When you hear Italian-American, you can be forgiven for thinking of Robert De Niro or Al Pacino.
But it works for food, too (and we’re not just talking Chicago Town pizzas).
That’s where 42 Midtown comes in, fronted by Sicilian head chef Fabrizio Vermiglio, bringing flavours from New York’s 42nd Street to The Greens in Dubai.
Where to sit, what to expect
On arrival at Zabeel House by Jumeirah, The Greens, the neighbourhood’s undisputed social hub, the restaurant can be found on the first floor.
Drawing inspiration from the city that never sleeps, it’s an art-deco space featuring dining booths, a lively bar area and a terrace that’s open all year.
Long Scandinavian-style dining tables line the parquet flooring inside, while the outdoor area has a more minimalist feel that makes it a solid candidate for a date venue.
The marble bar and open-plan kitchen immediately catch the eye, with prime views of the culinary team at work. It exudes an immediately cool vibe, with vintage styling and an abundance of greenery giving the venue a sense of chic modernity.
At the heart of the restaurant is a wood-fire oven that gives an unmistakably homely feel harking back to chef Vermiglio’s roots in what’s an otherwise ultra-contemporary setting.
But the undisputed centrepiece of this vibrant new spot is the DJ booth that gives 42 Midtown a flagrant sense of Dubai alongside its Italian-American outlook, with gentle beats adding to the ambiance and live jazz musicians a regular feature.
The menu
Carefully designed to appeal to an eclectic range of palates and occasions, the menu offers classic dishes with complex, smoky notes.
The selection of bar bites, perfect for after-work meet-ups, features everything from mini veal hot dogs to baked Camembert, corn fritters and charcoal eggplant arancini.
Among the appetisers, you can find both a cheese and a charcuterie board alongside a range of salads, truffle mac and cheese and State Island crab croquettes.
Opting to sit outside in the relaxed outdoor terrace, my dining companion and I followed the waiter’s advice and went for the sea basket – a selection of semolina-coated soft-shell crab, rock and pink prawns, baby squid and silver fish.
As sociable as it sounds, the basket is served in the centre of the table for diners to share, alongside an avocado and lime dip. The coating means this isn’t a messy opening course, lending itself to a more elegant dining experience than the dish’s name might suggest.
Next up, it’s time for the main event of the evening.
The selection of dishes stays true to the barbecue theme, with an assortment of burgers and sandwiches available, as well as a variety of meat dishes cooked on the charcoal fire grill, while wood-fired artisanal pizzas and pasta dishes pay homage to the venue’s Italian influence.
We’re instinctively drawn to the charcoal fire grill options. I go for the surf and turf, which brings a succulent Wagyu beef medallion together with an expertly cooked lobster tail, sitting on mashed potato, mushrooms and hollandaise sauce. The smokehouse feel is inescapable, with every mouthful bringing that delicious, almost-burnt outer texture.
My dining companion, meanwhile, goes for the Wagyu rib-eye steak, served with corn on the cob and smoked mashed potato. Staying true to the restaurant's smoky barbecue theme, every ingredient of this dish is prepared on the fire grill – leaving the corn with that beautiful, crunchy outer texture, while the smoked mash arguably steals the show. The steak, as you'd expect, is cooked to perfection with the distinct, charcoal flavour combining brilliantly with the intricate texture of the 250g cut of prime beef.
We round off the meal the way we began. With the help of our trusty waiter, we decide to share our dessert options – with one serving of the New York cheesecake combined with the chocolatey delight that is the 42 Midtown lava cake.
Both are served with a bit of extra personality coming from chef Vermiglio, with the cheesecake coming atop a bed of berry compote and the lava cake complemented by almond ice cream. They’re both as delicious (and indulgent) as you’d expect.
One thing’s for sure, you won’t be leaving 42 Midtown hungry.
A chat with the chef
From the Italian island of Sicily in the heart of the Mediterranean, Fabrizio Vermiglio, 40, has been travelling for more than 20 years.
The chef says he was drawn to Dubai a year ago because he’d travelled to almost every continent on the planet, but was “missing the Middle East”. Indeed, after he’s scratched that itch, he intends to try Africa next.
He describes himself as an international chef, but one who enjoys his creature comforts and thrives when cooking with ingredients that remind him of home.
“Being Sicilian, Mediterranean ingredients are key to my cooking,” he says. “I grew up with tomato, eggplant, basil, orange, lemon – all these kinds of ingredients. For me, they mean ‘home’.
“But once you start travelling the world, you need to be more flexible and more open-minded. Being a chef, you need to taste. You need to try different cuisines. I think I'm eclectic enough to cover a little bit of everything."
For vegetarians, his dish of choice is the barbecued eggplant served with a glaze and secret sauce, while he says meat lovers can’t go wrong with the 12-hour cherry oak wood-smoked brisket.
As for seafood, chef Vermiglio’s go-to is the seafood linguine – crab meat and prawns served in a sauce of garlic, chili, cherry tomatoes and lemon zest.
Price point and contact information
Bar bites are priced in the Dh40 to Dh75 ($11 to $20) range, appetisers are Dh60 to Dh195, mains are Dh75 to Dh285, while desserts are Dh45 to Dh85.
42 Midtown is open daily from noon to 3.30pm and then from 5pm to midnight on weekdays and 5pm to 2am on Friday and Saturday.
Reservations can be made by contacting 04 529 1111 or visiting www.jumeirah.com/42-midtown.
This review was conducted at the invitation of the restaurant
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Sebastian Stefan, Sebastian Morar and Claudia Pacurar
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2014
Number of employees: 36
Sector: Logistics
Raised: $2.5 million
Investors: DP World, Prime Venture Partners and family offices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
Neil Thomson – THE BIO
Family: I am happily married to my wife Liz and we have two children together.
Favourite music: Rock music. I started at a young age due to my father’s influence. He played in an Indian rock band The Flintstones who were once asked by Apple Records to fly over to England to perform there.
Favourite book: I constantly find myself reading The Bible.
Favourite film: The Greatest Showman.
Favourite holiday destination: I love visiting Melbourne as I have family there and it’s a wonderful place. New York at Christmas is also magical.
Favourite food: I went to boarding school so I like any cuisine really.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
Company profile
Name: Tratok Portal
Founded: 2017
Based: UAE
Sector: Travel & tourism
Size: 36 employees
Funding: Privately funded
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.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
Profile Box
Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Mohammed Toraif
Based: Manama, Bahrain
Sector: Sales, Technology, Conservation
Size: (employees/revenue) 4/ 5,000 downloads
Stage: 1 ($100,000)
Investors: Two first-round investors including, 500 Startups, Fawaz Al Gosaibi Holding (Saudi Arabia)
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Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
Read more about the coronavirus
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
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The rules of the road keeping cyclists safe
Cyclists must wear a helmet, arm and knee pads
Have a white front-light and a back red-light on their bike
They must place a number plate with reflective light to the back of the bike to alert road-users
Avoid carrying weights that could cause the bike to lose balance
They must cycle on designated lanes and areas and ride safe on pavements to avoid bumping into pedestrians
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