Liam Collens

15/08/2026

There is chicken pie, and then there is this. Oof. 140 dhs and there’s a suggested wine pairing.
📍 VNTG

13/08/2026

Dubai should celebrate longevity like it does splashy new openings. Eric's Restaurant is a little Goan treasure that gets on with the business of feeding people tasty, affordable vindaloo, recheado and more. I was utterly charmed. It isn’t perfect, but that’s not the point.

Eric's restaurant: twenty years of Goan cooking in Al Karama, and what survives when a cuisine travels.

03/08/2026

ONE YEAR LATER. A community-created guide to the best cafes, restaurants, street corners and sandwiches in Cairo, a city remarkably underestimated for its food scene.

Forget the guides, this is where locals in Cairo really go to eat. Discover Cairo’s best street food and more, from shawerma buns to koshary, with locals revealing their favourite places to eat.

02/08/2026

July - there’s no room for the middle, eating and saying goodbye to our one-eyed girl

Bite-sized if not biting commentary. In this issue: nobody wants a mixed verdict, eating through a 49C Dubai summer and saying goodbye to a one-eyed cat.

30/07/2026

The Rise of Indian Food is NOW is now available in the restaurant if you want to stop by and pick up a signed copy. Or you can always buy an unsigned copy online. Trèsind Studio

23/07/2026

02/07/2026

Ever since Singapore last September, I have been looking for a plate of Hainanese chicken rice in Dubai that justifies the obsession. The search has taken longer than expected.

One restaurant - REIF Japanese Kushiyaki - remains the gold standard. Exceptional, considered, and priced accordingly. Not everyday dining.

So the hunt continues. This week it led to a slender mezzanine unit in Al Barsha with an arcade neon front, hawker-style street scene decals on the walls, and a Sunday lunch crowd that was, without exception, Singaporean. I was the only one in the room who wasn't.

That detail matters more than any star rating.
The chicken rice is clean, honest and brilliant value. The wontons are, unquestionably, the best thing I ate all afternoon.

Other dishes are less convincing. The verdict is nuanced - which is, perhaps, the point.

The new Uninvited Opinion is live on Substack now. The chicken rice quest continues, the Goldilocks remains elusive, and the full review - including what a waitress told me unprompted about the crab fried rice - is worth the read.

Link in bio. Subscribe if the obsession resonates.
Have you been to Tong Fong Fatt?

28/06/2026

My son is waiting for his friends to return in September. So are Dubai’s restaurants. Neither of them knows if they will.

https://open.substack.com/pub/liamcollens/p/something-for-the-weekend-the-long?r=12rjc7&utm_medium=ios

My son is waiting for his friends to return in September. So are Dubai’s restaurants. Neither of them knows if they will.

04/06/2026

The Devonshire has been praised so enthusiastically, and for so long, that criticism feels almost impolite. After dinner in the Grill Room, I found myself thinking less about the food and more about what happens when consensus becomes accepted truth.

The Devonshire has been praised so enthusiastic, and for so long, that criticism feels almost impolite. After dinner in the Grill Room, I found myself thinking less about the food and more about what happens when consensus becomes accepted truth.

30/05/2026

I am always curious about the stories behind antiques; a phrase that essentially means things that once belonged to other people. Second hand, but we call them antiques because that sounds nicer. More prestigious than “pre-loved” or “new to you”.

I am a cynic at heart.

But wouldn’t it be nice to get a little card that (honestly) shares the provenance and back story that comes with a desk, a vase, the collection of leather bound books?

📍 Asti Antique Market occurs on the fourth Sunday of every month.