Dubai is a strange place for restaurants

My header says it all. Since almost 10 years, I still struggle to understand the owners and operators of Dubai's restaurant scene.

Maybe I see it clearer - maybe I am more innovative and inspired - maybe they are just not all of it!

At work, we just opened a beach restaurant featuring grilled seafood and meats and (my part) tiki cocktails. Yes - this is nice... and rather boring. Not the drinks... but the concept.

Now: beach, sand, a grill - my voices in my head are almost so loud, that I am sure, that everyone around me is hearing them! Two things you could do really well - guess - it isn't a grill with Tiki cocktails:

• A Filipino restaurant
• A Jamaican restaurant

How can you not choose this type of concepts???

Ok - you might want to know why?!

Take one: The Filipino restaurant.

1. Everybody likes to have an as authentic as possible restaurant - guess what - we do have a lot of Filipinos here! 
1. We have Filipino bands here, which are inexpensive [compared to e.g. European bands] - and they are really good.
2. We have a lot of Filipino waitresses and waiters here
3. We have a lot of Filipino chefs here.
2. The food is simply delicious!
1. Yes - Filipinos love pork - but there are also a lot of recipes featuring other stuff than pork.
2. The food is simple and delicious.
3. There is no competition around
1. There are pinoy restaurants - but they are more cafeteria style
2. You would need to pimp a bit the presentation and preparation - but this isn't a big challenge I guess.
3. People would just love it.
4. It is easy to design a Filipino restaurant at the beach!

And take two: The Jamaican restaurant.

1. The food is so different and definitely made for a BBQ set up.
2. It is delicous - maybe even more delicious than Filipino food.
3. The music - just think about it and tell me, that you wouldn't come to a place which plays awesome Reggae and offer cool beers, some rum and some blackened jerk chicken!?
4. There is also no competition around - not a bit!
5. And yes - it is also quite straight forward to design a restaurant around Jamaica culture.

So instead of copying the 101st South American steak house or the 301st Japanese restaurant, somebody could do something unique!

Just saying...