12/07/2025

LYFE SATURDAY | JULY 12, 2025

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Dubai to debut restaurant partly operated by AI chef

I N Dubai, your dinner might soon come with a side of source code. Woohoo, a restaurant that bills itself as “dining in the future”, is set to open in September in central Dubai, a stone’s throw from the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. Food at Woohoo will be assembled by humans, for now, but everything else – from the menu to ambience to service – will be designed by a culinary large language model called “Chef Aiman”. Aiman – a portmanteau of “AI” and “man” – is trained on decades of food science research, molecular composition data and over a thousand recipes from cooking traditions around the world, said Ahmet Oytun Cakir, one of Woohoo’s founders. While Chef Aiman cannot taste, smell or interact with his dishes like a chef normally would, the model works by breaking cuisine down to its

o Human cooks at eatery to refine recipes derived from data-based combinations

in an effort led by renowned Dubai-based chef Reif Othman. “Their responses to my suggestions help refine my understanding of what works beyond pure data,” Aiman explained in an interview with the interactive AI model.

component parts such as texture, acidity and umami, and reassembling them into unusual flavour and ingredient combinations, according to Aiman’s developers. These prototypes are then refined by human cooks who taste the combinations and provide direction,

Food prepared using a recipe from Aiman is served on a plate at the Trove Restaurant. – PICS FROM REUTERS

Aiman is designed to develop recipes that re-use ingredients often discarded by restaurants, such as meat trimmings or fat, he said. Longer term, Woohoo’s founders believe Aiman could be licensed to restaurants across the globe, reducing kitchen waste and improving sustainability. – Reuters

The goal, Aiman’s creators said, is not to supplant the human element of cooking but to complement it. “Human cooking will not be replaced, but we believe (Aiman) will elevate the ideas, creativity,” said Oytun Cakir, who is also chief executive of hospitality company Gastronaut.

Chef Khimraj Nepali prepares a dish using a recipe from Aiman at the Trove Restaurant in Dubai.

AI chef Aiman is seen on a screen in a studio in Dubai.

Croatian cheese sees growing demand

Actress Eva Green develops sake with lower alcohol content

FROM Croatia’s mainland, most of Pag looks inhospitably grey and rocky, but the island’s lunar-like landscape is key to producing its delicious staple. Paski sir – the distinctive, hard Pag cheese, as it is known in Croatian – is the highly-prized product of herb-grazing sheep that cling to the rugged terrain in the face of fierce Adriatic winds. “It contains the very essence of this island,” said Martina Pernar Skunca, the marketing manager of the oldest cheese factory on Pag. Located 40km northeast of the coastal city of Zadar, the island of Pag hosts around 40,000 woolly locals – about five times its human population. Grazing freely, the fluffy flock feast on various herbs and aromatic plants, including sage, lavender and curry plant, all coated in sea salt whipped up by bora winds – giving the cheese its world-famous flavour, Skunca from the Paska Sirana cheese factory said. Aged for at least 60 days and often compared to Italian pecorino sardo or Spanish manchego , it boasts a marble texture and savoury flavour that becomes spicier with maturity. In our blood Founded in 1946, Paska Sirana – which makes around 80 tons of its star product annually – still purchases most of its milk from families living on the island. “Our ancestors have always done it – it is in our blood and we cannot do without it,” said Marin Valentic, who runs the small Skrivanat cheese factory using methods almost unchanged for generations. At Gligora Sirana, one of the island’s most acclaimed factories, manager Ruzica Gligora agrees that family tradition is key to the cheese’s success.

YOU might not expect to find sake among the latest trendy low-alcohol drinks, given its deep-rooted traditions, which are even recognised by Unesco. However, there is now a sake with an alcohol content of just 8%, and the name of its creator may surprise you. After beer, gin and other spirits, wine and even champagne, the range of low-alcohol drinks seems almost complete. The latest addition to the list of options is sake . Increasingly featured on restaurant menus, this Japanese rice wine has gained a new reputation in recent years. The Japanese drink is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran, and has an alcohol content around 14% – just like a red wine from the Rhone Valley. This is the case of junmai – sakes to which no alcohol has been added. Only alcohol resulting from the fermentation produces the desired effect. The alcohol content can rise to around 16% for ginjo , a category corresponding to sakes in which the rice has been polished more (to 60%) and extra distilled alcohol has been added. This rises to 20% for genshu , where no additional water has been added after fermentation. The idea of crafting a low-alcohol version is not without merit. And the initiative is likely to cause a buzz because it is led by the French actress Eva Green. Fascinated by Japanese culture, the former Bond girl embarked on this venture alongside her childhood friend Hadrien Wolff. Both trained in France and Japan in the art of rice

French actress Green has developed her own low-alcohol sake . – PIC FROM THE GREEN WOLF wine production. They a 200-year-old brewery in Osaka, Kuninocho, to develop their own sake . Its distinctive feature is that it is only 8% alcohol by volume. This feat is achieved in the same way that some winemakers use to market low-alcohol wines: the fermentation process in vats is deliberately interrupted. The second fermentation is stopped by pasteurisation. Slightly sparkling on the palate, this new creation is best enjoyed chilled. It is called seiun , which means “nebula” in Japanese. To market it, Green and Wolff set up the company The Green Wolf. The sake is currently available for pre-order at a price of €45 (RM224). For the time being, deliveries will only be made in France and Belgium. – ETX Studio eventually chose

Skunca, marketing manager at Paska Sirana. – AFPPIC

population of 3.8 million is struggling to keep up. Alongside tourism, farmers can be tempted to focus on a less labour intensive speciality of the island – Pag lamb. “Pag is a beautiful touristic place and gives a lot of opportunities to earn money in an easier way,” Skunca said. “This is a hard job, since in the production season from January to June, no matter what is happening in one’s life or weather conditions, sheep need to be milked twice a day.” Producers say interest in the cheese is only growing, with all varieties – some infused with cherry, others matured for 24 months – in demand. “Everyone wants to try it, to learn why it is so special,” said Valentic, who has a flock of around 120 sheep. The 40-year-old farmer welcomes the demand but stressed that Pag’s unique landscape only offers so much grazing land. – AFP

“From the very beginning, when my father-in-law Ivan Gligora founded the factory, he had the idea of making the best cheese in the world,” she said. Their founder’s goal seems to have paid off, with Michelin-starred chefs from the International Taste Institute describing Gligora’s Paski sir as a “pure delight” that “brings full and complex flavours to the palate and melts nicely in the mouth”. In recognition of Paski sir’s value, the European Union has afforded it a Protected Designation of Origin status, shielding it from copycats in the same way as champagne. Hard job However, cheese makers say that milk production is decreasing annually as the industry competes for workers against Croatia’s booming tourism sector. Around 20 million tourists a year flock to Croatia, drawn by its stunning coastline and picturesque cities, but its