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28 March 2024

Where London's The Ivy takes root in Dubai

Published
By Keith J Fernandez

One of London’s poshest restaurants will open its doors for business in Dubai in the first quarter of 2011.

The Ivy, whose celebrity-spotting scene and trendy food ensure it has a three month waiting list for reservations, will welcome its first guests in the UAE next spring at a new outlet at The Boulevard in Jumeirah Emirates Towers, company officials told Emirates 24|7 on Tuesday.

A franchise deal between UAE hotel and restaurant operators Jumeirah and Caprice Holdings, which runs The Ivy and its sister restaurant le Caprice, was announced in August. Under the terms of the partnership, Jumeirah is licensed to open and operate all the Caprice Holdings brands, including Scott’s and Le Caprice, across the Middle East and North Africa.

And in a separate deal, Caprice Holdings owner Richard Caring will also open a Le Caprice restaurant in Beirut, as well as versions of London nightspots Annabel’s and Harry’s Bar.

‘Eight’ outlets

The Dubai outlet, to be designed by London interiors star Martin Brudnizki, is to be the first in a series of restaurants planned for the region, with other likely locations over the medium term thought to be Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Caring told The Times in May that an Annabel’s is planned for Dubai, while Brudnizki was quoted in The New York Times earlier this year as saying he was developing eight sites for different types of clubs and restaurants with Caprice Holdings and Jumeirah.

However, Jumeirah Restaurants’ Managing Director Phil Broad says for now the focus remains firmly on Dubai. “We want to get the brands up and running and to put our supply chain in place before we begin looking elsewhere,” he says.

The Ivy, which replaces Scarlett’s at Emirates Towers, will be the second Caprice brand to open in the UAE; the first, Rivington Grill, opened in 2008 and has made a name for itself for serving up modern British classics.

Media speculation has also revolved around a likely outlet at Dubai’s Madinat Jumeirah and that a Le Caprice restaurant will replace Vu’s bar at the Emirates Towers, but Broad did not confirm where future restaurants might open, only saying that such decisions depended very much on finding the right locations.

“We’re not looking to create a franchise brand called The Ivy that we can roll out into other markets. We’re want The Ivy in Dubai to be a new and exciting experience that works over the long term in this market,” he says.

Celebrity appeal

But part of The Ivy’s original appeal is the unrivalled atmosphere it creates. Madonna and Guy Ritchie were lunchtime regulars there, Jack Nicholson and Claudia Schiffer dined there regularly, it still draws Robbie Williams, George Michael and Kevin Spacey. And when Andrew Lloyd Webber asked Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood to capture London society on canvas, he chose to set Mick Jagger, Tom Stoppard, Kate Moss, Jennifer Lopez and several other luminaries at The Ivy.

The restaurant started life in 1916, when Abel Giandellini set up an unlicensed café in the heart of London’s theatre district selling Italian food. He named it The Ivy after a conversation with actor Alice Delysia, who overheard him apologise for the inconvenience caused by structural works in his attempt to create a restaurant of the highest class. “Don't worry,” she reportedly told him. “We will always come and see you. We will cling together like the ivy,” she added, quoting the popular Scottish ballad “Wild Mountain Thyme”.

And they did – until about the latter half of the last century, when its reputation began to decline and its pursuit of excellence was less feverish. When the owners of Le Caprice bought it in 1990, they dug into the restaurant’s history to reinvent it – a route now followed by luxury brands. The brought back the oak panelling and stained class, made food centre stage again, and put the owner’s relationship with customers front and centre again, so a guest would be schmoozed for a few minutes at his table, making him feel special.

Since Caring bought the restaurants for a rumoured £21 million in 2005, he opened the Rivington and Bam-Bou, as well as the stratospheric Club at The Ivy.

Social engineering

But by all accounts, The Ivy's management knows all the minutiae of London society, and are able to accurately assess which social superstars wished to be seated in the vicinity of which other minor players, or who simply wanted to devour a Yorkshire pudding in peace in the back of the room. (Emirates 24|7 was given a prominent table in the neutral middle zone on a recent visit, the ideal vantage point to observe all the goings-on in peace -- but we sense that may have more to do with the company we keep). 

It is these social nitty-gritties that Broad and his team will need to get right, but if he’s got any tricks up his sleeve, he isn’t revealing them just yet.

Other super venues have been and gone – or are struggling to deliver on their brand promise, but Broad says being located at The Boulevard will go a long way to ensure The Ivy doesn’t shutter its doors down the line.

“One of the key things is providing the right environment, and getting Martin Brudnizki to design the interiors will ensure a unique product. We will also be looking to provide our loyal base of customers with the same levels of service we provide in London,” he says. All of which, he hopes, will go a long way in ensuring the endless stream of celebrities popping up across the Emirates will want to head to The Ivy in Dubai.

With 172 covers, The Ivy in Dubai will be open for both lunch and dinner. Publicists said it would offer a brasserie-style menu with a selection of the classics that made the restaurant’s name, such as its famous Shepherd’s Pie and Scandinavian iced berries with hot white chocolate sauce.