Happening on the 25 Feb – 12 Mar 2016

As the Dubai Food Festival came to its flavoursome finale yesterday, with the Emirati-inspired Made In Dubai, Festival organisers have declared the second edition a “tempting triumph”, as they look ahead to the 2016 Festival.

Appealing to both residents and visitors, this year’s Festival showcased the Emirate’s diverse gastronomic offering, with cuisines on offer inspired by the 6,000 restaurants operating in the city, and the 200+ nationalities who call Dubai home. Solidifying Dubai’s profile as the region’s culinary capital and contributing to the further development of its fast growing food and restaurant sector, the Festival also further enhanced the city’s dynamic destination offer – as it added a series of unique events to its world-class calendar. With new-for-2015 events on offer including the Food Truck Convoy and the world-first Fatafeat Kitchen, which welcomed nine international chefs from the popular TV show, the Festival also played host to the region’s most popular and long-standing foodie events, including Gulfood and Dubai Food Carnival.

Emirati Cuisine

Following the successful Made In Dubai, which showcased warm Emirati hospitality and cuisine with a series of locally-inspired cookery masterclasses and challenges, as well as Emirati film, fashion and performance, the Festival’s 2016 edition will enhance this focus on local culture and delicacies. In the meantime, residents and visitors can look forward to new locally-inspired restaurants opening in the city, including Logma in Boxpark and Aseelah - Radisson Blu, Deira. Emirati cuisine was also on offer as part of Dubai Food Festival event, Mystery Dining Tours, as guests took appetising adventures through the older parts of the city, as well as Dubai Food Carnival.

Multi-cultural Dining & Street Food

This year’s Festival also served to ensure that the Emirate was at the forefront of the international trend of street food. Its Food Truck Convoy, which served up international street food fare to key business districts on weekdays, as well as Street Nights, which fused the street food scene with urban performance, ensured the movement came to the doorstep of Dubai’s residents and visitors. The Festival’s inaugural Food & Film season also screened American food truck-inspired blockbuster Chef to a crowd at JLT Park.

In line with the global trend, the city is continually seeing new food trucks taking road-side orders – with two homegrown concepts, RAW Coffee Company and Brookyln Bros, wheeling into the Emirate this month alone. With many more set to arrive throughout the year, the Dubai Food Festival 2016 will further support the trend with a number of street food-inspired events and activations and an enhanced Food & Film series.

Home-grown

Following immense success in its inaugural edition, this year’s Beach Canteen saw 11 of Dubai’s most-loved eateries pop up in shipping containers on Kite Beach. Welcoming a flurry of guests to the unique gastronomical activation throughout the 23-day duration, the Beach Canteen celebrated the city’s very own culinary stars. Promoting home-grown talent throughout the entire calendar, a multitude of Festival events including Street Nights and Made In Dubai, saw more than 50 of the city’s homegrown restaurants serve their cuisine to Festival-goers. Ahead of next year’s edition, the online Food Trail, as compiled by the who’s who of the emirate’s culinary scene, will see both residents and visitors discover the restaurant’s best eateries as they visit the go-to gastronomic guide online at http://dubaifoodfestival.com/food-trail/.

International Chefs and Restaurants

Welcoming culinary celebrities from far and wide, including Queen of the Arabic Kitchen Manal Al-Alem, TV favourite Sanjeev Kapoor and Saudi Arabian super chef Yousef Khumayes, this year’s Festival served up Michelin-starred cuisine from across the globe as part of events such as Dine on the Creek. Fatafeat Kitchen’s cookery demonstrations with nine renowned chefs from the popular TV channel was also a highlight for guests from the region. Continually opening the doors to restaurants owned by culinary royalty, such as the soon-to-open Marina Social by the Michelin-starred Jason Atherton in InterContinental Dubai Marina and recently opened Clé by Greg Malouf, the city at large will continue to welcome culinary A-Listers throughout the year, with top names already confirmed for the 2016 edition of the Dubai Food Festival.

For more information visit www.dubaifoodfestival.com.