey. Cheese, mostly French, paired with garnishes, stands out prominently.
But even though the menu has changed, sadly the rather formal, austere decor has not. “I would love to make it more modern with wooden tables, wooden flooring. But it’s a big expense on a new chef. Possibly in six months to a year, the owners will invest. Meanwhile, we’ve lightened the room up a bit with new runners and I’ve brought in hand-painted blue plates from Churchill in England.”
The location in Deira is another hindrance, but Velvick is looking to attract in-house guests given the hotel’s high occupancy rates, while he hopes the affordable prices will draw residents across the Creek. “We offer really good food at a really good price. It might take you longer to get here, but hopefully the cost and food will make it worthwhile.”
• Table 9 by Darren Velvick, Hilton Dubai Creek, Deira is open Sunday to Friday, from 7pm to 11pm. Call 04 212 7551 or email contact@table9dubai.com for reservations. Visit www.table9dubai.com
Samantha Wood is the founder of impartial restaurant review blog www.foodiva.net
artslife@thenational.ae
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
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
ASSASSIN'S%20CREED%20MIRAGE
%3Cp%3E%0DDeveloper%3A%20Ubisoft%20Bordeaux%0D%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Ubisoft%0D%3Cbr%3EConsoles%3A%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20PC%20and%20Xbox%20Series%20S%26amp%3BX%0D%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner: Raghida, Szczepan Mazur (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner: AF Alareeq, Connor Beasley, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-2 Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 2,200m
Winner: Basmah, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel
6.30pm: Liwa Oasis Group 2 (PA) Dh300,000 1,400m
Winner: AF Alwajel, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
Winner: SS Jalmod, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,600m
Winner: Trolius, Ryan Powell, Simon Crisford
MATCH INFO
New Zealand 176-8 (20 ovs)
England 155 (19.5 ovs)
New Zealand win by 21 runs
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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
