As the first F&B tenant, the stylish London-founded Japanese concepts set the tone for what was to come. Parry recounts: “I was in Zuma this week for lunch and it just so happened that Rainer Becker (Zuma’s co-founder) was there. I couldn’t help but compliment him because four years later, that restaurant is as timeless and as fresh today as it was when we first opened. It really embodies what we’re trying to achieve here at Gulf Related. It’s not going after the short-term, it’s the long-term vision and long-term partners.”
Now, more than eight years in, the project is still evolving. The end of last year saw a slew of new openings as The Four Seasons section of The Dining Collection reached completion: “Last year was incredibly rewarding for us because we had the opening of a number of signature restaurants. That included Coya, Nusr-Et, and La Petite Maison which are all fantastic restaurants, and 99 Sushi which is a fabulous little sushi joint.”
Parry explains what goes in to creating the ideal mix of restaurants: “What we had to do is make sure that we curate it in a way to have all the different brands and all the different personalities and cuisine types all mixed together in a seamless way. If you go too heavy in one category, you’re going to miss out on another category or you’re going to end up cannibalising the category.”
In addition to a diverse portfolio, The Dining Collection’s convenience has been key to its success: “Our vision was always to create a dining destination, somewhere for the population of Abu Dhabi to congregate. It’s fine dining but it’s also casual. Whether you want to catch up with someone and have breakfast at Leopold’s or lunch at Café Bateel we’ve made sure that we’ve catered to all of those different tastes, whims and lifestyle choices.”
It would be natural to assume that there would be drawbacks to having too much choice but Parry affirms that the increased number of restaurants has resulted in improved performances from The Dining Collection’s existing concepts: “I am delighted to say that since we opened all of the restaurants last year, our F&B has gone up. Zuma’s sales were up last year. We haven’t cannibalised and it just goes to show that the population of Abu Dhabi is waiting for someone to deliver spectacular restaurants and, as a result, they’re all coming to the project.”
Are the restaurateurs concerned that there are so many brands vying for a finite number of diners? No, according to Parry: “When you talk to the restaurateurs they say ‘we like the competition. It keeps us on our toes and makes us work harder every day to make sure that we’re delivering the best offering that we can deliver’. You can talk to any of our restaurants and the chefs will tell you the same thing.”
From Parry’s point of view, the business model has been tried and tested: “As a developer, while it seems to be a relatively new thing to create dining destinations, The Related Companies have been doing it for the last 25 years. You can look at their projects, whether it’s Chicago or New York City with Time Warner Center.”
When asked about comparisons with Dubai’s dining destinations, Parry doesn’t shy away from saying: “We got the best out of DIFC and the best out of Four Seasons Jumeirah. That’s not a coincidence. We look at Dubai, see what works there, and we bring it to Abu Dhabi.”
“The Dining Collection is a game-changer. We’ve shown the people of Abu Dhabi that they don’t need to go to Dubai to have an incredible fine dining experience or a casual experience. When we opened Magnolia, people came to The Galleria just to have the banana pudding. I love it, it’s just not good for the waist,” he laughs.
Though Parry remains tight-lipped about future plans at The Dining Collection, he does reveal one of its new launches: “I’ll give you a scoop. We’ve just signed the lease for L’Eto. That’ll open after summer. We have some more restaurants opening in The Dining Collection towards the end of the year and early next year.”
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