UAE’s first kosher restaurant opens in world’s tallest building — on the ground floor

The UAE’s first kosher restaurant is on the ground floor of the Burj Khalif. Image by Getty Images

By David Ian Klein September 24, 2020

Armani/Kaf, a 40-seat kosher meat restaurant, will open this month in the Burj Khalifa under the supervision of Rabbi Levi Duchman, who lives in Dubai.

The restaurant will be on the ground floor of the world’s tallest building where the Armani hotel has other dining options, and will also offer room service in the Armani hotel and delivery throughout Dubai.

The announcement of the new kosher restaurant came shortly after a directive from the United Arab Emirates’ tourism board urged Emirati hotels to begin offering kosher options in response to the opening of diplomatic relations with Israel.

Image by Rabbi Mendy Chitrik

Earlier this week, Duchman and his brother Mendel organized the kosher slaughter of 2,500 chickens to keep Armani/Kaf and the rest of the Emirate’s Jewish community stocked.

Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, a Turkey-based Chabad rabbi who oversees kosher operations there, supervised the slaughter. Chitrik is also the founder and president of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, which connects rabbis who live in Muslim-majority countries. So far the group has members in Albania, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Turkey, the UAE, Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Nigeria and North Cyprus.

Inspecting the Kosher Shchita in the UAE in preparation of the High Holidays, Rabbi Levi Duchman – Rabbi of the Jewish community of the UAE, Rabbi Mendel Duchman and Rabbi Mendy Chitrik President of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States (ARIS)@mchitrik pic.twitter.com/hK83JWIfA1

— ARIS (@RabbisAlliance) September 22, 2020

“The best example of tolerance and peace we can offer is active Jewish life in Islamic countries,” Chitrik said. “Jews have been living in Islamic countries for thousands of years.”

David Ian Klein covers breaking news and international Jewish communities for the Forward. You can reach him at [email protected] and on Twitter @davidianklein.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO