Held in May 2006 in association with presenting sponsors American Express and Emirates Airline. The ‘Festival of Taste’ was a culinary spectacle that saw some of the world’s most renowned celebrity chefs alight upon Dubai to participate in the various events lined up for this extraordinary week long festival. As the inaugural festival of what will become a bi-annual food and lifestyle event for Jumeirah, the culinary maestros who cooked up a storm included Hans Haas, Two-Star Michelin Chef from Germany; Gary Rhodes, Michelin Star Restaurateur and TV Personality; Sam Leong, one of Singapore’s most renowned Chefs; James Martin, TV Personality and Chef; Michel Roux, Three-Star Michelin Chef from the UK; Jean Christophe Novelli, TV Personality and Chef; Yannick Alleno, Two-Star Michelin Chef from France; and Gina Koutropoulos and Ben Sisley from the famous Ping Eatery & Bar in Melbourne, Australia. With the objective of ensuring that Jumeirah continues to build innovation and quality to expanding brand, this bi-annual food and lifestyle event, proved to be a gastronomic extravaganza that took Dubai’s discerning diners by storm, providing more meat to Dubai’s already aggressive global tourism promotion. Willi Elsener, Group Director of Restaurants & Bars for Jumeirah said, “Dubai has earned its reputation for being a world centre of culinary arts and lifestyle and we hope to further enhance this positioning by launching a bi-annual festival that will tantalise the taste buds of both residents and visitors alike.”
The festival saw most of the Jumeirah Group’s hotels in Dubai participate and the programme featured a dizzying array of events, gourmet nights, brunches, dinners and cooking classes galore that were exceedingly well attended. Highlights included the ‘1001 Nights Meet the Stars Opening Event’ at Jumeirah Beach Hotel, and the series of Gourmet Nights in various Jumeirah restaurants – the Villa Beach Restaurant at Jumeirah Beach Hotel with celebrity Chef Jean Christophe Novelli; VU’s restaurant at Jumeirah Emirates Towers with celebrity Chef Hans Haas and Napa restaurant at Madinat Jumeirah with celebrity Chef Gary Rhodes. With over five million visitors a year, Dubai has taken the lead in developing novel concepts such as this to keep tourists begging for more. As an ultimate endorsement to unabashed luxury, the ‘Festival of Taste’ put on the ‘Ultimate Dinner Party’, which was limited to four guests per evening and started with a limousine pick up from guests’ home to a cocktail reception at Jumeirah Emirates Towers. From there, guests were whisked off in a helicopter transfer to Burj Al Arab for the first and second course, a Rolls Royce transfer to Villa Beach restaurant at Jumeirah Beach Hotel for a hot entrée and savoured the main course in Madinat Jumeirah’s Pisces, before rounding off the gastronomic experience with dessert, coffee and tea at the upmarket resort’s Napa restaurant. The icing on the cake was an overnight stay at the luxurious Burj Al Arab, with bubbly breakfast the next morning. When it comes to sumptuousness with pzzaz, nobody does it better than Jumeirah.