Media Centre
< Back to listing
Matajer Al Juraina provides platform for trendy new Emirati F&B brands at first ‘Outdoors’ food and leisure pop up in Sharjah
5th Mar 2019
• Community mall stimulates local food scene with a vibrant location for businesses to grow customer base
• Nine young Emirati F&B entrepreneurs to offer mall diners exciting street and fusion food concepts from around the world from March 1-30
Matajer Al Juraina has opened ‘Outdoors’, an exciting new pop up dining destination to treat trendy foodies to a diverse range of artisanal street food concepts served up by homegrown Emirati F&B businesses from March 1-30.
From crunchy pink sushi rolls at Izumi Restaurant and Cafeteria to an Emirati take on the sticky Hungarian monkey bread at Absolute Zero, diners can dive into an assortment of international cuisines with a local twist, while enjoying the cool weather outdoors with family and friends at the mall’s vibrant new communal pop up space this month. Visitors can also try different flavours of stuffed vine leaves at Princess of Mahashy, Arabic desserts at Papa Kunafa, speciality coffee at Cofina Café and fruity frozen yogurts and smoothies at Aseer Time Restaurant.
The initiative is also part of the neighbourhood retail centre’s efforts to encourage young businesses, fostering a start-up and innovation ecosystem.
“After the huge success of the ‘Outdoors’ food and leisure pop ups in City Centre Mirdif and City Centre Me’aisem, Matajer Al Juraina will create this memorable, experiential dining experience for residents of communities in Sharjah for the first time, this year,” said Hamad Al Lawati – Community Malls Senior Manager, Majid Al Futtaim.
“Young families and millennials are always on the lookout for unique and trendy food concepts that they can share with loved ones and are able to snap for Instagram. We have handpicked nine such distinct F&B start-ups that have put a creative spin to street food and world cuisines, which will take foodies on a culinary journey. This is part of our effort to boost the local food industry by giving enterprising Emiratis an avenue to expand their customer base and catapult their business to new heights.”
Absolute Zero founder Saeed Mohamed Al Kamali believes that ‘Outdoors’ is a great platform to grow his business.
“We opened in Dubai in 2017 and this is the first time we will be selling to customers in Sharjah,” said the 25-year-old entrepreneur. Saeed has “Emiratised” the popular Hungarian monkey bread with different fillings, including cheese, coconut and Kinder chocolate. His version of this sweet pastry is called Zero and is served in a bowl. The café will be launching a special edition Zero dessert at Matajer Al Juraina, which they will announce on their social media page.
“Sharjah is a relatively new market for us, and this is a good way to test our offerings with the community here. The location of the mall is perfect as it is frequented by our target audience, who are young Emiratis and university students. This will give us an indication to expand and open a branch in the Northern Emirates in the future.”
Majid Al Ali, 26, is the owner of Izumi Restaurant and Cafeteria, which is serving up Asian cuisine to diners at ‘Outdoors’. The young Emirati who has given the traditional sushi a modern twist at this restaurant, says Emirati businesses need such a platform to make their passion a reality.
“‘Outdoors’ will help us to market and advertise our business to a different set of food lovers. This way we can grow our business and further our ambition to open more branches in different emirates. We are very excited to be able to serve this new sushi concept to visitors at Matajer Al Juraina this month.”
From crunchy pink sushi rolls at Izumi Restaurant and Cafeteria to an Emirati take on the sticky Hungarian monkey bread at Absolute Zero, diners can dive into an assortment of international cuisines with a local twist, while enjoying the cool weather outdoors with family and friends at the mall’s vibrant new communal pop up space this month. Visitors can also try different flavours of stuffed vine leaves at Princess of Mahashy, Arabic desserts at Papa Kunafa, speciality coffee at Cofina Café and fruity frozen yogurts and smoothies at Aseer Time Restaurant.
The initiative is also part of the neighbourhood retail centre’s efforts to encourage young businesses, fostering a start-up and innovation ecosystem.
“After the huge success of the ‘Outdoors’ food and leisure pop ups in City Centre Mirdif and City Centre Me’aisem, Matajer Al Juraina will create this memorable, experiential dining experience for residents of communities in Sharjah for the first time, this year,” said Hamad Al Lawati – Community Malls Senior Manager, Majid Al Futtaim.
“Young families and millennials are always on the lookout for unique and trendy food concepts that they can share with loved ones and are able to snap for Instagram. We have handpicked nine such distinct F&B start-ups that have put a creative spin to street food and world cuisines, which will take foodies on a culinary journey. This is part of our effort to boost the local food industry by giving enterprising Emiratis an avenue to expand their customer base and catapult their business to new heights.”
Absolute Zero founder Saeed Mohamed Al Kamali believes that ‘Outdoors’ is a great platform to grow his business.
“We opened in Dubai in 2017 and this is the first time we will be selling to customers in Sharjah,” said the 25-year-old entrepreneur. Saeed has “Emiratised” the popular Hungarian monkey bread with different fillings, including cheese, coconut and Kinder chocolate. His version of this sweet pastry is called Zero and is served in a bowl. The café will be launching a special edition Zero dessert at Matajer Al Juraina, which they will announce on their social media page.
“Sharjah is a relatively new market for us, and this is a good way to test our offerings with the community here. The location of the mall is perfect as it is frequented by our target audience, who are young Emiratis and university students. This will give us an indication to expand and open a branch in the Northern Emirates in the future.”
Majid Al Ali, 26, is the owner of Izumi Restaurant and Cafeteria, which is serving up Asian cuisine to diners at ‘Outdoors’. The young Emirati who has given the traditional sushi a modern twist at this restaurant, says Emirati businesses need such a platform to make their passion a reality.
“‘Outdoors’ will help us to market and advertise our business to a different set of food lovers. This way we can grow our business and further our ambition to open more branches in different emirates. We are very excited to be able to serve this new sushi concept to visitors at Matajer Al Juraina this month.”
