Climbing Ivy

 The long-awaited arrival of London celebrity haunt, The Ivy, is due to arrive in Dubai in June following a tie-up between Ivy owner Caprice Holdings and the Jumeirah Group. Caterer finds out how the legendary brand will adapt to its new habitat.

With tables like gold dust and a dedicated following of celebrity luvvies, The Ivy is an institution in London, frequented as much for its swanky image and media buzz as for its food.

Its famous oak panelling and stained glass décor, atmosphere of discretion and large brasserie-style menu has made it a favourite among food critics and its name has become a byword for chic, exclusive dining.

So why has a brand of such glossy pedigree chosen the Middle East for expansion overseas? “Dubai is a polarisation of everything going on in the world,” says Des MacDonald, CEO of Caprice Holdings, the company which owns The Ivy as well as many other well-known high-end restaurant brands such as Le Caprice and Rivington Grill.

“You get a real mixture of offerings within a small space. You can go to Deira for an authentic curry or to Zuma for a more high-end experience. I think the time is right for The Ivy to add to that mix.”

Lost in translation?
While The Ivy’s location in London, nestled in the heart of the West End theatre district, makes it a natural venue for the great and the glamorous to cluster pre- or post-shows, its Middle Eastern location in the Boulevard at Jumeirah Emirates Towers next to Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) must draw a very different sort of crowd.

MacDonald is unruffled about the prospect of this diluting the Ivy brand experience. “It’s a great, central, cultural location at the DIFC. There are lots of local workers, art galleries and shops. It’s right in the hub of things,” he says. “There are obviously going to be differences but you just have to look at the local market and work with it.”

General manager of the Dubai Ivy, Sunil Kumar, is similarly unworried. “The guests will receive the same in terms of the ambience, the service and the food style as they do in London,” he says.

“People sometimes say that the service is more submissive in Dubai than people are used to in many other countries, but we have recruited many of our team from London and we are going through six weeks of training to make sure everyone is up to speed.”

It is the service which really makes the Ivy experience outstanding, says MacDonald.

“What [UK Ivy general manager] Fernando Peire does in London is teach staff to read body language. So you know that if it is a group birthday party then they probably want a bit of fun and so you give them more attention, but if it’s a couple they might just prefer to be left alone.
We’re going to ensure that this sort of attention-to-detail expertise is transferred to all of our staff in Dubai too,” he says.

Dubai’s reliance on imported food will also not affect the dining experience, according to Kumar.

“We are very selective with our ingredients. The menu has been developed with very experienced ex-Zuma chef Colin Clague. We have all the same expertise and there is no compromise whatsoever in terms of ingredients; everything has got to be top class. The Ivy is an institution back in London because of its service and its food and we are keeping it more or less the same.”

MacDonald elaborates: “The DNA of the Ivy is the menu, the design, the training and the staff,” he says. “We are bringing in key managers, support staff, chefs, and a maître d’ all from London. They have all worked for us before and we are keeping the menu the same as well.

This means that every central aspect of the DNA will be kept intact and we will continue monitoring it from the local Caprice office in Dubai and via the operations team in London to make sure that remains the case.”

Dubai adaptation
However, the Dubai Ivy outlet will be making some concessions to its new Middle Eastern habitat.

“We will be adapting the menu to the local environment by about 25%, but there will still be the Ivy classics such as the Ivy Shepherd’s pie,” says Caprice Holdings chef, Tim Hughes.

“There will be some fine-tuning and some Middle Eastern dishes will be coming on the menu but it’s a very eclectic menu anyway; we have sushi and curry on the menu for example — we have a bit of everything for everyone.”

The Ivy menu reflects what MacDonald sees as a global trend for more collaborative, fusion cuisine. “The world is definitely a smaller place; people are travelling more and becoming better educated. Whether it’s Mexican, Indian or Middle Eastern food, people are becoming more discerning and culturally aware.

As such a central hub I think that all cuisines can prosper in the Middle East.”

All together the restaurant will be able to accommodate 172 covers including up to 16 guests in the private dining room. One major difference from the London venue is the Dubai venue’s bar, which has the capacity to seat 150 people in a “loungey” style, according to Kumar.

This reflects the Dubai Ivy’s different target market: “We are aiming for the financial lunch market predominantly and then in the evening I think it will be more social,” says McDonald. “The London Ivy has very social pre-theatre menu for example, whereas I think the Dubai Ivy will be more about people having after-work drinks and dinner.”

Despite the Ivy’s glitzy reputation, it is in fact very down-to-earth and affordable, says London director, Fernando Peire, “People think of the Ivy as a celebrity haunt but we are in fact very attainable,” he says. MacDonald says that the new menu will be pitched at the mid to high end, “It’ll be about GBP45 (US$70) for a meal,” he says.

Needs no introduction
While the expansion of a brand that is so intimately interlaced with its original environment might seem like a risky strategy, people are more savvy to and accepting of brands as entities in themselves nowadays, according to MacDonald.

“People are far more brand aware now at every level,” he says. “The UAE in particular is small enough that via word of mouth, the press and social media or just from their travels, people are aware of what is going on in the F&B world: they will order a Grey Goose and tonic or a Belverdere and tonic rather than the generic vodka and a mixer, for example.

“Whether it’s in London, Paris or Hong Kong people today know what is going on and will have heard of various brands popping up, so there is an established knowledge base already there.”

It’s clear that a knowledge base for the Ivy is already firmly planted in Dubai. First announced in January 2011, the Ivy waiting list is already jammed, despite there having been no official marketing investment: “We simply put up a sign at the Rivington Grill and at the Emirates Towers site announcing the imminent arrival of the Ivy, along with an email and phone number and we have had a huge response,” says Kumar. “The brand needs no introduction.”

While this would indicate the beginnings of the exclusive “clubhouse” atmosphere of the London outlet, Fernando Peire is adamant that the restaurant is not cliquey in an elitist way but is more akin to a family.

“Our restaurant is for regulars. Our staff get to know people and their preferences well and that’s what keeps them coming back, and what keeps our staff working for us for 10, 15 years,” says Peire.

“That is why it ends up being exclusive. It can be hard to get a table if you don’t already have some kind of connection with the restaurant because our regulars are always with us. We will only pre-book some of the tables because we want people to be able to drop in spontaneously.”

With the Dubai outlet set to open in June, now is the time to get your name on the list.

Ivy roots
The Ivy’s reputation as a hotspot for the theatrical community is rooted in its heritage – founded in 1917 by owner Abel Glandellini and Maître d’Hôtel Mario Gallati, the actress Alice Delysia inadvertently chose the name for the restaurant when, in response to Glandellini’s apology for the rising restaurant’s building works, she quoted a line from a famous song of the day: “Don’t worry, we will always come to see you, we will cling together like the ivy.” The moniker stuck.

Mario Gallati continued his success when he opened Le Caprice in 1947, which was later re-launched by Caprice Holdings Ltd in 1990, following an extensive refurbishment.

Currently owned by Richard Caring, The Ivy once again boasts its position as one of London’s most popular theatre restaurants.