Fitch Assigns Pitayas a BBB Rating

Fitch Restaurant Ratings says in a special report on pitayas, a fruit grown mostly in southeast Asia and the Americas, that the so-called dragon fruit is pretty good but not great.

The dragon fruit is sold all over the UAE, presumably because there is high demand from Filipino and other southeast Asian expatriates. It is a large fruit – a bit larger than a big mango – and has a distinctive bright red/pink outer shell. The pitaya is eaten by first cutting it in half, revealing a solid white pulp speckled with tiny black seeds. The pulp can then be consumed with a spoon (much like with a kiwi) or cut up into smaller slices and separated from the rind, which is easy to do.

The fruit isn't too bad. It's watery with a slightly sour-sweet aftertaste. Its flavor, however, is not very strong, and that's the fruit's biggest drawback. It simply doesn't taste like much. Hence it's just okay, and gets a BBB rating.

"Given lower expected taste volumes in 2009, dragon fruit will be highly reliant on tapping the margins of the taste spectrum and re-positioning itself among other fruits to maintain good taste sensations," says Joe Tastebud, Senior Director in Fitch's Food Institutions team.

The dragon fruit:

Fitch Rates Café de la Paix 'AA'

Fitch Ratings has today assigned the Abu Dhabi-based Café de la Paix (CDLP) a Long-term Food Issuer Default Rating (FIDR) at 'AA' with a Stable Outlook.

Café de la Paix's rating reflects Fitch's view that there is an extremely high probability of good dining experiences at this local eatery. This is based on a strong history of providing excellent food, an easy-to-get-to location and relatively low prices.

The restaurant serves a variety of French and French-inspired fare, and all of it can confidently be called scrumptious, if not superb. The crèpes (both sweet and savory) will satisfy you if you're in the mood for a light meal, while the salads, sandwiches and pasta dishes are all excellent choices for a bigger sit-down dinner. The caesar chicken salad is highly recommended.

Café de la Paix, founded in 1998 in Abu Dhabi by a Sudanese woman, imports many of its ingredients from France. Surprisingly, they manage to keep it all fresh and delicious en route. It's some of the best food available in the capital in its price range (meals are around Dh50; locations are at Wahda Mall and Marina Mall). In a word: go.

Map is here:


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Fitch Assigns 'A-' Rating to Cosi

Fitch Ratings has today assigned Cosi an 'A-' rating. The Outlook is Stable.

As a lunch place, Cosi is just okay. It has soups (they change every day, but most are good), sandwiches (go for the TBM or Tuscan Pesto Chicken first), and flatbread pizza (oily, but hits the spot sometimes). The salads are passable, too.

Though Cosi has locations all over the world, the restaurant aims a step or two higher than the average slophouse, priding itself on its bread, a flat-ish roll baked up on location. Thing is, the bread ain't the best thing since, uh, sliced bread, even if it beats a Big Mac roll. Bottom line: meh.

In sum, the upside potential for Cosi's ratings is currently limited given its bad dining risk profile. Downside potential could arise from the failure to deliver good food on time.

Meals are about Dh30 a person. For delivery in Abu Dhabi, call 02 443 7605. You can also look at the menu online.

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Fitch Rates Garden Coffe[sic] Shop 'A'

Fitch Ratings has today assigned Garden Coffee[sic] Shop in Abu Dhabi an 'A' rating. While Garden is mainly a shisha place--food can be had by ordering from outside establishments--it is a justifiably popular café with people in the neighborhood despite the obvious-yet-in-the-end-charming misspelling of "coffee" on its large red-and-white sign.

Garden's shisha is not the best in the world (or in Abu Dhabi, for that matter), and shish quality can vary considerably from night to night, ranging from hard-to-draw-on with minimal smokiness to an easy inhaling experience with thick, rich smoke. Still, it is a cheap and comfortable spot: the Dh10 shish is definitely worth the price.

"Garden's shisha highlights its continued strength in challenging global eating conditions and its relative resilience, so far, to the tastiness crunch," says J.T. Fitch, Head of Emerging Vegetables in Fitch's ratings team. "Nevertheless, Garden faces a challenging near-term outlook given the variable quality of its offerings."

The shish:


Hamdi, the Garden Coffe[sic] Shop shishmaster!



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Tastiness Crisis Raises Spectre of Downgrades: Fitch

Fitch Ratings says today that capacity shutdowns in the taste and waitressing sectors, as well as declining food output and a slowdown in meal satisfaction, are painting a bleak 2009 demand picture for UAE taste experience producers. Against depressed demand and this uncertain economic backdrop, volatility in scrumptiousness and deliciousness will present additional challenges for UAE restaurants.

Given the sudden and pronounced nature of the downturn, near-term visibility on restaurant conditions and gastronomy guidance for cyclical sub-segments of the industry (Ethiopian, Filipino, Tex-Mex fusion, Asian taste-plosion, french fries) is very limited. The agency views the downside rating pressure for food issuers exposed to these specific sub-sectors as high should gustatory and/or economic conditions deteriorate beyond levels currently envisaged.

Fitch Assigns Ya Zaein an 'A+' Rating

Fitch Ratings has today assigned Abu Dhabi-based Ya Zaein (YZ) a Long-term foreign food Issuer Default Rating and senior unsecured rating of 'A+'. The agency has simultaneously given Ya Zaein a Stable Outlook.

The rating reflects Ya Zaein's strong delivery of consistent lunch sandwich and pizza offerings from a brick oven. While Ya Zaein is hardly on the cutting edge of culinary innovation, it is both cheap and satisfying. Recommended are the labneh falafel sandwich (ask for a "big" one), the tomato and cheese sandwich and anything with mortadella in it. The tuna pizza is also said to be tasty.

Here's a pic of the labneh falafel, ready to be devoured:

And the goodness inside:

This is not a place to take a date or your mother, but it is a reliable, no-frills lunch spot that you'll be going back to often if you live or work nearby.

Meals cost Dh10. Delivery is available at 02 445 4008. Here is the menu.

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Fitch Rates Oasis Chinese 'CCC+'

Fitch Ratings has today assigned Abu Dhabi-based Oasis Chinese a Long-term Food Issuer Rating of 'CCC+'. The Outlook is Stable.

The rating reflects Oasis's poor offerings across its menu, including watery, sickly-sweet noodle dishes and oily egg rolls. The rating also takes into account the bloated feeling diners experience after meals and the almost universal regret expressed upon forking over Dh20 for another bad meal. With the much better Ahmed Al Arabi restaurant right next door, the restaurant's viability as a regular meal option has been severely compromised.

Although Oasis has been affected by several adverse shocks this year, the agency sees them as within the tolerance of its ratings rather than warranting negative rating action.

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