When U.S. celebrity chef David Burke opened his second restaurant in Riyadh earlier in August, hudreds of Saudi men and women packed the venue to enjoy his dishes and fruity “mocktails” to a DJ’s mix of Arabic and Western pop.
While Saudis usually escape the desert country over the summer when temperatures can reach over 50 degrees Celsius, the coronavirus pandemic has seen them flock to restaurants and cafes in the open-air mall The Zone, bolstering Saudi Arabia’s consumer sector.
Noura, 21, a Saudi hostess at one such upscale restaurant said she has been booking up tables weeks in advance.
“Before, that would have been impossible in August because no one was here,” she said. “Now, we have some regulars who come here and spend hundreds every week.”
Saudi Arabia in May allowed citizens to travel abroad without prior official permission after a more than year-long ban, but it still maintains a ‘red list’ of states they cannot visit, so many are opting for staycations.
Domestic Tourism
Restaurants, cafes, cinemas and hotels are full in the capital Riyadh, and new venues keep cropping up, helped by the gradual relaxation of strict rules guiding public life.
At Burke’s restaurant, the second of six he plans to open in the kingdom, young Saudi female and male staff mill about the industrial-chic venue while a female percussionist accompanies the DJ, a scene hard to image a decade ago.
De facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has moved to open up the conservative kingdom, where gender segregation was once firmly enforced by religious police, in an effort to improve quality of life and attract foreign firms and talent.
Developing domestic tourism is a key ambition of the young prince, whose social and economic reforms have been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent in the absolute monarchy.
“Ten years ago, we would never have thought to open an F&B (food and beverages) business, with gender segregation in the restaurants and the strict regulations, it was not appealing and people didn’t enjoy the experience very much,” said Burke’s Saudi partner, Osamah Hussein.
“Now it is an ideal moment,” added Hussein, who owns restaurants and hotels across the kingdom.
Alcohol remains banned in the country, the birthplace of Islam, but authorities now allow public entertainment including concerts, cinema, live music and sporting events.
Abdallah Mansour, 28, and his wife Reem, were dining at upscale Italian restaurant Cipriani while visiting Riyadh from Dammam in the Eastern Province where they live.
“In past years, we would go to Europe with my parents for several weeks. But because we couldn’t travel during COVID, we decided to make the most of our time and have been doing weekends all over the country,” Mansour said.
While in Riyadh, they are frequenting the capital’s new restaurants, like Nobu and Mamo’s.
“They’re expensive, but it’s amazing they exist at all in Saudi Arabia. We used to have to go to London for Nobu – now it’s right here,” Reem said. (Reuters)