Latest news with #SevillaRestaurant
Web Release
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Web Release
Eid Dining & Weekly Culinary Experiences at Al Raha Beach Resort & Spa
Al Raha Beach Resort & Spa unveils a delicious calendar of dining experiences and family-friendly offers, combining festive flavours, laid-back luxury, and beachfront dining in one stunning destination. From Arabic nights and roast dinners to chocolate afternoon teas and BBQs under the stars, the resort's diverse venues offer more reasons than ever to drop in or check in this Eid, and beyond. Kids Go Free: Eid Staycation + Festive Brunch at Sevilla From 1 June to 31 August, families can enjoy the Kids Go Free Eid Staycation, which includes: Daily breakfast for the entire family Free Yas Island theme park tickets for children Kids stay and dine free when accompanied by parents Full access to the beach, pools, wellness centre, and kids club For Eid weekend, Sevilla Restaurant will host a festive Eid brunch (AED 190/person), complete with traditional Arabic and international dishes, live music, and kid-friendly activities — from foam parties to cultural crafts. Book the Eid Package Weekly Dining Highlights Guests can start the weekend with a relaxed Family Lunch at Sevilla (AED 170), available every Saturday and Sunday from 1 PM to 4 PM, or dive into themed evenings with Roast Tuesdays and Arabic Nights (both AED 190), taking place every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30 PM to 10:30 PM. La Piscine, the resort's poolside dining destination, comes alive every Saturday and Sunday evening from 7 PM with a laid-back BBQ by the Pool, perfect for sunset dining. Those with a sweet tooth can escape to Café Mozart for a Chocolate Afternoon Tea (2–6 PM daily | AED 160 for two), while Azur Restaurant offers a refined three-course wine-paired menu for AED 375 per person. Happy Hour at Black Pearl runs daily from 12 PM to 7 PM — perfect for sunset cocktails or a pre-dinner unwind. Make a Day (or Weekend) of It With so much on offer, turning a dinner reservation into a full escape is easy. This season, Al Raha Beach Resort & Spa is also home to a series of summer staycation packages, including: Summer Gate deal (save up to 45%) Adventures Escape to Yas Island with park access and breakfast to Yas Island with park access and breakfast Kids Go Free to Yas offer, where children enjoy complimentary meals, stays, and entry offer, where children enjoy complimentary meals, stays, and entry UFC Fight Night Packages including tickets to Etihad Arena Prefer a day visit? Guests can enjoy beach and pool access from AED 200 on weekdays (AED 100 redeemable), or sign the kids up for seasonal fun with weekend activities like foam parties, painting competitions, and the resort's dedicated summer camp running through the holidays
New York Times
12-03-2025
- General
- New York Times
The Artifacts of New York's Pandemic Era
The vintage aura of Sevilla Restaurant — the servers in bow ties, the leather booths, the glow of lanterns — reflects a bygone era of the West Village in Manhattan, where the establishment was founded almost a century ago. But alongside those period details, there is one dissonant design element that evokes a far more recent moment in time: clear plastic screens dividing the restaurant's rear tables. 'The partitions came up during the pandemic,' said Miguel Lloves, 47, whose family took over the business in the 1960s. 'I did ask my dad if we'd want to take them down. He didn't let me. Somehow, in his mind, he thinks it's going to come back.' Scan your eyes around New York City, and you'll spot them everywhere, these artifacts of the pandemic, lingering through intent or indifference. These remnants of that anxious time now serve as some of the only public reminders of those deadly years. Weathered signs mandating mask use, QR codes posted around restaurant tabletops, faded social distancing stickers plastered on the ground — taken together, they form an urban fossil record of a place that has otherwise largely moved on. 'Forget removing the gum on the sidewalk,' said Patrick Willingham, the executive director of the Public Theater in Manhattan. 'The stickers are permanent. They'll never get them off the ground.' Take a walk through the Queens neighborhoods surrounding Elmhurst Hospital — the epicenter of the city's pandemic response — where a 'Stop the Spread' sign still hangs prominently near the entrance of the emergency room. At Hector Escobar Hair Studio, a salon nearby on 37th Avenue, a 'Certificate of Disinfection' is centrally displayed on the door. To the south, at Fay Da, a Chinese bakery on Broadway, an 'Affirmation of Compliance With Workplace Vaccination Requirements' is posted on the storefront glass. And at Khao Kang, a Thai restaurant on Woodside Avenue, plump bottles of Purell rest on each of the six dining tables inside. 'I think it's a good reminder for people,' said Joe Secanky, a nurse from Milwaukee, who pumped sanitizer onto his hands one recent afternoon before sharing a fiery spread of food with his wife, Edna. Like the bottles of sanitizer, certain remnants of the pandemic have maintained some utility in the present day. Mighty Oak Roasters, in Astoria, Queens, is one of many businesses around the city that has continued to operate a sidewalk window for takeout orders. 'It's great for people with dogs or strollers and people who ride their bikes,' said Peter Moses, a co-founder of the coffee shop, which keeps a small sign out front telling customers that masks are still appreciated. (At least one staffer, Mr. Moses said, is immunocompromised.) New Yorkers can also unearth traces of the pandemic in their homes. Alongside the typical detritus — stacks of Covid tests, boxes of gloves, Pelotons — are often things imbued with more meaning. Mr. Moses, for example, has kept a half-used bottle of hand sanitizer from his friends' wedding in 2021 on a living room shelf. Its label has a timely message: 'Share love, not germs.' He thought it was an object worth remembering. Likewise, some New Yorkers have tried to turn the vestiges of Covid into something beautiful. Those ordering from the bar these days at Night of Joy, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, face a decorative latticework spanning the length of the counter. During the height of the pandemic, the structure had a huge plastic sheet stretched across it. 'I agonized for weeks back then about how to make the most beautiful sneeze guard I could,' said Jen Armstrong, the owner of the bar. With the help of a local artist, Alexander Barton, she realized her vision, purchasing gardening trellises made of willow from Home Depot and painting them gold. As the worst of the pandemic wound down, Ms. Armstrong removed the plastic sheets, but kept the barriers. She realized they had become a part of her bar's aesthetic and a conversation starter. She had received compliments from customers. And though the trellises have worn down over the years — 'Drunk people like to touch fragile things,' she said — she would now rather renovate or replace them than remove them altogether. 'It became a happy accident,' she said. 'I'm proud of myself for taking such a horrible object and making it into something that, you know, means something else.' The most visible traces of the pandemic across the city, though, may be the masks that still dangle from some peoples' faces. The days of mandates and widespread usage are, of course, long over. A sign that remains posted near the entrance of the subway at 40th Street and Broadway in Manhattan — 'Face coverings are required' — goes entirely ignored by the throngs of riders who pass by each day. And yet it has remained relatively common to see a few people wearing masks in a crowded train car or indoor space — a practice that was basically nonexistent in the city before the pandemic, aside from the occasional tourist. A number of the city's performance spaces — including the Public Theater, where Mr. Willingham is the executive director — have even continued to offer occasional shows where masks are required. And when they are not, Mr. Willingham said, there are still always some mask users in the audience. 'It's become part of the landscape,' he said. They've become a subtle part of the landscape, too, at Sevilla Restaurant. Since the end of the pandemic, the restaurant's in-house guitar player, a musician in his 70s, has continued wearing his mask while singing songs around the dining room. He does it for his safety, Mr. Lloves said, but it has caused occasional displeasure among certain outspoken guests. 'He's a constant reminder, and some people don't like that,' Mr. Lloves said. 'I think it disturbs them. They almost don't want to be reminded. They'd rather not think about it.'
