If all goes to plan, by the time you read this article, Pearls by Michael Caines will have opened at Jumeirah at Etihad Towers (JET) in Abu Dhabi — on the site of the former Scott’s seafood restaurant, the vaguely oyster-shaped protuberance that straddles the hotel’s pool and beach.
I meet with Caines and the JET senior management team in Ray’s Bar on the 62nd floor of JET overlooking the restaurant as he makes a final reconnaissance visit ahead of a soft launch in mid-September — to test the restaurant’s menu, systems and processes — and the planned full-scale opening on October 1, 2015.
And I’m immediately pleased with myself that I remember to offer Caines a left-hand shake (the first time I’ve done that since the Cub Scouts) on account of the fact that he lost his right arm in a horror car crash in 1994. His prosthetic limb is realistic enough that you wouldn’t notice if you didn’t know, but it’s presumably not the precision instrument he once had in its place.
| Advertisement |
The injury never held him back, as he rose to prominence in the British culinary scene, opening restaurants in ABode hotels in Exeter, Chester and Manchester, as well as informal Café Bar & Grills and Taverns in the same venues. Then there’s The Coach House by Michael Caines at the Kentisbury Grange in North Devon. And more recently, The Townhouse in Oswestry. All alongside his media work, book launches and prime-time TV appearances (on Masterchef and Saturday Kitchen, among other shows).
Britain’s shores were unlikely to remain a boundary for Caines for long. He says: “While my commitment to Gidleigh Park [and other ventures] remains absolute, I am also now at the stage of my career when I am looking to pursue new projects in the future.
“These are exciting times. For those of you who have been a part of my journey, I thank you for your support. For those who are new to Michael Caines, I look forward to seeing and meeting you soon.”
He reveals that he had been exploring opportunities to launch a restaurant at JET — the 5-star, 66-floor, 382-room hotel at the end of the Corniche — since February 2014, when he was hosted by the property for Gourmet Abu Dhabi. Readers will remember that Caterer Middle East broke the news about Caines considering an outpost in the UAE capital.
And he has been back and forth between the Emirate and his home in the UK on several occasions since — doing his best to keep the partnership quiet in the meantime. “We wanted the timing of the announcement not to be overcrowded by other news,” he says — surely referring to the recent regional activities of his busy peers Jason Atherton (Marina Social), Tom Aikens (Pots, Pans and Boards), Gordon Ramsay (Bread Street Kitchen). With celebrity sometimes comes attitude (no offence intended to the aforementioned culinary superstars), but not so with Caines, according to JET’s director of F&B. “He’s so flexible and easy to work with,” says Loughlin Druhan, out of his new chef’s earshot.
That’s not to say Caines doesn’t know what he wants, nor demands the highest standards. “The brief was quite obvious to me,” he says — good food served with friendly style, for everyone.
Caines says he built his reputation on “a signature style of cuisine that is at once modern… yet which is also rooted in classic cooking techniques and traditions”.
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
