The opening of Nick Alvis and Scott Price’s new restaurant Folly approaches

Chefs Nick Alvis and Scott Price. Razan Alzayani / The National)
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Foodies, take note. There’s a new restaurant coming to Dubai and this one is well worth getting excited about. Folly by Nick and Scott is set to open its doors this month in Souk Madinat Jumeirah, where Rivington Grill used to be.

It’s an exciting moment for Nick Alvis and Scott Price, who have spent the least seven years working their way up to this moment. They started their joint venture at Table 9 by Nick and Scott at Hilton Dubai Creek after taking over from Gordon Ramsay (it was called Verre under Ramsay). Two years later, they left and launched their next project, Taste Kitchen. Now, they’re ready to introduce Folly to Dubai. Price says: “It’s been a massive learning curve for us. I firmly believe that the experiences we’ve had over the last seven years in Dubai have given us a really key and necessary understanding of the industry.”

The team has been working on Folly every day for the last six months and they’ve been involved with every aspect from the initial concept to designing the uniforms. Price says, “To be honest, it’s a bit of a dream come true. Nick and I used to talk about opening a place together back in 2005, when we were both working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges in London.”

Folly has an outdoor terrace and a rooftop bar with stunning views of the Madinat waterways, the Burj Al Arab and the gulf. But Alvis and Price want the food at Folly to be the main attraction. The menu includes dishes such as Omani shrimp with marjoram and lime gremolata and lamb saddle with whipped pine nuts and salsa. Alvis says, “We want to do something a bit different and will be serving flavour combinations that we’d like to think aren’t on any other menus in Dubai.”

Price says: “This is a huge moment for us. It’s by far the most important time in our careers. Our focus now is solely on Folly and making it as good as it can be.”

Read our story on the opening of Folly, featuring in-depth inteviews with Nick Alvis and Scott Price in Thursday's edition of The National.

sjohnson@thenational.ae