2010
Eating out
Abu Dhabi’s dining scene hit all sorts of exciting highs (and a few desperate lows) over the past year, and it’s been quite the calorific roller coaster ride. Of course, one of the most exciting additions to the city was Hakkasan, winner of Time Out Abu Dhabi’s Best New Restaurant award, with its gourmet Cantonese offerings that really raised the bar in terms of fashionable and creative dining. Emirates Palace’s other high-profile launch was Mezlai, which – despite receiving mixed reviews – at least got everyone talking about what authentic, high-end Emirati food should be.
Meanwhile, on Yas Island it seemed as though there was a new spot opening practically every week to feed the thrill-seekers visiting for the series of events that took place this autumn. Special mention has to go to Ferrari World for having the sheer brass to open Ristorante Cavallino, a fine dining restaurant inside a theme park. We loved the food, but found the experience of eating high-end tucker just yards from a stomach churning roller coaster mildly baffling.
As for the lows. Well, if we never see another cupcake again for as long as we live it’ll be too soon. Store after store opened in the city, selling ice cream cupcakes, low-fat cupcakes, high-fat, glittery and heart-sprinkled varieties until the craze culminated in the ‘Cupshake’, which enabled us to literally pour the stuff down our throats. And that was where we drew the line. Here’s hoping for a year of normal-sized cakes.
2011
Eating out
We can’t wait to find out if just-opened, stylish new restaurant Cipriani, which is located at the Yas Island Yacht Club, will live up to the hype of its London-based sister. And, at the other end of the price scale, we’ve got a hunch the café trend is about to really come into its own. Jones the Grocer, winner of the Time Out Abu Dhabi Restaurant Awards Best Café gong, gave us a taste for delicious, organic fare. News that the chain is planning to open two other outlets in the city is music to our ears. We’re predicting Abu Dhabi will follow the rest of the world and turn its back on pretentious, foam-splattered nouvelle cuisine and go for hearty, wholesome organic meals instead.
2010
Art
Typical – you wait for one big-name contemporary artist to appear then suddenly five come along at once. Thanks to renowned art dealer Larry Gagosian, pieces from Ruscha, Rauchenberg, Twombly, Warhol and Wool have been wowing crowds for months. Not been? Seriously? You’ve got until January 24, so get moving, you philistine.
Abu Dhabi Art
Primarily a chance for the world’s art dealers to flex their chequebooks, the three-day exhibition featured works flown over from 46 galleries from around the world, based in countries as far afield as South Korea and America. Held at Emirates Palace in November, it gave the capital’s art appreciators a rare opportunity to lay their eyes on pieces by Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Anish Kapoor. A fleeting moment of absolute magic.
Opening the Doors: Collecting Middle Eastern Art
Described by our art editor as ‘one of the most enjoyable collections of Middle Eastern Art the city has ever seen’, the most recent show to take over Gallery One was (and, indeed, still is – it’s on until Januaray 8) an absolute corker. Farhad Moshiri’s provocative sculpture ‘Flying Carpet’ is the undoubted show-stealer.
Up Close
The names may not have been A-list, but the work shown back in September by the Fanaan Group – a collection of nine Abu Dhabi artists – was impressive. Though some members of the group have since left the city, expect to see plenty of Julia Ibbini and Neena Rai in the new year.
A Story of Islamic Embroidery in Nomadic and Urban Traditions
Less an art show and more a glimpse back at the region’s cultural and creative heritage, featuring domestic and decorative textile pieces steeped (quite literally) in the blood, sweat and tears of their humble, anonymous creators. One of 2010’s subtler shows, but every bit as fascinating.
