Author: llmatjvt

Get free dinner for family of four at Fusion restaurant @Ghaya Grand Hotel

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ghaya-grand-hotel-logo-page-001

The JVT Blog is delighted to offer our readers the chance to win dinner for a family of four at the Fusion restaurant at Ghaya Grand Hotel located near the Me’aisem City Center on Al Fay Road, across from JVT in IMPZ.

One lucky winner will be chosen on 9th November to receive this amazing and delicious prize. Enter your details and submit an answer to the question below to participate.

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

How many food and beverage outlets does the Ghaya Grand have?(required)

 

⇒ Not sure? Check out their website for some clues or read my recent post about our delicious dining experience at Fusion.

All this month, Ghaya Grand Hotel is also offering readers of the JVT blog a very special deal:

*Buy 1 Get 1* offer for JVT residents.

Please note the following terms and conditions would apply on the special promotion:

–          Offer valid for 1 month, from the day of posting on 9 October 2016

–          Offer valid on Adults package only

–          Includes food and water only

–          Email must be sent to marketing@ghayagrandhotel.com in order to make a reservation for the advertised promotion.

–          Prior reservation would be recommended to avail of this offer.

The winner of the Family of Four dinner competition will be contacted by email or phone and invited to collect their prize directly at the hotel. Failure to collect the prize within 30 days will automatically void any claim by the invididual to receive the designated voucher. Entering this competition is completely voluntary and those who chose to do so are providing their contact information of their own accord. Contact information collected in connection with surveys and competitions is used to notify the winners and award prizes, to monitor or improve the use and satisfaction of the site, and may be shared with sponsors of such surveys or competitions.

Nearby Fusion restaurant is a must try !

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If you don’t know the Ghaya Grand, you should ! It is a five-star hotel located exactly 7 minutes from JVT making it a great place to enjoy the day poolside or a tuck into a nice evening meal. This week my husband and I were treated to an enjoyable and flavorful meal at Fusion to sample their brand new theme-night concept.

Be sure to read to the end for your chance to enjoy dinner for a family of four on the house!

Great place to take the family

Fusion is a remarkable dining option close to our neighborhood. It is a great place to take the family when you don’t have time to cook as it’s almost like being at home with your own personal chef. The food is impeccably fresh, the staff friendly and accommodating and there is plenty of variety to please any member of the family. I would describe the concept as a made-to-order buffet with live cooking stations. There are three cuisine stations – Asian, Indian and Italian – as well as a sushi counter, salad buffet and dessert selections. Each evening offers a different theme night so you will find, for example, on seafood nights that your fresh catch can be prepared Asian style, with an Indian flare or why not opt to top a pizza with some crustaceans!

When we visited, we started off with mocktails choosing a dragon fruit specialty that matched the Asia theme that evening as well as a lovely mojito. The combinations were both fresh and sophisticated.  I could well imagine spending an afternoon at the Ghaya Grand pool with a virgin mojito in hand. But, reverie aside, let’s get back to our dinner.

Fusion combines flavors effortlessly

We sampled almost all of the dishes and to not spoil the surprise for your own visit, I’ll elaborate on our favorites. At the salad station, the many unique bite size appetizer options were all appealing. It’s not often that you find such delectable little treats at a buffet. The minature broccoli pannacotta had the texture of a soufflé with an Asian twist.

At the Indian counter, my husband most enjoyed the mutton sheek kebab with mint sauce. This tasty treat was a real hit even although I could write volumes about the rich and creamy butter chicken, the fresh naan bread or the various curry dishes. The real thing to know is that Chef Anand hails from India and has been in the kitchen cooking since age 12!

At the Asian live cooking station, I was most impressed by the freshness of the vegetables. You can select your ingredients for a fresh noodle wok or ask the chef to whip up a portion of the two evening specialties. We enjoyed a steaming dish of vegetable rice noodles, fragrant and sweet. We also couldn’t resist having him make us a Kung Pao shrimp special. He gladly prepared mine with a bit less spice and it was a mouth watering treat. I was also delighted to see the special Peking duck trolley and couldn’t pass up the chance to savor a few yummy rolled pancakes with plum sauce. One of my all time favorites, I would say this came pretty close to the duck I’ve sampled in Beijing.

Ending our meal, I would also note positively the dessert selections. While we di2016-10-06_21-03-161d not find an overabundance of choices, the Opera cake was tasty and light, better than most desserts at the typical Dubai buffet where I find the wide selection generally heavy and overly sweet. I’d say Fusion has got it right in terms of quality over quantity.

The main negative for Fusion has got to be the lighting and the design. It was a real shame that the flamboyant Asian wok cooking, for example, was under dimmed lights. The flashy wall and ceiling designs can also be somewhat distracting from the overall experience. However, the wide variety of made-to-order, fresh and tasty selections will bring me back. I am eager to try seafood night next! Which night will you try?

If you’d like the chance to enjoy a meal at Fusion, click here to enter the competition for dinner for four.

All this month, Ghaya Grand Hotel is also offering readers of the JVT blog a very special deal:

*Buy 1 Get 1* offer for JVT residents.

Please note the following terms and conditions would apply:

–          Offer valid for 1 month, from the day of posting on 9 October 2016

–          Offer valid on Adults package

–          Includes food and water only

–          Email must be sent to marketing@ghayagrandhotel.com in order to make a reservation for the advertised promotion.

–          Prior reservation would be recommended to avail of this offer.

Pest Control in JVT from 9-13 October

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Nakheel Notification:

In line with the Dubai Municipality’s standard pest control requirements, we will be conducting pest control treatment at Jumeirah Village Triangle from Sunday 9 October until Thursday 13 October 2016.

The work will take place at the landscaped areas, streets and main roads with treatments taking placebetween 9.00 am and 12.00 am on each day as scheduled below:

Area covered Day Time
Tulip Street and Orchid Street

Districts 2, 3 and 4

Districts 6 and 7

Districts 8 and 9

Districts 1, 2 and 3 (park areas)

 Sunday 9 Oct 2016

Monday 10 Oct 2016

Tuesday 11 Oct 2016

Wednesday 12 Oct 2016

Thursday 13 Oct 2016

 9.00 am until 12.00 pm

9.00 am until 12.00 pm

9.00 am until 12.00 pm

9.00 am until 12.00 pm

9.00 am until 12.00 pm

Kindly note that our pesticide treatment service provider and the material used for the procedure are approved by the Dubai Municipality, and the timings selected for the treatment follow DM standards.

As per Dubai Municipality advice, residents and their families are advised to stay inside with doors and windows closed during the procedure. Pets should also be kept inside if possible.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

For any enquiries or feedback, please contact us directly at JVT.community@nakheel.com

Praise for the Teacher on World Teachers’ Day

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Today is the day to shower your children’s teachers with love and praise as they offer the same to your kids day after day! UNESCO proclaimed 5 October to be World Teachers’ Day in 1994.

To honor teachers, I reached out to the schools in JVT to find out what’s been going on in their classrooms since the start of the year. I chose to share the story of Miss O’Neill, Year One Teacher, at The Arcadia Prepatory School.

My wonderful pupils are bags of energy and enthusiasm – keen to explore every aspect of their learning in the most creative of ways. I have therefore adopted a very kinesthetic approach to my teaching and I have noticed the excellent progress each child has made through this multi-sensory approach, says Miss O’Neill.

frogline-arcadiaIn maths, her little ones are getting to grips with numbers and have recently started to explore the concept of adding and subtracting along a number line. Her children adore guiding ‘Fred The Frog’ along their number lines to embed this method.

To celebrate Roald Dahl’s 100th birthday and to promote their use of interesting adjectives, Miss O’Neill  held a ‘Gruesome Feast’ in honour of The Twits (an activity the children dived into through touch, taste and a bit of imagination…). For this, they made dream jars, like those featured in The BFG (Big Friendly Giant). I think they turned out great !

dream-jars-arcadia

It was amazing to hear the range of descriptive language that was unlocked in the children through a more exciting approach to learning!, said Miss O’Neill.

Thanks to teachers like Miss O’Neill all across Dubai and around the world, children today are being inspired to reach high, be creative and make full use of their potential. Goodness knows our world needs it.

Hats off to my favorite teacher Miss Grappi, now retired, and to my treasured sister-in-law, Miss Conrad, who is taking a break from teaching to recover from illness after dedicating a lifetime to making others smart.

Be sure to thank a teacher today !

 

New Apartments in JVT to let later this month

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Soon, new residents to JVT will have more apartment options to choose from. There are a number of new low-rise buildings set to be completed in the coming months. I have been sleuthing a bit to give current residents and prospective new  Villagers an idea of what will be on the market soon.

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The first building I can tell you about is the five-storey Noor Apartments on Street D19 in District 2. I recently met the owner, his wife and their team on site as the building nears completion.

