While people may be cutting back on all manner of luxury fripperies, clearly, a nice dinner out has lost none of its appeal.

In a month that has seen top chefs fly in from around the world for festivals at various Dubai properties, one-year-old Raffles Dubai is localising its own culinary event for the shiny emirate.

The food and art extravaganza at Raffles, which runs from Tuesday to Friday, brings together luminaries from the culinary world, prestigious vintners and leading artists from around the world in an annual showcase. The Singapore event, which has been running 14 years and is well known across Asia, has inspired several similar showcases, including one here in the region – and Raffles Dubai wants to create a similar positioning for its event here. "We have big shoes to fill, but we are confident that this event can be included in the annual highlights of Dubai's social calendar," acknowledges Hagop Doghramadijan, General Manager, Raffles Dubai.

The event features three top European chefs: Nicolas Le Bec from the restaurant Nicolas Le Bec in Lyon, France, who received his first Michelin Star just two months after opening his restaurant, Philip Howard, who has been Chef de Patron at The Square in Mayfair, London, for over 17 years, and one-star chef Atul Kochhar of Benares in London's Berkeley Square, the first Indian chef to have been honoured by the guide.

Besides serving up exquisite meals at the hotel's signature restaurants – including one joint effort on the 21st, the hotel's first anniversary, which sees the trio of chefs collaborate on a five-course meal – they will also be conducting culinary demonstrations in the dramatic setting of the New Asia Bar, at the top of the hotel's pyramid.

And it isn't just foie gras and caviar, says Andrew Whiffen, Executive Chef at the Raffles Dubai. "Michelin-star cuisine goes far beyond high-cost ingredients, and this is the perfect opportunity to experience that," he says.

Ingredients are being flown in from everywhere and ensuring that they arrive on the day so customers get the best quality possible is quite the logistical headache, he says.

But high-cost ingredients or not, fine dining isn't cheap. Yet, Doghramadijan says Raffles has hardly been affected by the decrease in consumer spending on luxury food and beverages.

"As over 90 per cent of our patrons are residents of Dubai, and because we cater for all tastes and wallets, the hotel has not yet seen any change of trends or a decrease in consumer behaviour," he says.

"With the increased trend for special dinners and unique restaurant offerings, we see great demand from our regular patrons and will continue to host similar culinary experiences."



From November 18 to 21. Call 04 314 9888


TOP TABLES

Several city restaurants are hosting visiting chefs this week:

- TRAITEUR

Jean-François Rouquette (left), the acclaimed Executive Chef of the Michelin Guide one-star Pur'Grill at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme, serves up an array of European delights from the restaurant's theatre-style open kitchen at the Park Hyatt Dubai. Until Sunday, a five-course meal for Dh550 per head. Call: 04 317 2222


- PALM GRILL

Australian celebrity chef Geoff Lindsay takes over the steakhouse at the Radisson SAS Dubai Deira Creek until Wednesday. On Tuesday, a special five-course meal with Australian beverages is priced at Dh494. Call: 04 205 7033


- KEBAB KORNER

The Indian restaurant at Bur Dubai's Highland Hotel has flown in Chef Merajuddin to serve up Rajasthani food until November 23. The cuisine is among the finest but barely available in the UAE. Call: 04 393 9807