Cafe Culture

Greetings!

I got introduced to Cafe Culture a few months ago. I can't say I'm a regular there, but it struck me that something like this would do really well in a place like Dubai.

Essentially, a speaker is invited to speak to a gathering of members of the public in a cafe, about a subject that they are passionate about (usually their area of work). The speakers come from a variety of backgrounds - scientists, artists, politicians, teachers etc.; they usually speak for about 30 minutes after which they take questions from the coffee-sipping audience. If the issues being discussed are contentious, there is usually a lively discussion.

Not being in Dubai myself, I can't physically organize this, but if anyone is up for it, I'd be more than happy to suggest a few venues and speakers. It would also be great if someone could find out if we need permission to do this sort of thing and if so, how we can go about getting it.

If anyone is interested, do let me know by leaving a comment here/sending me an e-mail on the address on my profile.

Cheers

D

Clandestine Croissant, Anyone?

I'll be honest. This fairly trivial post is occasioned in part by the desire not to see ten weeks' blog silence extend to a full quarter. That would almost feel like a final lurch from moribund to just plain dead. Do we, as a community, really have so little to say?
Anyway, here's your starter for ten: what harm would it do to allow food outlets to remain open during Ramadan? Take for example Le Dôme cafe in BurJuman Centre. They are open for delivery or take-away service only. Where is the sense in that? Someone might just buy half a pound of mince and a packet of lentils from a corner shop to cook after sundown, but a grilled cheese croissant and a café latté?? It's hardly likely that's going into the fridge to be fresh for Iftar. If we're happy to acknowledge that many people in town are not fasting, why can we not also let them sit down in comfort to eat their lunch? The daylight is so bright that it's barely possible to see in through the windows, so the temptation argument doesn't apply. And as those who are fasting have no good reason to step inside, the thing would seem to be self-policing. I'm convinced :-)

Quest for the Holy Chocolate Grail

Some of you may have seen magazine articles about the new Galler chocolate cafe "on Sheikh Zayed road". Well that's not a very helpful location instruction. Nor is Time Out Dubai's description of it as "Ghaya Residence, behind the Dusit". After - no kidding - one hour and a half of driving round SZR and asking for directions (a huge thank you to the guy in Axiom Cafe who let me do a Google search on his laptop) I finally found it.

Anyone who has been to the Galler cafe in Abu Dhabi's Marina Mall will understand why it was so vital to find the Dubai one. The menu is wonderful: fresh salads, burgers, crepes, with lots of imaginative use of chocolate, and the most amazing home made ice cream and sorbet in the UAE. Plus of course rich, foaming hot chocolate like you have never tasted it before.



So how to get there? Well, Ghaya residence is nowhere near the Dusit. It's half way up SZR nearer to the Emirates Towers end. It has Commercial Bank of Dubai at the bottom facing SZR, and the Galler cafe is round the back (north east corner - ie the Emirates Towers side). Click these images to enlarge:

Chillout: First Middle East Ice Cafe Opens In Dubai Today

Chillout ice cafe opens today in Dubai's Times Square Mall. It's the first ice restaurant in the Middle East. Almost everything at the restaurant is sculpted out of ice. Diners will sit on ice benches or chairs, eat at ice tables, out of ice plates, drink from ice glasses served from a bar made of ice.

A Dh9 million (US $2.45 million) investment, the restaurant is Dubai-based Sharaf Group’s enterprise while technical inputs came from Canada-based Iceculture Inc, who are credited with building ice lounges around the world, informed a spokesperson for Sharaf Group.

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