2011
Art
While art shows tend to spring up in Abu Dhabi at fairly short notice, there are a couple of dates worth jotting down in your cultural diary. Following another successful outing in November, Abu Dhabi Art is sure to return to Emirates Palace in 2011, bringing with it another roster of the biggest names in contemporary art. But before that, we’d put money on an exhibition of similar magnitude appearing at Manarat Al Saadiyat sometime in late February or early March, as RSTW ends its long-talked about run. Still, all this will just serve as a warm-up before the Guggenheim throws open its doors in 2012…
2010
Sports
What can we say? 2010 was all about F1 putting Abu Dhabi on the world map, and Yas Marina Circuit certainly did the job. Costing an incredible Dhs4.63 billion, and on the race final day holding 50,000 delirious fans, the F1 was, without a doubt, the sport event of the year. As the race was the championship decider, with four drivers – Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso – in with a chance of winning, it looked like we were set for a legendary race. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to the hype, with a fairly routine lights-to-flag lead for Vettel, securing him and his Red Bull team the win. Nevertheless, we’ll definitely miss having the finale of the season here in Abu Dhabi next year, when the honour goes to Brazil.
We also bid farewell to the Red Bull Air Race, a regular fixture in Abu Dhabi’s spring schedule. The worldwide stunt plane flying contest was cancelled after concerns about safety, meaning it definitely won’t be returning in 2011, and could be gone forever. Watch this space to see whether it ever returns.
Meanwhile, for those who prefer to build up a sweat than watch from the stands, the Corniche became the place to be seen. The stretch of beach became the top spot for workouts, and the area along the water was transformed into an adrenaline-pumped hive of activity. Duplays launched its beach sports park, bringing sporty types down to the water’s edge almost every evening of the week. And if you weren’t playing beach football in their new complex you were probably racing a Jet Ski, wakeboarding or waterskiing on the waves nearby, or hiring a bike from the stand at Breakwater road to cycle the length of the Corniche instead.
2011
Sports
You heard it here first: next year’s going to be all about extreme yoga. It seems thousands of years of conventional yoga practices just aren’t good enough for Dhabians anymore. So if it’s not Slackline Yoga (think downward dogs on a tightrope and you’ve got the right idea) it’s yoga on a paddleboard, which forces you to work the muscles even harder for balance, lest you tip off your board into the sea. What’s next? Yoga while riding a camel? Wouldn’t surprise us…
2010
Spa scene
While Abu Dhabi already had as many budget beauty spots as it could reasonably hold, the addition of these new luxury spas this year put the emphasis firmly on high-end places to pretty up. For us, the highlight of the year was Espa, which recently opened its doors inside The Yas Hotel. Designed by New York firm Richardson Sadeki, this elegant, well-staffed spa tempted us in with some delectable treatments. Another worthy launch was Zayna at the Grand Millennium Al Wahda, which, in keeping with the hotel’s general theme, was all about scale. This colossal health and beauty centre is now the largest in the city, spread out over two floors of the hotel and with 10 spacious treatment rooms. Make sure you try one of their facials.
2011
Spa scene
Fairmont Bab Al Bahr’s spa has been a long time in the planning, but if the rest of the facilities at the hotel are anything to go by, it’ll be innovative, chic and modern. We can’t wait. Hurry up and open!
2010
Shopping
Abu Dhabi is finally starting to make a name for itself on the shopping scene – we’ve had a taste, and now we want more. There was a time when if you wanted to buy yourself a fancy new set of designer clothes you had to traipse all the way to Dubai. Not anymore, as these recently opnened shops have given us plenty of reasons to blow our wages.
The year started with the launch of BoConcept in Khalidiyah, meaning you can get your hands on some classy, colourful and even customised furniture without breaking the bank (too much). Later on in the year, Spanish chain Desigual flung open its doors in Abu Dhabi Mall, bringing with it bright colours and fun clothing for the more confident fashionistas. However, the opening which got us most excited was the new H&M at Abu Dhabi Mall. This hugely popular and reasonably priced European clothing giant finally allowed us to achieve our dreams of wearing up-to-the-minute fashion, without having to beg our bank manager to increase our overdraft limit.
2011
Shopping
One for all you Swedish furniture fans to look out for in the new year is the opening of the brand new Ikea store on Yas Island, which promises to be the biggest in the UAE – just in case the already sizeable Marina Mall store wasn’t quite big enough for all your flatpack furniture needs. Expect all the usual items such as affordable soft furnishings, flimsy bookshelves and solid, practical coffee tables.
