Could this be the Eid Al Fitr that we’re all eating brisket? Most likely, if Abdulla Al-Janahi has anything to do with it. At 17, the Emirati has an unusual iftar product that fits right in with our love for hard-to-find experiences: Texas-style smoked Wagyu brisket.

Two years since he launched Abduls BBQ as a drive-through business, Al-Janahi has launched his first menu for Ramadan and Eid. It features sliced whole briskets complete with potato buns, homemade pickles and two types of sauces, priced at Dh450 per kilo.

“A whole brisket when cooked is about two or three kilos. Sliced, it can serve about eight to ten people, so it’s perfect for gatherings,” he says.

Brisket is a cut from the animal’s lower chest area. With a significant amount of connective tissue, it’s best suited to slow cooking methods like smoking, braising or slow roasting. When cooked properly, brisket becomes tender and flavourful, making it a barbecue favourite. Al-Janahi uses prime Australian Wagyu with a marble score of 7. This means it has a luxurious amount of fat evenly distributed throughout the muscle fibres, which bastes the meat from within, preventing it from drying out and retaining the buttery mouthfeel.

The teenager stumbled onto brisket when looking for an alternative to steak during the pandemic. “I don’t really like steak medium rare, so I started looking for alternatives,” he says. He was drawn to brisket, but couldn’t find a restaurant that made it the way he wanted.

One thing led to another, and he was soon making his own brisket on a smoker his father bought him, using methods he’d learnt from YouTube videos. “The first few really weren’t edible. They were leathery and chewy,” he confesses. But as his food got better, his early customers – his family – encouraged him to keep going.

So while his classmates were spending their weekends doomscrolling, he launched a weekend drive-through business from Dubai’s Al Quoz – in November 2022, at the age of 15. He started with pre-orders because each batch takes three days, from marination to smoking for up to 16 hours before it’s ready to serve. That’s not counting the time spent making his sides (coleslaw and pickles), and the accompanying sauces. Of course, everything needed to be done after school.

The concept fired up Dubai’s food scene and he hasn’t been able to keep pace with demand, even after moving operations to Bahraini Kebab. Although the restaurant is run by his uncle, Al-Janahi pays him a percentage of what he makes. He offers the brisket to inhouse diners himself and also plates and serves it. Along the way he has also locked down a supplier, so he doesn’t need to buy from supermarkets anymore.

This Ramadan season has been a bit of a test case, he says, in that it will help determine what direction to take. “I want to see how the orders for full briskets are going. Then I'll choose whether to open regularly every weekend or continue just serving whole briskets.” It’s a step towards his next goal. In his best month, he turned a profit of $5,000 – but business is up and down.

Al-Janahi finishes high school this summer and wants to invest in a food truck to cater for parties and events. A regular delivery service is another possibility.

He aims to become a pilot or an engineer, and doesn’t see why he can’t also run his brisket business on the side. “I don't know where I’ll be in 10 years, but I hope I own couple of chains of restaurants, focused on smoked briskets. But still running under the name Abduls BBQ.”

Pre-order via Instagram: @abduls.bbq