Palazzo Versace Dubai is one of my most frequently visited and favorite properties in Dubai. I’ve enjoyed numerous meals there, have also previously enjoyed a staycation there (which you can read more about here), and I’ve built ever so many incredibly pleasant memories there with friends and family alike. As we really couldn’t muster up the courage to travel this summer but desperately wanted a change of indoors scenery and wanted said change to be as different from our minimalist, Sandi home, we knew it was time for an encore at Palazzo Versace Dubai, for an opulence overload. This time, how ..read more

I love a spa day as much as the next person, but as descriptive as I can get about the treatments I receive and the pressure applied by the masseuse, I must admit that the differences that really stand out between various spas usually have to do with the products, location, cleanliness, ambience and perhaps the most important feature for me: the relaxation lounges. It’s rare for the treatments themselves to be substantially different and exciting, but I actually managed to find a very unique experience at The Spa at Palazzo Versace recently: The Forest Treatment. I won’t drone on too much abo ..read more

I love galettes. They taste as good as pie, are so much easier to make and in my opinion they’re the best use of butter. The butter I had on hand was European butter. Ratatouille is the most French home-cooked dish I can think of. Enter, the Ratatouille Galette. A very basic case of pen-pineapple-apple-pen, really, this Ratatouille Galette. Towards the end of last year, Butter of Europe reached out to me and a handful of food influencers in the UAE to indulge in a very fun and friendly competition of sorts. Butter of Europe is repped by Sopexa here, and that alone should summarize how well-c ..read more

Burrata Salad is so easy to make, it doesn’t even really warrant it’s own blog post, but despite it being (quite possibly) the most common menu item in the Dubai restaurant (and cafe!) sphere, you’d be surprised how many chefs still manage to get it wrong. I don’t if it’s because the Middle East love es fresh cheese, or if it’s a combination of that + the fact that the long summers here make us crave cold, refreshing foods, but the fact remains that Dubai loves its burrata! Read on to learn ensure you don’t make these faux passes, and how you can easily plate and enjoy delicious burrata on the ..read more

The dream team behind La Cantine, Ninive, Lana Lusa (and most recently Twiggy) have now graced us with a (quite quintessentially Dubai)  Japanese establishment that pays homage to a cross between a 1920s Osaka speakeasy and jazz club, celebrating the cultural clash between East and West, reminiscing on a then previously unseen ‘Golden Era’. They’ve done this under the patronage of consulting chef extraordinaire Reif Othman, and have named it Mimi Kakushi. As quoted from their website: “Mimi Kakushi embodies this brave new world to bring you a dining experience like no other. Independent ..read more

After the resounding (online and offline) success of my All Valrhona Triple Chocolate Fudge Brownies, of course I had to stir the pot and try a version with matcha and try making Matcha White Chocolate Blondies. Common baking sense should’ve prevailed and should have reminded me that I can’t simply swap matcha for cocoa powder and use the same recipe, however (as usual) I wasn’t really thinking, and the first attempt at this recipe was a buttery, soupy, messy failure. If anything, I’m not one to give up, so the next time I used my brain, made some adjustments and it worked. The reason you can ..read more

If you spend any time on food social media, chances are that you’ve come across Carolina Gelen’s trending  Candied Orange and Cardamom Olive Oil Cake. So many people are making it and it’s sad to see that not everyone is crediting her for the recipe. She is 100% the inspiration behind the recipe…..well, her and the absolutely exquisite olive oils I’ve been collecting from Fresh Express Online! I had to switch some things up though, because I find it virtually impossible to follow a recipe without trying a tweak or new twist to it, and for starters I decided to slice and candy the kumquat ..read more

A few weeks ago, I made about 4 batches of brownies in a single week, in an effort to perfect that chewy, fudgey, chocolatey texture and crinkly top that I love and seek in a brownie. There are so many ways to brownie, from cakey to fudgey to crispy to rich to dense, but I’m very particular about how I like mine and was hell bent on nailing a fool-proof recipe and that turned out to be Valrhona Triple Chocolate Fudge Brownies that everyone wanted to buy but the best things in life aren’t for sale so neither were these. I tried these with varying percentages of chocolate, different types of co ..read more

Most of us are no strangers to sushi and a lot of us absolutely love it. But how much do we really know about these little bundles of perfection? Here are some fun facts about the history of sushi: The original, obsolete meaning of sushi is ‘sour rice’ (because of the addition of vinegar) It was originally created to preserve the rice and the fish Although now it celebrates freshness proto-sushi came from the same culinary lineage as fish sauce and salted preserves fish Sushi started in the Edo period and it wasn’t until the second half to the 18th century that chefs began to abandon the pres ..read more

Labneh is a great alternative for cream cheese, and since I had to create a recipe for a client specifically with Labneh, I decided to make something like a cheesecake, but with Labneh instead, and of course I had to incorporate some form of tea as I’ll never pass on an opportunity to do that. Enter: by Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Labneh Tart. This recipe was inspired by Alton Brown’s Sour Cream Cheesecake recipe , because sour cream was another product I had on hand from the same client, and I’m on a perpetual mission to try and clear my fridge/use up whatever I have at home. Butterfly Pea ..read more