ABU DHABI WINNERS 2011

CHEF OF THE YEAR
Chef Alexandre Pernetta, Bord Eau
After taking over the reins last summer, Bord Eau’s Alexandre Pernetta has helped push our Favourite European restaurant to new heights. With masterful moulding of the familiar with the forward thinking, all the time paying much-needed heed to French cuisine’s hallowed traditions, his quarterly menu updates have quite simply been a joy to behold.

RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR
Hakkasan
Hakkasan may no longer be unique to the Emirates since its counterpart opened in Dubai last year, but for the Abu Dhabi restaurant’s sheer status of location (Emirates Palace), brilliant bar, unrivalled interior layout and a fabulous new terrace, it’s hard to look past what we regard as the capital city’s best restaurant, bar none. It will be a tough act to beat in 2012.

BEST NEWCOMER
Quest
With a stylish Singapore swing from former Burj Al Arab chef Benjamin Whatt, Quest wowed What’s On when it threw its doors open at the end of 2011. Packed with bespoke design features, its Asian fusion cuisine knocks starch from fine dining, turning Quest into a veritable foodie adventure. On Jumeirah at Etihad Towers’ 63rd floor, the views are as spectacular as the food, too.

FAVOURITE SEAFOOD
Pearls & Caviar
In selecting the ocean’s two most illustrious bounties as its self-explanatory title, Pearls & Caviar set the bar high and has simply kept shooting for the stars in the past year. Repositioning itself as a stand-alone restaurant after upstairs bar Pearls assumed its own separate identity, we can’t wait to see what brand new chef Cyril Jean Louis Calmet has in store for 2012.

FAVOURITE BAR
Sea Lounge
Though a few notable alfresco Abu Dhabi bars might disagree, until this Monte Carlo Beach Club flagship opened, the capital didn’t house a heavyweight rival to the outdoor thrills of Dubai’s much-loved 360°. But with its unadulterated view of the tranquil Gulf waters, Sea Lounge is just as iconic, whether sipping cocktails as the sun goes down or dancing into the early hours to the sleek DJ soundtrack.

FAVOURITE BRUNCH
CuiScene
If bigger really isn’t better, then nobody told the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, whose all-encompassing brunch is both monstrous in size and fabulous in scope. Extending into Frankie’s Restaurant & Lounge, and starring little luxuries such as a Marco Pierre White roast station, it’s that ambitious variety that fires CuiScene into the brunching stratosphere.

FAVOURITE THE AMERICAS
Chamas
It’s not easy to experience the entire two continents inside one restaurant. The Brazilian flair of Chamas, however, is coupled with expertise in what is arguably North America’s favoured cuisine: hearty helpings of the finest meat. With an in-house band lending good time vibes, it all adds up to a quality package.

FAVOURITE ITALIAN
Spaccanapoli
A real favourite: while its Abu Dhabi compatriots may achieve more stately gastronomic results, nothing beats Spaccanapoli for homely Italian cooking, as the cliché goes, like your mama used to make it. Oh, and who can forget its mega metre-long pizza oven?

FFA
Clubbing in Abu Dhabi can prove a tricky proposition, but Étoiles continues to strike a tightrope balance between swish surrounds and straight-up good time vibes. Its musical span is similarly well judged, navigating RnB, hip hop and Arabic sounds over the course of an average week, ensuring an international clientele partying in unison on the intimate dancefloor.

FAVOURITE NIGHTCLUB
Étoiles
Clubbing in Abu Dhabi can prove a tricky proposition, but Étoiles continues to strike a tightrope balance between swish surrounds and straight-up good time vibes. Its musical span is similarly well judged, navigating RnB, hip hop and Arabic sounds over the course of an average week, ensuring an international clientele partying in unison on the intimate dancefloor.

FAVOURITE STEAKHOUSE
Rodeo Grill
If our brunch winner CuiScene proved big is sometimes better, then Rodeo Grill is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Carrying the good fight for the little guy with significant finesse far out of whack with its comparatively cosy dimensions, size still remains an important factor here, though. Saddle up for 500g of cowboy steak or T-bone Angus, if you dare.

FAVOURITE EUROPEAN
Bord Eau
When your laurels are as significant as these Gallic geniuses, sitting on them is a simple task. Bord Eau was having none of that, happily, upping its game quarterly with fresh menus of inspired contemporary modifications to French classics. As What’s On previously opined, if you find yourself in a finer restaurant of this ilk, you’re probably dining in Paris.

