MasterChef, the TV Experience will be a new restaurant opening at the Millennium Place Marina in Dubai this April.
The restaurant will be based on the MasterChef reality TV series, and be a world-first dining experience, according to a statement. Guests will be able to dine on the talents and recipes of contestants and champions from the TV show.
Developers the First Group have appointed chef Maria ‘Margarita’ Vaamonde-Beggs to head the kitchen and create the menu.
The restaurant is the product of a deal signed last year between The First Group and Endemol Shine Group.
As reported in Arabian Business, Duncan Fraser-Smith, VP of F&B at the First Group, said: “Our entire objective has been to keep the entire experience focused on the food our culinary stars will create, while offering a casual and comfortable deformalised dining atmosphere without excess trappings.
“With food creativity and skill being the cornerstone of the concept, Margarita brings unmatched experience and talent to her latest role in spearheading the entire culinary set-up of Dubai’s most exciting venue opening of 2019.
“An entirely immersive experience”
“Dining at MasterChef, the TV Experience, will be an entirely immersive experience. It will establish an emotional connection, through food, and nurture a passion for cooking at all levels of expertise across all ages and cultures, which is vital in a cosmopolitan hub such as Dubai.”
Contestants and champions will also make short-term residencies to the restaurant, where they will share their stories with guests.
The First Group hopes to grow the restaurant concept worldwide in coming years. The company also hopes to introduce 40 original dining concepts to the UAE by 2021.
Food themed experiences
Themed restaurants have long been a key element of theme parks. Today’s eating experiences are powered by storytelling and technology to deliver even more immersive dining.
Perhaps the most famous example is Heston Blumenthal’s 17 course tasting menu at The Fat Duck. The experience is based around a journey. This takes the diner from the sea shore (including a sea shell with headphones to listen to the sea) to a sweet shop complete with personalised sweets.
Eccentric Jellymongers Bompas & Parr have carved out a niche in creating experiences around food, from Beyond the Waterfall at Westfield to the British Museum of Food pop up complete with breathable cocktails.
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/media/412718-masterchef-the-tv-experience-restaurant-ramps-up-worlds-first-kitchen-team-ahead-of-april-opening
