Dubai. Passion and striving for perfection can manifest itself in many ways whether it be a custom-made Porsche 964 or the perfect burger.
This may seem an odd combination for many but not for Chef Sultan Chatila, the owner of the Eleven Green chain of gourmet burger restaurants, who seems to find many parallels between his two greatest loves of gourmet food and classic Porsches.
“I think the reason we’re at Icons of Porsche is because Porsche is the symbol of performance and in our craft, when we make our burgers, we try to follow the same procedures,” he said.
Aside from finishing third outright in the 2022 World Food Championship in Texas and winning the 2022 Best Burger in the UAE competition, Sultan also started restoring a Porsche 964, giving it a retro vibe from the 1970’s.
“Both are passion projects. My wife and I used to run a supper club six years ago which grew out of our passion for dining and that led us to creating a chain of four, soon to be five burger restaurants in the UAE which helped us win these prestigious awards.
“When I was building this car, I was trying to create an Eleven Green on wheels because I wanted something that will perform like I feel my burgers perform in terms of flavour and at the same time I wanted it to look amazing.”
Sultan’s Porsche 964 has been extensively modified to feature modern-day performance under a body that replicates the iconic 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS.
“For me, my Porsche was about that 1970s era meeting the performance of the early 90s with the 964.”
Given Sultan’s love for all things Porsche and the 911 in particular, there’s an assumption that the restaurant name is associated with his favourite car, but he explains that it’s purely co-incidental.
“The weird thing is that the name Eleven Green is not associated with my love for green Porsche 911s, luckily it has the same commonality but it was never the intention.
“Eleven was the shop number of my first location in Jumeriah, it was the food truck number at our Al Khawaneej location and we also signed the contract for the business on January 11, 2023, so everything was levitating towards 11. Green is in our DNA because it’s about zero waste and using freshly ground produce.”
“Eleven Green prides itself on only using premium ingredients including fresh beef ground daily along with freshly made buns. Everything is made on the day, so when we sell out, we sell out. Nothing is frozen and we don’t even own a freezer. To us, green represents freshness.”
Linking this theme into his classic Porsche, Sultan finished his 964 in Paint-to-Sample Olive Green with frosted gold Fuchs wheels on extended rims and Icons of Porsche was its first public outing with its next trip being to the motor registry.
“It's turned out better than I imagined. It’s been close to two years for this car and I’m not sure which has taken longer to establish, the business or restore the car but patience is a common trait between the restaurant and the restoration.”
And his next project? “Probably a 993 in Oak Green.”
.jpg/jcr:content/16x9.jpg)
Scene and Passion