FAVOURITE JAPANESE
Yotto
Locating the exact apex where traditional Japanese charm meets stylish 21st century modernity, Yotto is perhaps slightly unfairly overshadowed by the Cipriani complex’s eponymous restaurant. Yet it’s a far more intimate experience than its neighbour, with attention to detail – genuine flora and fauna from the Land of the Rising Sun included – that borders on the inspired.

FAVOURITE INTERNATIONAL
Le Deck
The restaurant at Monte Carlo is thankfully rather more accessible, than a membership at this exclusive spot: an airy, sunny lunch haunt, yet deliciously dark for dinner, replete with seafaring interior flourishes. In just a few months since opening, the a la carte Le Deck has confirmed once and for all that all-day dining doesn’t have to equal a row of rapidly congealing ‘hot’ stations. A fantastic spot for a weekend bite.

FAVOURITE CONCERT
Snoop Dogg
It was, by anybody’s estimation, a real ‘I was there’ moment of 2011. Intro music booms from the Yas Arena’s speaker stacks. A gangly kandura-clad figure stands, innocuously, stage right. Is it? It can’t be! It certainly is: Snoop Dogg strides onstage in full Emirati attire, unleashing one heck of a party in the process.

FAVOURITE INDIAN
& PAKISTANI
Ushna
Taking classic North Indian authenticity and putting 21st century imagination to work, come nightfall Ushna is also the most romantic Indian restaurant in town, particularly on the gorgeous terrace. Views of the Grand Mosque and the finest Indian dishes Abu Dhabi has to offer, a winning combination.

FAVOURITE MIDDLE EASTERN
Mezlai
While our capital city is awash with world-class dining options, truly classy local fare is surprisingly scarce. In the UAE’s 40th year, it seems fitting to honour a trailblazer in native culture: Emirati cuisine experts Mezlai. Come for the seafood – shark soup is a particular speciality – and stay for a genuine glimpse into the ambiance and customs of a country so often wrongly derided
as lacking in history.

FAVOURITE FAR EASTERN
Hakkasan
How do you improve one of Abu Dhabi’s flat-out greatest dining destinations? Open a delightful terrace then push the already-jaw-dropping dishes in fresh and increasingly imaginative directions. One fact remains unchanged: the dim sum still destroys all competition across the capital city. Hakkasan isn’t an immovable favourite on the What’s On Hot Lists for nothing, you know.

FAVOURITE CAFÉ
Jones The Grocer
Sheikh-approved Australian gourmet food emporium Jones has long established itself as an Abu Dhabi eating/socialising goliath. That imperious status showed no sign of slowing in 2011, with revamped menus across its city-spanning trio of cafés, and now an express outlet at Sowwah Square. Devour the wagyu burger, sip the technologically advanced coffee and experience how a café should operate.

FAVOURITE PUB GRUB
Cooper’s
The true test of a bar’s meals is wrapped up in one question: would you visit for the food if you weren’t already there for the watering hole perks? The answer is a resounding ‘yes’ at the Park Rotana’s spotlessly turned out and ever-popular pub, with a comprehensive menu of hunger-slaying dishes fit for an upmarket British bar.

FAVOURITE FESTIVAL
Abu Dhabi Film Festival
Another year, another glittering ADFF; Hollywood’s elite decamped to the Emirates with Tilda Swinton, Evan Rachel Wood and Lily Cole among the red carpet stars in 2011, which attracted everything from blockbuster names to independent sensations. Roll on 2012.

FAVOURITE SPORTS EVENT
Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
How could the world’s premier motorsport series live up to 2010’s exhilarating climax, where Sebastian Vettel claimed his first world title in the season finale? Drama of a very different sort dominated instead: Vettel went out on the very first lap with a terminal puncture, and Brit hot shot Lewis Hamilton capitalised with an exemplary display of gutsy driving to claim a hugely popular chequered flag.

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The Club
In Abu Dhabi’s glittering new landscape, it would be all too easy to forget the trailblazers that made the city what it is today. The Club is nothing short of a capital institution, having opened the city’s very first restaurant a full 50 years ago. The Special Achievement Award this year goes out to The Club – a worthy winner for their remarkable landmark.