Feel good food
healthy dining / TASTE
Feel good food As demand grows for healthy, wholesome cuisine, top restaurants across Abu Dhabi are reviewing menus and altering ingredients to satisfy health-conscious diners Words by
As the sun rises on January 1, 2014 people across the world are embracing fresh resolves to transform their lives for the better. It might be a new gym membership, better budgeting practise or, in the case of many, a healthier diet, particularly following the culinary excesses of the festive season. With this in mind, Concierge has decided to explore the capital’s dining scene to discover just how feasible it is to embrace healthier eating patterns while eating out in the city. For a long time, health-conscious diners at the capital’s five-star restaurants were left to fend for themselves. Menus made no exceptions for calorie counters, organic eaters or vegans, who had to eat the offending ingredients or go hungry. Now, however, the situation is undergoing rapid change as health and nutrition take centre stage here and the capital’s five-star culinary scene responds to the demands of a budding breed of health-conscious diners with very specific requirements. Five-star restaurants around the city have begun incorporating low-fat, vegan or organic alternatives while others have taken it one step further with entire menus dedicated to special diets. Concierge talks to chefs at some of the capital’s leading restaurants about creating healthy cuisine without compromising on f lavour and why it’s important to offer healthy alternatives.
62
wheat, Le Royal Méridien
Rachel Ingram
63
healthy dining / TASTE
“Global awareness of healthy eating habits and the impact it can have on disease prevention, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, has an important impact on our customer’s dining behaviour. Our second most important feedback after the quality of the food is the healthy options we have available on our menu,” says Saco Musch, executive chef at Hilton Abu Dhabi. Following pleas from health-aware guests, the hotel has revised its menus and introduced more diet-friendly meals, cutting out the calories 1
and ramping up the nutrients. Though many of the more indulgent ingredients are left out, Musch has insisted there is no detrimental effect on the flavour or texture of the hotel’s healthy versions. “All our ingredients are fresh and maintain the strong flavours needed for each dish so there’s no danger of a bland end result. The most important factor, however, is that we continue using the same ingredients that would normally appear in a particular recipe with the single difference that they contain less saturated fat, salt or sugar.” Many consumers associate healthy dining with ‘organic’ produce. The organic movement has swept around the world, transforming the way many people select, buy and eat their food. In the UAE capital, hotels such as Hilton Abu Dhabi are making special efforts to ensure menus are up to date with the latest culinary trends and organic dishes are a regular feature. An
Westin SuperFoods menu, is food synergy,” explains Contreras, adding that all of the resort’s restaurant menus contain healthy options. Some of the most popular choices include the cinnamon and raisin pancakes topped with vitamin-boosting fruits and nuts and the roast vine tomato soup garlic rouille, which is packed with lycopene, vitamins A and C and potassium. Contreras adds: “Healthier doesn’t have to mean compromise. On the contrary, healthy food can be very tasty and often enhances the natural flavours of food while providing diners with enormous health benefits.” Selecting high-quality ingredients is a priority that chefs at Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi also share. The hotel’s executive chef Justin Galea says: “Sourcing the right produce is paramount to the success of any dish. Guilt-free dining has become increasingly popular and it is now moving beyond the sphere of being a mere trend and becoming a staple requirement from restaurants.
