At the age of 89, with a family name that is recognised the world over, Arrigo Cipriani has earned the right to be irreverent.
He famously refers to the Michelin Guide as "that tyre guide"; has been a vocal critic of Italy's Covid-19 lockdown strategies; dubs nouvelle cuisine a "revolution of the rich"; blames Facebook for turning us all into robots; and credits Gordon Ramsay with destroying Britain's culinary heritage. And that's just within the first 15 minutes of our conversation.
I meet the impeccably dressed Italian restaurateur at the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach, where, in a corner of the lobby lounge, he regales me with anecdotes of celebrity encounters, his cutting assessment of the modern dining scene and recollections from his 70 years working at Harry’s Bar, the world-famous venue established by his father in Venice in the 1930s.
Ostensibly, we are here to talk about the family’s latest venture in the UAE, Cipriani Dolci, which opens this month in The Dubai Mall’s Fashion Avenue. But, as I soon learn, a conversation with Arrigo is not a linear thing – you are whisked from 1930s Venice to 1980s New York to modern-day UAE in a matter of sentences; a question about the luxury industry leads to reflections on death; and most conversational threads loop back to his father, the formidable Giuseppe Cipriani.
The Cipriani story starts 90 years ago, in Venice, when Giuseppe opened Harry’s Bar in a quiet corner of the city on May 13, 1931. As the story goes, in 1929, Harry Pickering, a descendant of a wealthy Boston family, arrived in Venice and spent two months at the Europa Hotel – largely in the bar where Giuseppe worked. When Pickering’s family cut him off financially because of his decadent lifestyle, Giuseppe lent him 10,000 Italian lira, a large amount of money in those days, so the American could get back home.
Two years later, Pickering returned to Venice to repay his debt. “Mr Cipriani, thank you,” he reportedly said. “Here’s the money. And to show you my appreciation, here’s 40,000 lira more, enough to open a bar. We will call it Harry’s Bar.” Incidentally, Arrigo is the Italian for Harry – but Giuseppe named his son after the bar, not the other way around.
Harry’s Bar soon became a favourite with artists, writers and aristocracy. Ernest Hemingway was a regular, but you might also have stumbled across Charlie Chaplin, Truman Capote, Orson Welles, Aristotle Onassis, Katharine Hepburn or Baron Philippe de Rothschild in the tiny warehouse facing the Grand Canal. “My father chose to open in a place where all the shops went bankrupt, because there was no connection with San Marco square; it was a dead end. He wanted to have it there, because he said he wanted customers to come, not because they happened to pass in front of it, but because they decided to come there. Motivation is the key,” Arrigo tells me.
Harry’s Bar is famed for inventing carpaccio – in 1950, countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo, one of the venue’s regular customers, arrived for lunch and announced that her doctor had put her on a “no cooked meat diet”; Giuseppe retreated to the kitchen and promptly reappeared with what came to be known as Carpaccio alla Cipriani, a selection of paper-thin sheets of raw filet mignon laced with a white sauce, named in reference to the red and white paintings of Italian artist Vittore Carpaccio. The venue was declared a national landmark in 2001 by the Italian ministry for cultural affairs.
From the beginning, the Cipriani aesthetic has been uncluttered and unpretentious. At Harry’s Bar, simple trattoria-style food was served on three-legged tables, and this ethos is the cornerstone of the Cipriani brand, Arrigo says. “We can call it the complexity of simplicity, because simplicity is also complex. I have had the most famous people come into Harry’s Bar, and they are very simple. They don’t insist on having that specific table… because they don’t need that table. They’ll sit anywhere.”
It all comes down to “a lack of imposition”, he says. “Restaurants have music. That’s wrong. The music of restaurants should be people talking. That is the only music you need. Anything else is an imposition. A restaurant is a place people sit, come together and talk to each other. They have good food and good service. And that’s it.
“We don’t impose anything on our customers. We don’t impose a menu – there is no degustation menu. You can choose whatever you want. I am not against chefs who have three stars or two stars, but they want to show people they are good. No, you have to do things well, nothing else. And you have to keep doing things well, and not just to show that you are good.”
Arrigo identifies 1968 as the year when the food scene changed for ever – but not necessarily for the better. “There was a revolution, but a revolution for rich people. In 1968, rich people wanted to change the world, so they rejected tradition. But tradition is the content, the inside of things. And if you don’t have a combination of content and form, there is something missing. Nouvelle cuisine is just about the look. Serving things on a serving plate. But what’s important about food is not just the look of it, but the taste on the inside; that is what your body wants.”
In 1985, Arrigo and his son, also named Giuseppe, arrived in New York, ready to take on the city's dining scene. They started with Harry Cipriani, located on the ground floor of New York's Sherry-Netherland Hotel, on Fifth Avenue. Once again, socialites and celebrities flocked, from Madonna and John Travolta, to Richard Gere and Mickey Rourke, as well as three James Bonds – Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan. More outposts and enormous success followed, but so did scandal, including a long-running spat with Bryan Miller, restaurant critic at The New York Times; a highly publicised dispute with the unions; rumours of mob connections; and a 2007 conviction for tax evasion.
