One of the city's premier hotels celebrated the New Year with 50kg of roe and a Guinness World Record.
Dubai isn’t exactly known for being understated. For every shawarma stand and souk you find in this city, you’ll also find an ultra-luxury shopping mall and opulent resort — like Atlantis, The Palm, built on a series of human-made islands arranged in the shape of a palm tree. And this year, they’ve outdone themselves.
At Atlantis' famously over-the-top New Year’s Gala, which features a massive beachfront feast and fireworks over the Arabian gulf, the property broke a Guinness World Record that had been set just down the road a year earlier.
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In a collaboration with North American-based AmStur Caviar, the Palm team presented a serving of caviar more than double the size of the previous record-holder (the 17kg tin that had broken the original record, back in 2016, was dreamed up by one of Dubai’s other super-luxury hotels, the Burj Al Arab).
Weighing in at 50 kilograms, or more than 110 pounds, the nearly three-foot-wide tin contained $97,255 worth of caviar — all of which was consumed handily before the first dawn of 2018, as over 6,500 guests reveled in the record-breaking moment. The property had custom mother-of-pearl spoons made specifically for the caviar binge.
Just as impressive as the certified-organic Sturgeon caviar within was the tin itself, a stainless steel compartment with a base shaped like a massive, gleaming black diamond. In case you were wondering, yes, they did give it its own name: Cleito, the mythical Queen Mother of the island of Atlantis. The combined value of the tin and the caviar within is estimated at over $130,000.
Upon confirming that a new record had been set, the Guinness official reportedly said: “It was exciting to see another Guinness World Records title being broken here in Dubai — you are officially amazing!”