2
5
5 Café Palmier, Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi 6 Bufalina pizza, Spaccanapoli Ristorante, Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi 7 whEAT, Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi
1 David Contreras, executive chef at The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa 2 whEAT, Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi 3 Cheesecake with forest fruit coulis, The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa 4 Bocca, Hilton Abu Dhabi
In the UAE capital, hotels such as Hilton Abu Dhabi are making special efforts to ensure menus are up to date with the latest culinary trends and organic dishes are a regular feature
4
64
3
additional culinary concern in an age where fast food is widely consumed and many lack the time to cook healthy meals from scratch, is the lack of nutrients in most diets. In an effort to address this for its guests, The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa decided to make nutrient-rich foods readily available by adding dishes by health brand, SuperFoodsRX to its menus. Diners heading down to breakfast at the hotel can start the day with an ultra-healthy breakfast by piling their plate high with avocado, walnuts, honey, blueberries and whole grains, all of which are known for their nutritional and health-enhancing values. They can also order high-nutrient dishes from menus at the hotel’s restaurants. David Contreras, executive chef at the hotel, explains that chefs create SuperFoodsRX dishes by minimising ‘empty calories’, those in sugar, other calorie-laden sweeteners and refined carbohydrates, adding instead ingredients that are rich in antioxidants and phytonutrients. “The key to the SuperFoodsRX philosophy and likewise to the
6
7
It is certainly the case that many diners are more aware of what they are eating today and, for me, good-quality produce is one of the biggest factors when creating healthy food, partly because, if you have decent ingredients then they require very little interference from the chef. The flavours can be allowed to speak for themselves without the addition of too many synthetic f lavourants.” The hotel’s all-day dining establishment Café Palmier tailors dishes to the health-conscious diner, especially at lunchtime when meals are often lighter. The restaurant also offers a bespoke salad service. Next door, the hotel’s new artisan bakery and bistro, whEAT, has launched a menu packed full of healthy dishes including specials such as blueberry bircher muesli, poached salmon on brown bread and a variety of fresh salads. Again, at this dining establishment, chefs are all ears. “Flexibility is the key. In Café Palmier and wheat, our chefs have direct contact with our diners and are able to create bespoke dishes adapted to anyone’s requirements,” Galea adds. Customisation is a trend that continues throughout the capital. More and more people are beginning to pay attention to their health and discovering their food intolerances, of which gluten is a common one. As such, retailers and restaurateurs have observed a demand for substituted products as many consumers cut wheat
from their diets and go gluten-free. Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi has acknowleged this movement by developing the menu of its award-winning Italian eatery Spaccanapoli Pizzeria to include gluten-free pizza and pasta options. Carmelo Rosselli, chef at Spaccanapoli Ristorante, says: “We are aware of the changing needs of diners in Abu Dhabi and have adapted accordingly to provide a range of tasty and healthy dining options, including gluten-free dishes. The basic meal ingredients in Italian cuisine are nutritious by nature, so the flavour is already there.” Taking care not to compromise on this taste, chefs have adapted classic dishes such as the Bufalina pizza, using non-gluten ingredients to make the dough easily digestible by all. This has, in turn, become one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes. The menu also features a range of diet-friendly soups, salads and seafood dishes, all of which are easily identifiable on the menu as healthy options thanks to a special marker to guide diet-conscious diners. As the health revolution gathers force in five-star restaurants across Abu Dhabi, health-conscious diners are seeing the city’s culinary scene open up before them. It’s no longer a case of having to choose the one low-calorie option on a menu of decadent dishes as chefs are now investing time and effort into creating mouthwatering recipes that take health concerns into consideration.
65
Feel good food As demand grows for healthy, wholesome cuisine, top restaurants across Abu Dhabi are reviewing menus and altering ingredients to satisfy health-conscious diners Words by
As the sun rises on January 1, 2014 people across the world are embracing fresh resolves to transform their lives for the better. It might be a new gym membership, better budgeting practise or, in the case of many, a healthier diet, particularly following the culinary excesses of the festive season. With this in mind, Concierge has decided to explore the capital’s dining scene to discover just how feasible it is to embrace healthier eating patterns while eating out in the city. For a long time, health-conscious diners at the capital’s five-star restaurants were left to fend for themselves. Menus made no exceptions for calorie counters, organic eaters or vegans, who had to eat the offending ingredients or go hungry. Now, however, the situation is undergoing rapid change as health and nutrition take centre stage here and the capital’s five-star culinary scene responds to the demands of a budding breed of health-conscious diners with very specific requirements. Five-star restaurants around the city have begun incorporating low-fat, vegan or organic alternatives while others have taken it one step further with entire menus dedicated to special diets. Concierge talks to chefs at some of the capital’s leading restaurants about creating healthy cuisine without compromising on f lavour and why it’s important to offer healthy alternatives.
62
wheat, Le Royal Méridien
Rachel Ingram
63
healthy dining / TASTE
“Global awareness of healthy eating habits and the impact it can have on disease prevention, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, has an important impact on our customer’s dining behaviour. Our second most important feedback after the quality of the food is the healthy options we have available on our menu,” says Saco Musch, executive chef at Hilton Abu Dhabi. Following pleas from health-aware guests, the hotel has revised its menus and introduced more diet-friendly meals, cutting out the calories 1
and ramping up the nutrients. Though many of the more indulgent ingredients are left out, Musch has insisted there is no detrimental effect on the flavour or texture of the hotel’s healthy versions. “All our ingredients are fresh and maintain the strong flavours needed for each dish so there’s no danger of a bland end result. The most important factor, however, is that we continue using the same ingredients that would normally appear in a particular recipe with the single difference that they contain less saturated fat, salt or sugar.” Many consumers associate healthy dining with ‘organic’ produce. The organic movement has swept around the world, transforming the way many people select, buy and eat their food. In the UAE capital, hotels such as Hilton Abu Dhabi are making special efforts to ensure menus are up to date with the latest culinary trends and organic dishes are a regular feature. An
Westin SuperFoods menu, is food synergy,” explains Contreras, adding that all of the resort’s restaurant menus contain healthy options. Some of the most popular choices include the cinnamon and raisin pancakes topped with vitamin-boosting fruits and nuts and the roast vine tomato soup garlic rouille, which is packed with lycopene, vitamins A and C and potassium. Contreras adds: “Healthier doesn’t have to mean compromise. On the contrary, healthy food can be very tasty and often enhances the natural flavours of food while providing diners with enormous health benefits.” Selecting high-quality ingredients is a priority that chefs at Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi also share. The hotel’s executive chef Justin Galea says: “Sourcing the right produce is paramount to the success of any dish. Guilt-free dining has become increasingly popular and it is now moving beyond the sphere of being a mere trend and becoming a staple requirement from restaurants.
