Something for the Weekend #Elevenses
The reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated.
The observant noticed I did not publish SFTW last month. Life was like watching planets crash as work and long-term personal projects collided violently. It would not allow SFTW frivolities. Something had to give.
This Eid weekend offers glimmers of respite. Naomi and I are unpacking a War Room storing an untold embarrassment of detritus for the past two years since buying and moving into this house.
We flirted with travel—#vacationporn. I rubbed my thighs over thoughts of beaches in Mahé, wine tasting in Armenia, cruising through Kerala’s lush backwaters or packing the car for a staycation in “RAK”.
We did book two weeks in Italy this summer. So, this Eid weekend is about kindling and torching those things we say we will do when we have the time. My itch for some Vitamin Sea remains, but duty calls both in Dubai and Italy.
A quick word about Myanmar.
Inside a temple on the shores of Inle Lake, I decided to start writing about restaurants and travel about six days into a ten-day trip. I registered @eatgosee on Instagram that evening (now @itsliamcollens). Myanmar was only beginning to welcome tourists. That was 2017. Today, 1600 people are reportedly dead as the knuckle-dragging junta now allows foreign aid in. My thoughts go out to the incredible and warm people of Myanmar after the devastating earthquake over the weekend. Temples I visited are now rubble. The tree-lined streets of Yangon are torn apart. As I look through photos of this incredible country and read heart breaking stories of schools crumbled to dust, I wonder where those people are now.
Writing.
I slowly published three posts about food influencer culture as I see it in reaction to a predictable and tiresome BBC article wagging the proverbial finger, lambasting food influencers to be more honest.
Your feedback is overwhelming and welcomed. The purpose is not to defend food influencers, nor promote food writers as morally superior. Conversations about “honesty”, food influencers and restaurant coverage are usually superficial. They skim over the invasive and insidious causes to the objectionable rot.
I have two more to write in this mini-series of essays focusing on integrity, next, and ending with defamation fears, especially from someone living in the Middle East.
There is also a hefty backlog of India and Cairo posts and—soon—restaurant reviews. My review pen is itching to gallop, which reminds me...
Eat.
I found myself at Ristorante Loren, an Italian restaurant facing the Arabian Sea in Palm Jumeirah’s West Palm district. I say facing the sea. It faces an eruption of skyscrapers in what was a stretch of water between the Palm and Dubai Marina, once littered with oligarch yachts and the “models” who love them.
These were not the only mixed views.
As usual, Dubai’s interior designers win with opulent OTT maximalism, well-travelled fish displayed prostrate over ice, a rash of dining tables across a dining room so large it must have two postcodes, and superfluous wafting fans there for amusement. I do hope they partition the patio during the summer; otherwise, you will slowly poach during the incoming summer months.
Loren’s menu is “all-purpose Italian”. There is no regional focus. It plays the hits like a cover band that dares not delve into B-sides or deep cuts. The plates are capable, well-presented and—to the restaurant’s credit—Naomi and I could spend hours here chasing down red prawn crudo (AED 120), stuffed-then-fried courgette flowers (AED 95) and a voluptuous spaghetti vongole laced with bottarga (AED 145) with brisk Gavi by the gla—oh who are we kidding, by the bottle.
Like Signor Sassi or Fi’lia, I have seen much of this in Dubai, where the pastiche of grandeur supplants originality. It’s fine. Go. Take your mother-in-law. Alici is still #1 for me.
That’s all for this edition of Something for the Weekend! Much shorter than usual. Back down the house-sorting, editing rabbit hole I go. Until next time, Eid Mubarak to those celebrating or just luxuriating in all the time off. In the meantime, here’s a bottle of Chianti Riserva that I opened last night and thank you to Michele for inspiring the choice with her surprise lasagna. Get you friends who send homemade bakes.
Liam is a restaurant critic, food and travel writer based in the Middle East. He owns EatGoSee and contributes to other publications. You can follow Liam on Substack, Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
