Shams El-Mutwalli Dubai

DUBAI: Co-founders of creative dining platform INKED, Kenza and Patrick Jarjour are redefining food as a form of artistic expression once more with their latest endeavour, moby, a vegan sushi café based in Dubai’s arts and culture district Alserkal Avenue.

The grab-and-go eatery opened in Sept. 2021, and the concept behind it aims “to show people that plant-based food can also taste great,” can be good for you, and for the planet says Patrick, pointing out how customers who are not vegan are still drawn to moby.

The founders asserted that moby goes beyond just serving good food to their customers, the café also aims to promote a more sustainable lifestyle along with their extensive Japanese inspired menu.

They also shared how everything they do is rooted in passion, another being their passion for Japanese food.

The duo was interested in exploring the relationship between a plant-based diet and Japanese food that may not immediately come to mind, according to Kenza.

“When you do research, Japanese food is actually quite vegan friendly. There is so much that is already done that is vegetarian and vegan. So it was not as much of a challenge as we thought because its so rich in taste and flavour,” she said.

moby’s menu crafted by INKED’s executive chef Hadrien Villedieu, integrates vegetables prepared using Japanese techniques to encapsulate the “essence” of the cuisine. They offer their own take on dishes like maki, their katsu sando, onigirazu and a range of beverages like matcha lattes, sencha-plum iced tea.

Customers looking to try the café’s rolls can expect to find new variations like Mushroom Lover Tempura maki, Dynamite Cauliflower maki, Smoked Jackfruit, and more made using ingredients sourced from supplier 1004 Gourmet.

Amidst Dubai’s food scene that is heavily saturated with Japanese restaurants, moby stands out for their creative and colourful menu open to everyone—vegan or not.

“We are all slowly reducing our consumption of meat and dairy, and the idea for us is to offer something accessible, fresh, nice, and we don’t want you to feel like you’re necessarily eating vegan today, you’re just having a nice meal,” Kenza told Arab News Japan.

moby was strategically placed inside the Avenue as it aligns with their sustainability mission exemplified by both founders’ active involvement in the discussion.

Patrick spoke at Expo Dubai 2020 about the future of food and shared with Arab News Japan how moby ties into that as it is a “platform that can help voice the main challenges we have today with food,” citing various examples like food waste, animal agricultural, and environmental issues.

Both Kenza and Patrick are continually looking to offer unique culinary experiences and customers can get a taste of that while dining at either moby or their burger restaurant INKOGNITO.