2
5
5 Café Palmier, Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi 6 Bufalina pizza, Spaccanapoli Ristorante, Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi 7 whEAT, Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi
1 David Contreras, executive chef at The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa 2 whEAT, Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi 3 Cheesecake with forest fruit coulis, The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa 4 Bocca, Hilton Abu Dhabi
In the UAE capital, hotels such as Hilton Abu Dhabi are making special efforts to ensure menus are up to date with the latest culinary trends and organic dishes are a regular feature
4
64
3
additional culinary concern in an age where fast food is widely consumed and many lack the time to cook healthy meals from scratch, is the lack of nutrients in most diets. In an effort to address this for its guests, The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa decided to make nutrient-rich foods readily available by adding dishes by health brand, SuperFoodsRX to its menus. Diners heading down to breakfast at the hotel can start the day with an ultra-healthy breakfast by piling their plate high with avocado, walnuts, honey, blueberries and whole grains, all of which are known for their nutritional and health-enhancing values. They can also order high-nutrient dishes from menus at the hotel’s restaurants. David Contreras, executive chef at the hotel, explains that chefs create SuperFoodsRX dishes by minimising ‘empty calories’, those in sugar, other calorie-laden sweeteners and refined carbohydrates, adding instead ingredients that are rich in antioxidants and phytonutrients. “The key to the SuperFoodsRX philosophy and likewise to the
6
7
It is certainly the case that many diners are more aware of what they are eating today and, for me, good-quality produce is one of the biggest factors when creating healthy food, partly because, if you have decent ingredients then they require very little interference from the chef. The flavours can be allowed to speak for themselves without the addition of too many synthetic f lavourants.” The hotel’s all-day dining establishment Café Palmier tailors dishes to the health-conscious diner, especially at lunchtime when meals are often lighter. The restaurant also offers a bespoke salad service. Next door, the hotel’s new artisan bakery and bistro, whEAT, has launched a menu packed full of healthy dishes including specials such as blueberry bircher muesli, poached salmon on brown bread and a variety of fresh salads. Again, at this dining establishment, chefs are all ears. “Flexibility is the key. In Café Palmier and wheat, our chefs have direct contact with our diners and are able to create bespoke dishes adapted to anyone’s requirements,” Galea adds. Customisation is a trend that continues throughout the capital. More and more people are beginning to pay attention to their health and discovering their food intolerances, of which gluten is a common one. As such, retailers and restaurateurs have observed a demand for substituted products as many consumers cut wheat
from their diets and go gluten-free. Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi has acknowleged this movement by developing the menu of its award-winning Italian eatery Spaccanapoli Pizzeria to include gluten-free pizza and pasta options. Carmelo Rosselli, chef at Spaccanapoli Ristorante, says: “We are aware of the changing needs of diners in Abu Dhabi and have adapted accordingly to provide a range of tasty and healthy dining options, including gluten-free dishes. The basic meal ingredients in Italian cuisine are nutritious by nature, so the flavour is already there.” Taking care not to compromise on this taste, chefs have adapted classic dishes such as the Bufalina pizza, using non-gluten ingredients to make the dough easily digestible by all. This has, in turn, become one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes. The menu also features a range of diet-friendly soups, salads and seafood dishes, all of which are easily identifiable on the menu as healthy options thanks to a special marker to guide diet-conscious diners. As the health revolution gathers force in five-star restaurants across Abu Dhabi, health-conscious diners are seeing the city’s culinary scene open up before them. It’s no longer a case of having to choose the one low-calorie option on a menu of decadent dishes as chefs are now investing time and effort into creating mouthwatering recipes that take health concerns into consideration.
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