Eat Drink Stay Dubai Newsletter 44/w33

Hi Dubai friends,

Welcome to Week 33, Edition 44

Apologies for the delay in sending - and the slightly shorter layout - this week. The email platform I use (and me!) faced a few glitches today.

So here is this week’s digest of the ‘Dubai news worth knowing’, all in 10 minutes or less of your time.

👇 A few things worth knowing about Dubai this week 👇

🍽 Dubai Dishes with Jason Atherton

🏨 Could the Dis-Loyalty Program work for you?

⛱ J1 Beach to open in September?

💸 W Dubai - The Palm from £203/nt (BF, dinner & up to 2 kids free)

🗞 Tittle-Tattle: Mina Seyahi new Complex Direct of F&B (top bloke too!). Wynn Resorts buy ¼ of Marjan Island. Dubai Mall taxi point move. Dubai Summer Restaurant Week. JBR ban e-scooters/e-bikes? Ibn Battuta Mall cinema closed permanently?

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EAT

Dubai Dishes with Jason Atherton

Ever wondered where Jason Atherton, chef of recently-awarded 2 Michelin star Row on 45, eats in Dubai?

If so, be sure to catch up with Series 2 of “Jason Atherton’s Dubai Dishes”, available now on ITV and ITVX. See him in the clip below searching out pakodas with Fareeda from the ace Frying Pan Adventures

fryingpanadventures

21K followers

View more on Instagram

🔗 Frying Pan Adventures

🔗 Jason Atherton’s Dubai Dishes, Season 2 (Visit Dubai)

STAY

Could the ‘Dis-Loyalty’ Program Work for You?

This is a bit of a leftfield suggestion, but it could be valuable played the right way.

Dis-loyalty (From Ennismore) is a paid membership program that gives benefits back at their hotels.

It's a yearly membership, and currently they're running a birthday sale - so it's down to £9/mo or £93.60 for 12 months.

The benefits are things like:-

* A free barista-made drink every day of the year

* 10% off all return visits

* 50% off every just-opened hotel (within first 3 months of opening)

* 20% off your first stay at 90+ hotels

* 10% off food and drink at 175+ venues

Comment

You won't earn status, elite benefits, points/miles etc like the conventional loyalty programs - it's aimed more for the casual hotel guest rather than those that may do 10, 25, 50, 60, 100 nights etc to earn status etc.

Where it can be useful from a Dubai POV is, Ennismore are getting good traction in opening their brands locally, such as:-

(currently open)

* So/

* 25 Hours

* Hyde

* SLS

Opening Soon (ish - it's Dubai!!)

* Mama Shelter

Note - at this stage, it’s uncertain whether Delano Dubai* (at Bluewaters) will be included. This may be because the hotel only recently announced it was due to open in October this year.

They also have lots of hotels around Europe and USA that are great, eg Sanderson, St Martins Lane in London (as seen in Layer Cake movie, Hoxton, Mondrian etc. Although each brand is different, some are more funky/lifestyle whilst So/ Mondrian etc. are more 'top end' with swish design (think Phillipe Starck)

So the question is - how quick could you make that £93.60 back? If you could time a stay within 3 months of a new hotel opening, 50% discount is likely to swing it with one stay.

Otherwise, 20% off a first time stay or 10% off a return stay could be decent value also. Of course, it's worth balancing up the discounted rates against other sales channels, or programs such as Tablet Plus* or the VIP partner programs such as offered by Classic Travel*.

🔗 Dis-Loyalty (official site)

🔗 Tablet Plus*

🔗 Classic Travel*

DUBAI

J1 Beach to Open in September?

The area formerly known as La Mer, which was demolished (or ‘redeveloped’), is due to open in September. At one stage it only appeared to be La Mer South that was going, but it now appears to be the entire area will be new developments.

According to Visit Dubai, it’s planned there will be 10 restaurants and three beach clubs. Here is a list of the planned restaurants and bars at J1 Beach, according to Caterer Middle East.

La Baia looks like being the first beach club at J1 Beach, according to local media.

🔗 J1 Beach

HOTEL OFFERS

Limited Time LUX Exclusive: W Dubai - The Palm

W Dubai - The Palm is currently on a “Limited Time LUX Exclusive” offer at Luxury Escapes*

The offer includes breakfast, dinner and up to 2 kids stay free.

Prices from £609 for 3 nights.

Package Upgrade Bonus also available which includes upgrade to a Spectacular Room, W Suite or Marvellous Suite, and three hours of daily free-flow drinks.

As the description states, this offer is for a limited time so book early to avoid disappointment.

Comment

Do check with the hotel directly regarding facilities access for kids, especially the Wetdeck as W is known as a funky brand and there can be pool parties, DJs etc.

🔗 W Dubai - The Palm* (Luxury Escapes)

DUBAI NEWS/TITTLE-TATTLE

Delighted to see Yogesh Prakash has been appointed Complex Director of F&B at Destination Mina Seyahi.

He’s a smashing chap and has been a great member of staff across many venues at Mina Seyahi, so it’s well-deserved he will now oversee 21 outlets across the 3 hotels there 👏

Wynn Resorts are close to a deal to own almost a quarter of Marjan Island, Ras-al-Khaimah, which will no doubt add to the ‘Casinowatch’ speculation.

The Dubai Mall taxi pick-up near Waitrose has moved to Zabeel 3, as of 12 Aug 24.

Comment

It’s sometimes worth avoiding trying to get a taxi from the main (waterfall) taxi point at Dubai Mall if you’re not a fan of queues and congestion, or being hyped to get into a ‘same price Lexus’. Far better to walk a bit outside the mall to a nearby hotel, and try your luck either flagging one off the road or a nearby car hotel car park.

The National takes a look at Dubai Summer Restaurant Week to see if the discounts are ‘worth your dirhams‘.

Dubai Summer Restaurant Week runs from 23 Aug 24 through to 01 Sep 24, and features 60 restaurants. Search for the featured deals and venues from the official site below.

🔗 Dubai Summer Restaurant Week

Jumeirah Beach Residences (JBR) are to ‘restrict’ e-scooter and e-bikes in some areas.

Sadly, the Vox cinema at Ibn Battuta Mall appears to have closed.