Meanwhile, although the Souk at Central Market is currently standing a little on the empty side, it promises to be the hub for Abu Dhabi’s oh-so-stylish set in the new year. New additions to the shopping centre will include the Middle East’s first House of Fraser, which stocks high street and designer fashion, and is set to open in mid-2011. This will is set to be closely followed by the opening of the Emporium, which will bring a hefty dose of high-end style to the capital.
2010
Music
Prince: Though it must have gone on for something like two-and-a-half hours, it’s a testament to the power of the Purple One that not once did we find ourselves fancying a nice sit down during Prince’s marathon post-F1 set. And from what we saw neither did anyone else in the 45,000 strong crowd at Yas Arena, as emphatic renditions of ‘Purple Rain’, ‘Little Red Corvette’ and more brought F1 to a funk-tastic climax.
Linkin Park: Chester Bennington and his angst-rocking cohorts might not have been to the tastes of everyone during their post-F1 gig, but for the faithful this was the hardest rocking gig of the year. There were rock horns raised aplenty as the Californian nu-metallers pumped out hits such as ‘Somewhere I Belong’ and ‘Breaking the Habit’.
Tom Jones: We weren’t expecting much from the Welsh crooner’s gig at Adnec. After all, he’s pushing 70 and is hardly the coolest guy on the planet. But Tom’s still got a massively powerful pair of lungs, belting out all the favourites at a decibel level usually associated with a building collapse.
Harry Connick Junior: For us, one of the surprise performances of the year came from the clean-cut musician-turned-actor. After amusing the crowds with an anecdote about overdosing on Arabic coffee, and once he’d got his obligatory crooning Nat King Cole covers out the way, Harry got down to some old-style New Orleans jazz. We liked.
2011
Music
Tiësto: One gig that’ll definitely be happening in 2011 is the promised appearance of the Dutch spinning guru. We suspect he’s going to have to put on the show of his life if he expects Abu Dhabi’s dance music faithful to bury the hatchet after his gig in October was cancelled at the 11th hour. But as his appearance will be part of another Yas Island Show Weekend series of concerts, you can almost guarantee he’ll be book-ended by some huge names.
And the rumours….: As usual, event organisers Flash Entertainment are keeping schtum about who’s booked to play although already rumours are abounding. One insider told us Mick, Keef and the rest of the Rolling Stones posse might be hitting our shores, while another has strongly hinted that a certain Miss Stefani Germanotta (aka Lady Gaga) could give us a dose of her utter lunacy. Keep your eye on this mag to see whether these rumours turn out to be hard fact or utter nonsense.
2010
Celebrity spotting
Okay, Abu Dhabi Film Festival might have been slightly disappointiing in its star quotient, but the city still played host to enough celebs to keep the paparazzi happy. Here’s some of our favourites.
Kevin Spacey
American Beauty star Kev was here to host the annual Laureus Sports Award and, with his wisecracking sense of humour, did a sterling job.
Hugh Grant
The charmingly befuddled, floppy-haired Englishman made two visits to Abu Dhabi this year, once for the Laureus Awards and then a return visit for the F1. At Laureus, he arrived with an open collar, telling us his neck had gotten too fat for him to fit into his bow tie. Time to hit the treadmill Hugh, we think.
Gwyneth Paltrow
After her hubbie’s epic gig at Emirates Palace with his band Coldplay last year, Mrs Chris Martin decided to pay a visit herself to co-host the Laureus Awards. And mighty pretty she looked too.
Clive Owen
Another man who had a double dose of the Dhabi this year was the razor-dodging hunk, joining our Hugh for the Laureus/ F1 combo. We spoke to him but were left confused when he changed from his usual lovey actor voice to a working class drawl when we asked him about football.
2011
Celebrity spotting
Which mega-stars will be showing off their designer garb in the glare of paparazzi photographers next year? Let’s be honest here, we can only guess. But here’s a few of the people we’d like to see gracing our fair shores.
