Fairmont The Palm, Dubai, located on the trunk of Palm Jumeirah, and opened in late 2012 making this the second Ramadan for the resort.

Following on from their debut offerings in 2013 cutting edge designs have been introduced, as Phil Blizzard discovered as his ‘Ramadan Tour’ of the region continues. 

The elegant Flow Kitchen restaurant is the place for guests who wish to break their fast.

Generally offering an impressive array of international cuisine throughout the day the Flow Kitchen is the hub of for the hotel’s Ramadan offerings, as I discovered.

Holger Glaser the director for food and beverage operations at Fairmont The Palm explains what the Flow Kitchen offers.

“During the holy month we will have specialised cuisines from around the Middle East with hot and cold mezze, traditional Ouzi lamb, as well as live shawarma and mannakesh stations.

“A variety of traditional desserts and juices will also be featured, including Katayef (folded pancakes), Awamat (doughnut balls), Karkade (hibiscus flower tea) and Qamar Al Deen (apricot juice), all being served for Iftar.”

He went onto explain that cutting-edge design companies built and decorated the outdoor tent and indoor restaurant for the holy month.

He said: “The aim has been to keep the contemporary décor of Flow Kitchen and add arabesque touches (lanterns, mashrabiya patterns…) to reflect the spirit and atmosphere of Ramadan.

“As Ramadan tents are extremely popular in this region, we decided to create our own to attract Dubai residents by building an air conditioned tent offering Iftar and Suhoor with stunning views of the Arabian Sea.”

This has certainly attracted a real mix of guests for both Iftar and Suhoor, with Holger Glaser giving Breaking Travel News some statistics on the demographic of the guests.

“The Flow Kitchen accommodates a good mix of in-house guests (30 per cent), Dubai residents, including locals (40 per cent) and corporate bookings (40 per cent).

“Corporate bookings include consulting, technology, pharmaceutical companies and business councils.”

Finally, I asked him what Ramadan meant to him and his associates.

“I respect the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims which is a time to practice self-restraint; a time to cleanse the body and soul from impurities and re-focus one’s self on worship.

“I actually enjoy this time of year, especially Iftar time as it is one of the most important rituals during Ramadan and often evokes a community spirit, with family and friends gathering to break their fast together.

“We organise a yearly Iftar gathering all our colleagues and encourage non-Muslims to also fast on that day to support the ones that do.

“It also reflects the spirit of giving and we encourage our colleagues to participate and support charitable activities in Dubai.”

More Information

Fairmont The Palm has been nominated by the World Travel Awards as the United Arab Emirates’ Leading Beach Resort and the Middle East’s Leading New Hotel.

There is more information on the hotel’s official website.