Lovin Dublin is expanding to Dubai with the launch of Lovin Dubai, a Gulf version of the popular Dublin food site.

Lovin Dubai is the Lovin Dublin founder Niall Harbison's second attempt at expanding its brand. Lovin Berlin was launched in 2014 but failed to gain traction, possibly due to the lack of insider content and the niche Irishness that made Lovin Dublin a success across social media in Ireland.

The company said it has learned from Lovin Berlin and has a team in place to share food reviews from Dubai. Lovin Dublin’s Graham Kinsella added: “Dubai is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The whole MENA region is only taking off digitally now, ad spend is on a rapid increase. We wanted to get an early start and build some credentials.”

The site launches on September 1 and will be promoted on the ground by Richard Fitzgerald.

Lovin Dublin began as a personal blog of entrepreneur Niall Harbison (Simply Zesty and PR Slides) and became popular due to its positive Dublin content and hipster-friendly food reviews and tips.

In Association with

Lovin Dublin founder, Niall Harbison

Harbison’s sometimes controversial style of editorial has also landed him in hot water occasionally. In December 2014, Lovin Dublin was hit with an injunction following a negative and inaccurate review of Kokoro Sushi Bento on South William Street. The court-ordered injunction called for the review to be taken down and removed from all social media. Defamation papers were then served on December 22 and Lovin Dublin followed with an apology on the website.

Lovin Berlin was an attempt to harness the Lovin Dubin effect in the German city but the site fell flat. Kinsella said: “With Berlin we sent team members short term. Our learning was you need to be on the ground here. It is very difficult to write passionate content if you don't know a city well. Once we have the right people there we will relaunch with gusto.”

Lovin Dublin said they are considering different GCC countries as part of its expansion and plan to use their other website, Lovin Trends, as a test bed to find the next city to roll out to.

Lovin Dublin’s niche articles include ‘11 Places to go Knacker Drinking on Good Friday.’ Don’t expect more of the same in tee-total Dubai. “We have to watch the swear words in Dubai,” Kinsella said, although they promise to continue with their tongue-in-cheek approach to journalism.