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By end October, they expect to be offering 107 apartments for rent at prices ranging from 40,000 AED for a studio to 150,000 AED for a 2 bedroom 153 square meter apartment. There will be basement parking, 24-hour security guard and a rooftop garden and kids’ play area. The ground floor will offer a large retail space of 228 square meters for which we hope there will be an exciting new shop.

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Rental available direct from the owner by calling 050 952 8861 or 04 360 7238.

No more honey wagons in JVT

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You may have noticed that the unsightly sewage trucks have stopped passing through JVT on their way to offload the waste from Jumeirah Park. poopoo-truckNakheel, the master developer has confirmed to the JVT Community blog that a new route has been negotiated with the authorities to get these trucks off our roads. We should no longer catch a glimpse of the orange vehicles cruising along Tulip or Orchid Streets.

While disposal of Jumeirah Park sewage continues at the far end of our community, just outside the JVT limits, Nakheel has also taken the initiative to ensure that half of these trucks are diverted to another dumping location. Therefore, fewer tankers will actually be accessing that temporary disposal site.

I was informed by a company spokesperson that Nakheel is currently in the process of appointing a contractor to build a pipeline that will carry sewage directly from Jumeirah Park to the sewage treatment plant, ending the need to use the disposal point at the edge of the JVT community in the future.  This should be completed in 2017 giving residents the long-term solution we would expect.

After a few residents brought this issue to the attention of the blog, we actively sollicited information on the solutions to this problem from Nakheel. We will do our best to bring residents more updates on community infrastructure.

Photo credit: Zarina Fernandes/Gulf News from original article in Gulf News on 30 July 2016

Looking to keep kids busy afterschool? Here are the options right here in JVT.

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Now that kids are back in school yet again after the one-week Eid holidays, most parents are scheduling their after school activities to keep them occupied and fit. The choices across Dubai are overwhelming. You can keep your kids intellectually challenged with Maths, get them twirling or balancing with dance or gymnastics, teach them to swim or learn synchronized swimming, indulge in music, theatre or more. The list seems endless.

The biggest challenge for me has always been getting them there. I’m sure I’m not alone. ‘After school’ means that you will undoubtedly get stuck in rush hour traffic on your way there or back. For this reason alone, I suspect that many parents living in the neighbourhood will be happy to learn that a slew of fun pasttimes await your kids right here in JVT.

after-school-activity-kids

I’ve compiled some information about what’s on offer:

Ballet, Gymnastics and Karate Classes at Arcadia Prepatory School with Gulf Star Sports should be starting from 9th October. Free trial lessons will be available so contact them now to get your spot. Tel: 052-9078179.

Furthermore, community groups can rent out the school facilities either at Arcadia through Gulf Star Sports by contacting Matthew Ralton on mattr@gulfstarsports.com or at Sunmarke by contacting the school manager Elaine Baillie on activitiesmanager@forteseducation.com

Sunmarke has already started with a broad array of options offered through a host of external vendors listed below. The times/dates indicated are those communicated on the school website.  I’ve given the time/date slots to make it easy to see if the offering fits within your schedule but please note these are consolidated timings of the different age specific classes on offer. Kindly contact the vendor directly for more information.

Badminton

5-6pm (Sun & Tues), 6-7pm (Thurs & Sat) Contact PSA Tel: 052-9078179.

Exercise class ‘Born to Move’

4-5pm (Mon) Contact: Stryx Gulf Tel: 0529007550

Swimming 

4-6pm (Sun & Tues), 1-5pm (Sat) Contact M&S Sports  Tel.: + 971 (0)4 457 2933

3-4:15 (Mon& Thurs) AquaTots and Beginner lessons with Swimming Warriors Tel: 055-880-3040

Football

4-7pm (Mon) & 8-11am (Sat) Contact M&S Sports Tel: 050-4405921
4-6pm (Sun) & 5-6pm (Tues) & 2:15 – 3:15pm (Thurs) Contact Elite FC Tel: 045-545-916
4-5pm (Sun) Contact FC Barcelona Tel: 055-8872426

Basketball

4-8pm (Sun), 4-9pm (Tues) Contact MPAC sports 04-385177
5-8pm (Mon & Wed),  9-1pm (Sat) Contact Basic Ball Tel: +056-167-0009

Gymnastics

3-6pm (Thurs) Contact Simply Gymnastics on 055 601 6095

Rythmic Gymnastics

5-7pm (Mon), 10-12pm (Sat) Contact Stryx Gymnastics Tel: +0529007550

Wado Ryu karate lessons conducted in Japanese!