George Clooney
Gorgeous George got his Dhabi-based female admirers’ hearts pumping when rumours started spreading that he was here for the 2009 film festival. It’s the least he could do to visit after dashing their hopes so cruelly last year.
Steve Martin
After hosting the Oscars, we’d love the silver-haired funnyman to MC next year’s Laureus Awards. Hilarity would ensue.
Sarah Jessica Parker
After the faux version of Abu Dhabi in her latest film Sex and The City 2 was so off the mark, we feel it’s time the horse-faced fashion icon gave the city some payback , at least to give us residents the chance to tell her how badly the film portrayed what it’s really like over here.
2010
Movies
Although 2010 might not have been a classic year for movies, there were still a number of box office hits that you needed to see at the cinema, or at least ask your DVD lady for
Inception
Opening weekend (US): $62.8 million
This time last year, some critics had this mind-bending sci-fi thriller down as a potentially disastrous, empty experiment for director Christopher Nolan; a chance to play with some fancy visual effects before getting to work on his third Batman flick. Boy were they wrong. CGI eye-candy may have played a big part in the film’s success, but so did an ingeniously original, think-about-it-too-much-and-your-brain-might-implode storyline.
The Social Network
Opening weekend (US): $22.4 million
With Fight Club’s David Fincher at the helm, there was never much doubt that ‘the Facebook movie’ was going to be anything short of excellent. But few expected a killer soundtrack, an applause-worthy turn from Justin Timberlake or Oscar shouts for Jesse Eisenberg, who portrayed Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg with an unflinching, icy cool.
Toy Story 3
Opening weekend (US): $110.3 million
By their third instalment, most trilogies have resorted to watered down gags and barrel-scraping storylines. Not so for Disney/Pixar’s long-awaited last hurrah for Woody, Buzz and co, which paired an original, tear-jerking plot with some of the series’ biggest laughs and sharpest one-liners. Lapped up by kids and adults alike, this could be the animated movie of the decade, let alone 2010.
Let Me In
Opening weekend (US): $5.1 million
Hollywood remakes are everywhere these days, and, truth be told, most are cringe-inducingly terrible. Based on 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One in, this is a vampire flick that does away with the Twilight-style teen appeal in favour of stark colours and gritty brutality. Admittedly, it’s incredibly similar to the source material. But it’s still the best, most overlooked horror film of the year.
2011
Movies
Which movies will we all be chatting about next year? We reckon these are a good bet to be box office money spinners.
Super 8
Although not much is known about the storyline of this upcoming sci-fi flick, excitement is still very much justified. It’s written and directed by man-of-the-moment JJ Abrams – the chap behind last year’s Star Trek reboot, criminally underrated 2008 monster movie Cloverfield and, most famously, Lost. As such, expect plenty of seat-shaking special effects, out-of-the-blue plot twists and a nerd-baiting marketing campaign leading up to the mid-2011 release.
Due: June
Paul
In the six years since he was thwacking zombies with cricket bats in Shaun of the Dead, Simon Pegg has built up quite a collection of celebrity chums. And, having knocked up a script about two friends who stumble across an alien during a road trip through the States, he’s enlisted the help of a few. Seth Rogen provides the voice of the titular extra-terrestrial, while Sigourney Weaver, Jason Bateman and Bill Hader – of Superbad and Tropic Thunder fame – are also on board.
Due: March
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Okay, so the franchise – and its alien-worshipping star – has probably had its day. Even so, with much of the film being shot down the road in Dubai, you can bet folks will be queuing round the corner when the film lands in cinemas this time next year, eager to see Tom Cruise abseil down the Burj Khalifa and escape his foes in a daring, high-speed camel chase. At the helm of all this madness? Brad Bird – the chap behind The Simpsons’ ‘Do The Bartman’ music video. Obviously.
Due: December
Scream 4
A decade on from the last (and supposedly final) instalment, everyone’s favourite teen-stabbing horror franchise is on the verge of making a return. With Neve Campbell now pushing 40, some fresh blood’s been brought in, with Heroes starlet Hayden Panettiere and Rory Culkin (brother of Macaulay) possible contenders for a spot of knifing. The script has been closely guarded, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see director Wes Craven reprise the same self-parodying references that made the first three so popular.
