For those in the know, it’s “Sheikh Nahyan’s tent”, and the idea of catching a glimpse of Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, on any given night during Ramadan is enough of a draw to make it one of the most popular venues in town.
But the Layali El Hilmiya tent, erected annually in the courtyard of Abu Dhabi’s Le Royal Méridien for 10 years in a row now, has established a solid reputation for being one of the largest, busiest and most elaborately decorated spaces in the capital to wile away the hours after iftar. It is the place to see and be seen in Abu Dhabi.
More than that, it is also Sheikh Nahyan’s home away from home during Ramadan, and he is known to host nightly suhoor gatherings for invited guests.
“Last year, Sheikh Nahyan joined us for 29 out of the 30 days of Ramadan. We expect him every evening, and we prepare for his arrival and hope to impress him every single night,” says Justin Galea, director of food and beverage at the hotel.
And in a scenario replicated at hundreds of hotels across the UAE, staff have been working hard to get everything ready.
That includes a special table, for Sheikh Nahyan’s guests. At about 25 metres long, the table is almost as wide as the tent.
During iftar, the table set for 120 guests sits mostly empty. As soon as the iftar rush is over, a cold meze is set, with the first guests arriving as early as 9pm.
“It requires a lot of set-up beforehand but to be honest, it’s the highlight of our night,” says Mr Galea. “It’s stressful in the sense that we want it to be perfect every night and we have set a high standard for ourselves, because he is treating us as a reflection of himself. This is where he invites his friends, dignitaries, ministers, politicians, ambassadors, celebrities, anyone and everyone sits at that table.”
The preparation begins four months before the start of the holy month, when management gathers at the hotel, which is owned by Sheikh Nahyan, and begin brainstorming ideas.
“Designing and building a Ramadan tent is exciting, stressful, fun, hectic, intense — every emotion that you can go through,” says Mr Galea. “It doesn’t matter how far in advance you start, everything comes down to the last hours, and you don’t even know when your first night will be until the night before, when Ramadan is officially announced.”
This year, official work on the tent began on May 13 and took 25 days to complete. The challenge is that everything has to be done on site. The tent is too large to be erected elsewhere and then transported.
Suresh Bedi set up his industrial sewing machine in the newly-erected tent, and he sewed, hemmed and trimmed the many metres of gold satin and white tulle that drape the walls to cover the entire tent in the lush fabric.
The tailor from Kerala says: “No fingerprints, no mistakes. Everything must be perfect.”
With such an important nightly guest, it’s not surprising perfection is the ultimate goal.
*See the Time-Lapse video here: Le Royal Meridien's Ramadan preparations
*See how the tent was assembled in pictures.
hkalaf@thenational.ae