4:45 – 7pm (Mon), 9am-12pm (Sat) Contact Budo Juko Tel: +971 50 2110 3981

Dance classes for ages 5 to adult are being offered by Step Up Academy every day of the week in the following styles:

  • Street Dance
  • RAD Ballet
  • IDTA Tap & Modern
  • Cheerleading
  • Musical Theatre
  • Lyrical Contemporary

Contact them for the complete schedule on Mobile: 971 55 855 2797 or info@stepup.ae

Robotics

2:45 – 4:45pm (Wed) Contact Premier Genie Tel: 0526656440

Art Appreciation

3:30 – 4:45pm (Sat) Contact Little Masterpieces Tel: 055-3877091

Math Whizz Kids

2:45 – 3:45pm (Sun & Mon), 3 – 5pm (Tues), 9:30 – 2pm (Sat) Contact Brain O Brain Tel: 055-1355747

Innovators & Entreprenuers

2:45 – 3:45 (Wed) & 2:15 – 3:15pm (Thurs) Contact I&E Academy Tel: 055-8622464

Russian Language Classes 

1:30 – 5:30 (Sun/Mon) Contact Headway Institute Tel:  +971 4 362 53 13

Let the fun begin !

Looking for an Eid adventure?

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If your are planning a staycation for this Eid, you might want to check out the new Outlet Village just a short 30 kilometer drive from JVT.  You might even feel as if you’ve escaped to the Tuscan countryside for a few hours. I went to experience it first hand during opening week and was suprised by the volume of visitors. But then again, we live in a land of opportunity (and shopping!). Despite being quite far from town, it is clear that many people simply cannot resist a good deal. Here is my take on a trip to bargain heaven.

When you arrive in the outdoor car park, you’ll be greeted by cheery music surely planned to get you in the mood to loosen your purse strings a bit.20160906_135938

A little skeptical that about the range of deals to be found, I was pleasantly surprised to note that every shop I visited declared between 35 – 50 % off, and sometimes more. A stop at Ecco (where I just bought school sandals for my daughter in their Marina Mall outlet) gave me proof that the price was indeed half off for a very similar style. I also found a very wide selection in all the shops not to mention that you’ll find only high-end brands. It’s always a pleasure to nab a new handbag from Patrizia Pepe and spend a fraction of the list price. One of the kindest clerk’s I came across was the lovely lady managing the Antonio Marras outlet. This shop is deserving of a special mention as it’s the only one of its kind in Dubai. For now, aside from going direct to the source in Italy, your nearest option requires a trip to Kuwait.

Over 80% of the fashion and shoe stores are ready for business. Sports afficionados will have to wait a bit longer for their favourite brands to be open. Restaurants, also, are in short supply for the moment. I had lunch at Urban Seafood. The decor was appealing and the menu even more so for a native New Englander who knows her lobster. In fact, I will give you all a great tip – make sure you ask Sharif if they are serving American lobster or are ‘making due’ with local supply of the crustacean. The latter is definately something you might want to skip if they are out of their regular US source, trust me!  Otherwise the roll was delicious and the tangy sauce would surely complement well the native Maine varietal when it is back in stock. On the other hand, it surely shows they are doing a roaring business already and I’ll definately give them another try.

I will also try one of the many gelato trucks on my next visit to see how their cold delight stacks up against the original. eid-mubarak

In the meantime, I’d recommend The Outlet Village as a great excursion during the week long Eid holiday. You can always grab a shuttle bus if you don’t fancy the long drive. Here is the posted schedule.

Shop til you drop this Eid Al Adha !

Open 7 days a week from 10am – 10pm. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday they even stay open til midnight.

 

School starts at Sunmarke & Jumeirah International Nurseries too!

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Last week we were at Arcadia Prepatory for opening day. This week, two more wonderful schools threw open their doors to new students in JVT. We are delighted to share with you some photos of opening day at Sunmarke and Jumeirah International Nurseries, conveniently located within the campus of Sunmarke School.

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Nursery school section:

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We are getting details on the extracurricular programs at both Arcadia and Sunmarke which we will share with you next week. There will be plenty to keep all the neighborhood kids busy very soon!

 

* Photos provided courtesy of Sunmarke School

Hilton hotel in JVT

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Recent news reports have indicated that Nakheel has signed a deal with Hilton Worldwide to operate the planned hotel connected to our upcoming shopping mall Al Khail Avenue.

The 18 story, 256 room hotel will be a DoubleTree by Hilton and will include a restaurant, coffee shop, lounge, outdoor terrace, pool deck, gym.and leisure club.

Fun in the sun at JVT awaits!