Fairmont The Palm, Dubai gets a Canadian executive chef

Alain Gobeil, new executive chef at Fairmont The Palm, Dubai.

 I've only ever eaten a pizza poolside at Fairmont The Palm, Dubai, but it was delicious, and I've always meant to go back and have the lobster burger at Seagrill on 25° Restaurant and Lounge.

Maybe I'll hurry that plan along now that a fellow Canuck has been named executive chef. Alain Gobeil has had a pretty cool - not to mention international - two-decade career, working on three continents.

He graduated from the  Institut de Tourisme et d’Hôtellerie du Quebec, with stints at the Fairmont Château Laurier, Ottawa, and Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, Montréal. Moving back and forth between Canada and the UAE, he worked on opening teams for the the company's two previous properties in the UAE: Fairmont Dubai and Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, with stints at The Address Downtown Dubai and The Address Dubai Mall in recent years.

Early on he trained under the famed French Roux brothers - Albert and Michel - during his time at their two Michelin-star Le Gavroche restaurant in London. He worked out in British Columbia at the Fairmont Château Whistler and at the Four Seasons Resort Whistler, as well at the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman and Four Seasons Sharm El Sheikh.

Gobeil now oversees six outlets as part of the new gig, as well as the hotel's plans to launch some new F&B, according to general manager Mark Sawkins.