Teamwork
Caines says: “I consider my relationship with my chefs to be deep and meaningful. We are more than just professional colleagues: we share friendships based on mutual respect and shared values.” If he remains true to his UK leadership style in Abu Dhabi, Caines will allows his chefs at Pearls to have the freedom and the platform to develop their own creative and personal dishes.
Caines himself has made the most of his several semi-secret visits to date, speccing and sourcing crockery and glassware and menu design. He has also visited local fishermen and been in touch with the Abu Dhabi Farmers Association. “I’m conscious of the local supplier market, and also local tastes,” he says. “The food will be subtly spicy without heat, there will be vegetarian options and non-alcoholic drinks, of course.”
The 80-cover Pearls by Michael Caines will be one of eight main restaurants at JET (there are 12 if you include bars). Ray’s Grill on the 63rd floor reopened in February as a steak restaurant. Druhan says: “It was previously pan-Asian, but we did some guest research, and steak came first. Second was Mexican, but we don’t currently have room for that!”
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Perhaps surprisingly, given the arrival of a new flagship restaurant carrying the name of a celebrity chef, the interior design of Pearls by Michael Caines will remain largely unchanged from its previous Scott’s incarnation. It’s more about Caines’ food than the F&F, Druhan insists.
That said, the venue remains pretty special. With floor-to-ceiling glass walls, and panoramic views of Abu Dhabi’s inlets and islets, and the wider Arabian Gulf seascape, it also features a private landing jetty offering yacht access.
One new feature that will take advantage of the restaurant’s location is the upstairs deck, which was not previously used by Scott’s. It will feature a DJ booth and a bar serving food, “including beef burger marinated in miso paste, Singapore chicken satay, and other retro dishes”, according to Caines.
There will be a live DJ set three nights a week. Druhan is particularly pleased with the sound system that’s been installed by supplier Music Concierge, which manages to keep separate the music upstairs and downstairs — enabling a different vibe above and below deck.
This will no doubt come in handy for some of the functions the restaurant is set to hold in the coming months.
Caines has links with the Williams Formula 1 motor racing team, and hints at an exclusive event with the team and its drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas at his Pearls restaurant in November, around the time of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — bringing new meaning to the term ‘fast food’.
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