I ask Arrigo whether, if he could go back and live his life over, he would do anything differently. “There are always mistakes. Life is full of mistakes. The important thing is that the mistakes are fewer than the things you got right,” is his response. “One thing my father always used to say: ‘Life is not too serious’. Don’t ever take life too seriously. A sense of humour is the key.”
Arrigo’s son, Giuseppe, can be credited with driving the international expansion of the brand, which now has outposts in Ibiza, Moscow, Monte Carlo, Hong Kong, New York, Las Vegas, Miami and Mexico City, as well as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. Cipriani Dubai opened in DIFC in 2016, while Cipriani Abu Dhabi has been in the capital since 2011. “My son developed the business around the whole world,” Arrigo says. “But he didn’t change it. He’s a man that looks at all the details. He is much better than I was.”
Cipriani Dolci Dubai will offer all the brand’s signatures, as well as decadent desserts and traditional Italian pastries. “At a certain point about 35 years ago, I had a new location in Venice that was very very lovely, but quite different from Harry’s Bar.
“It was my father who told me to buy it – and he wanted to create a pastry shop. It was on an island, not far from Venice, but I realised that people would not take a boat just to have a piece of cake. So it slowly became a restaurant. It’s a lovely restaurant with a beautiful view. And the name Dolci, which means sweets, because of the pastry, remained. Later on, in New York, we chose another place for Cipriani Dolci, and we’ve decided to duplicate the name in Dubai,” Arrigo explains.
This third venture in the UAE is a mark of Arrigo’s regard for the country. “I’m in love with this place,” he tells me. “Because you are thinking of the future. And in our countries, everybody is becoming stupid.”
After seven decades in the hospitality industry, Arrigo still spends much of his time at Harry’s Bar, serving guests as his family has done for close to a century. “It’s a beautiful business,” he says. “You can learn all the time.
“It is like a newspaper. Before it is written, there is nothing. And every day, you can create a wonderful newspaper, or a bad newspaper. It depends on what you write. A restaurant is the same thing. Each day when you start, everything is uncooked, and you can do it well or really badly.”
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
'Cheb%20Khaled'
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ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope
Defenders: John Stones, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Ashley Young, Danny Rose, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Midfielders: Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph
Forwards: Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck
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MATCH INFO
Barcelona 5 (Lenglet 2', Vidal 29', Messi 34', 75', Suarez 77')
Valladolid 1 (Kiko 15')
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
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MATCH INFO
Europa League final
Who: Marseille v Atletico Madrid
Where: Parc OL, Lyon, France
When: Wednesday, 10.45pm kick off (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
Champions League Last 16
Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) v Bayern Munich (GER)
Sporting Lisbon (POR) v Manchester City (ENG)
Benfica (POR) v Ajax (NED)
Chelsea (ENG) v Lille (FRA)
Atletico Madrid (ESP) v Manchester United (ENG)
Villarreal (ESP) v Juventus (ITA)
Inter Milan (ITA) v Liverpool (ENG)
Paris Saint-Germain v Real Madrid (ESP)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Director: Paul Weitz
Stars: Kevin Hart
3/5 stars
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'
Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.
Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.
"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.
"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.
"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Cologne v Hoffenheim (11.30pm)
Saturday
Hertha Berlin v RB Leipzig (6.30pm)
Schalke v Fortuna Dusseldof (6.30pm)
Mainz v Union Berlin (6.30pm)
Paderborn v Augsburg (6.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund (9.30pm)
Sunday
Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen (4.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
SC Freiburg v Eintracht Frankfurt (9on)
Asian Cup 2019
Quarter-final
UAE v Australia, Friday, 8pm, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
Matador
Schedule:
Sept 15: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (Dubai)
Sept 16: Pakistan v Qualifier (Dubai)
Sept 17: Sri Lanka v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 18: India v Qualifier (Dubai)
Sept 19: India v Pakistan (Dubai)
Sept 20: Bangladesh v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi) Super Four
Sept 21: Group A Winner v Group B Runner-up (Dubai)
Sept 21: Group B Winner v Group A Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 23: Group A Winner v Group A Runner-up (Dubai)
Sept 23: Group B Winner v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 25: Group A Winner v Group B Winner (Dubai)
Sept 26: Group A Runner-up v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 28: Final (Dubai)
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
RESULTS FOR STAGE 4
Stage 4 Dubai to Hatta, 197 km, Road race.
Overall leader Primoz Roglic SLO (Team Jumbo - Visma)
Stage winners: 1. Caleb Ewan AUS (Lotto - Soudal) 2. Matteo Moschetti ITA (Trek - Segafredo) 3. Primoz Roglic SLO (Team Jumbo - Visma)
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2a)
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What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
More on Quran memorisation:
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The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Votes
Total votes: 1.8 million
Ashraf Ghani: 923,592 votes
Abdullah Abdullah: 720,841 votes
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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