Due: April
Thor
Another comic book movie? Based on a mythological Norse god? How very thrilling. But wait – this one’s being directed by well-respected Northern Irish thespian Kenneth Branagh, who’s gone and put Star Trek’s Chris Hemsworth and pixie-faced Hollywood darling Natalie Portman in the lead roles. Anthony Hopkins is on board, too, and has described the project as ‘a superhero movie, but with a bit of Shakespeare thrown in’. Fair enough – now we’re excited.
Due: May
2010
TV
Mad Men: Season Four of the groundbreaking drama, was yet another scathing chronicle of the ad industry’s mid-twentieth century hedonistic heyday.
Broadwalk Empire: Martin Scorcese directed this epic Atlantic City-based gangster thriller, set in the prohibition period in America in the ’20s and ’30s. The hit HBO show stars Steve Buscemi as a corrupt politician who delves into the shadowy world of booze smuggling to line his pockets. Expect a second series in late 2011.
Tremé: David Simon’s follow up to The Wire was an equally unflinching look at the chaos in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.
True Blood: Written by Six Feet Under’s Alan Ball and starring the fabulous Anna Paquin , it concerned vampires living discreetly in a Louisianan town, and was quite rightly one of the hits of the year.
2011
TV
Entourage: Would-be movie star Vincent Chase and his loveable band of hangers-on are thankfully returning for more of their Hollywood escapades this year.
Walking Dead: This post-apocalyptic zombie TV series was perhaps the grisliest of 2010, but it’s been a huge critical success, and continues its UAE run into the new year, with a second helping pencilled in for autumn 2011.
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Blundering misanthropist Larry David will return to our screens for another helping of his hilarious, improvised comedy show. As British comedian and fellow purveyor of awkward humour Ricky Gervais is set to co-star, we’re expecting a huge Lol-fest.
2010
Developments
Throughout 2010, new building projects in Abu Dhabi have helped the city break an impressive number of records and gain vast global exposure.
Of course, the most high-profile opening was Ferrari World. When the theme park inside the sprawling red dome was unveiled in November the capital immediately entered the record books for a number of feats. Firstly, with 176,000sq m of space, it’s the largest indoor theme park in the world, thrashing Houston’s Reliant Park into second place. And, of course, it also boasts the face-warping Formula Rossa, which, at 240kph, is the fastest roller coaster in the world. We’ve ridden the high-velocity beast and it’s so fast we felt we were being dragged into another dimension.
Abu Dhabi was also able to get one up on the city of Pisa this year and break its century old dominance in the leaning tower stakes. Italy’s thirteenth-century structure slants an impressive four degrees from the perpendicular, mainly due to soft foundations on one side of the 56m high building. But this was surpassed this year by Capital Gate, right next to Adnec on Khaleej Al Arabi Street, which has a whopping 18-degree incline. Have some of that Pisa!
2011
Developments
Could 2011 be another year in which Abu Dhabi goes on another record breaking spree? The answer is probably not. It looks like it’ll be 12 months of slow consolidation as ongoing developments are tied up.
What you can expect this year is a slew of fancy new hotel openings across all parts of the city, including the Grand Canal Abu Dhabi on the creek opposite the Shangri-La, the Jumeirah Etihad Towers near the Emirates Palace and the super-luxury St Regis Hotel on Saadiyat Island.
We’re going to have to wait until 2012 until all the really cool stuff is built. First up, that giant Yas Mall is due to be finished, finally giving Abu Dhabi a shopping centre to rival its Dubai counterparts. With a number of giant superstores, as well as an Italian Avenue – stocking all your high-end famous brand names – your days of traipsing up the motorway for a spending spree will be gone.
But the projects we’re looking forward to most are Guggenheim and Louvre Museums, which, when they open in 2013 will put Abu Dhabi firmly on the radar for the world’s art fans.
