the Big Bite TRAVEL “Dubai reminds me of Singapore ten years ago,” says chef David Can You Imbibe DUBAI Myers. Known for his small- in Dubai? plate, cocktail-driven joint Yes. Mainly Adrift, in Singapore, and at hotels. Here are answers to other LETS LOOSE his French-Asian tasting burning questions. The city of overblown LUXURY Eskpertise menus at Another Place, DINING SCENE in Hong Kong, Myers is When to go? finds verve in a hip opening three restaurants In November through March, By Candice Rainey at the new Renaissance temperatures hover in hotel in downtown Dubai, the high 70s and low 80s, as It’s not that you don’t want to go to Dubai when including Basta!, which will opposed to the 100s in the your boss asks you to get on a 14-hour flight. It’s focus on wood-fire Neapol- summer. Emirates has flights that you immediately think of all its unnatural aspects: itan pizza. “I think the big- from a dozen U. S. cities. artificial islands, indoor skiing, and back-to-back five- gest misconception is that When’s dinner? course tasting meals presided over by a DJ. Dubai is all lavish showings He knows when you’ve “Normally 9:30 P.M.,” Truth is, Dubai’s over-the-top restaurant scene has of wealth. The new Dubai says Deborah Bevan, a Gulf become less fixated on Australian wagyu beef and been naughty. is young, vibrant.” He knows when you’ve travel specialist. “I haven’t intricately folded napkins. Of course, celebrity chefs In September, Jamie eaten at 8:00 P.M. in been nice. And so like Heinz Beck, Gordon Ramsay, and Gary Rhodes Bissonnette and Ken do the Russians who a restaurant here in years.” have long been opening versions of their fine-dining Oringer opened an incar- hacked his server. establishments in Dubai, mostly in its miles-of-mar- nation of their Boston and Must-eat? ble hotels. But recently, one of the world’s fastest- N. Y. C. tapas bar Toro in The shawarma. “You have to go to Massaad Barbecue on growing cities has been getting a hipper, more cos- the new City Walk devel- Sheikh Zayed Road before mopolitan wave of restaurants befitting a metropolis opment, swapping pork you leave,” says David Myers. where a slew of languages can be heard at dinner. for halal beef. If cheese pide is your desert-island Day trip? meal, you’ll want to try The brand-new Louvre it at Rüya, British chef in Abu Dhabi. Colin Clague’s contempo- rary Turkish restaurant. For New Yorkers who love the downtown disco- ball-by-way-of-Jamaica aesthetic at Miss Lily’s, that addictive alchemy is even more palpable inside Dubai’s Sheraton Grand Hotel. There’s also Michelin-starred chef Vikas Khanna’s refined but warm Junoon, which, unlike its New York counterpart, incorporates spices from local souks and produce from UAE markets. A subset of young chefs is heading up kitchens without liquor licenses, among them Singapore-born Akmal Anuar of 3 Fils, whose spe- cialties are Asian-minded small plates such as black cod spiced with chili sauce and sesame-coated lamb ribs. The city’s new guard is moving away from super- fluous formality and embracing its multicultural makeup—more than 85 percent of the country’s pop- ulation are expats, after all. If globalization can feel at home anywhere, it’s here. SHE’D WALK A MILE FOR SOME SALMON From left: Dubai’s sand and skyline; rum-cured salmon at Miss Lily’s. illustration: Ben Schwartz 32.