November 2015

bq | HOSPITALITY+TOURISM | DOHA CHEFS 63

QATAR

SEASONED OPINIONS

Qatar’s top chefs talk share insights about cuisines in Qatar, kitchen disasters and what food means to them By Khadiza Begum, Doha

Qatar is a country that has been blessed with rich culinary tradi-tions that are influenced both by its culture and its history. The basis of Qatari cuisine is Arabic, reworking traditional recipes from that cul-ture, but the culinary experience has emerged from its unique expo-sure to far wider sources. It has been heavily inspired by the sur-rounding regions, including Levan-tine, Iranian and Indian cuisines.

In Qatar, eating is still consid-ered to be an important social and family ritual, and it is customary for people to taste and share a large number of dishes during a meal. These dishes are prepared with a healthy blend of exotic scrumptious spices, flavourful herbs and fresh ingredients, which bring an incred-ibly diverse mixture of flavours and sensations in every nutritional bite.

Famous chefs from around the world are working in Doha, cre-atively utilising essen-tial local ingredients and combining tradi-tional Qatari dishes with international vari-ations that are resulting in an unforgettable and unique culinary fusion

Popular dishesThe most popular traditional dishes served in Qatari restaurants are seafood dishes, often involving lobster, crab, shrimp, tuna, kingfish and red snapper. The popularity of fish is also matched by local prefer-ences for lamb and mutton-based recipes that are often accompanied by yogurt.

Where traditional snacks are concerned, shawarma has proved to be the most popular. This can

bq-magazine.com

bq | HOSPITALITY+TOURISM | DOHA CHEFS64

KIM HYUNG GYUExecutive Chef, W Doha

If you had to cook a nice meal in 30 minutes, what would you cook?I’d cook a nice pasta dish with a simple cherry tomato, olive oil and garlic. That’s it, my children love it.

What do you think is the hardest dish to cook? For me, Korean food. Everyone expects me to cook Korean food because I am from South Korea, but actu-ally I have not been trained to cook Korean food in my life. It’s hard to live up to my mother’s expectations.

A positive attitude helps out with the long hours too. And of course passion; you need to love it. Being a chef is not a job, it’s a lifestyle.What is the longest you ever worked without a break in the kitchen? All I can say is since I started my career, I normally work around 14-16 hours a day. When I was working in London in Michelin star restaurants for instance, you start in the morning at 7, and finish at midnight, six days a week. Is that long enough?

What was your worst kitchen disaster? My first day in the kitchen, I had to make a chicken soup and a vegetable soup. During the service I put the vegetable soup with the chicken garnish, and for the chicken soup I put the vegetable garnish. The vegetar-ian guest certainly did not appreciate that.

What would you say are the best qualities one should have to become a good chef? Patience and endurance. A positive attitude helps out with the long hours too. And of course passion; you need to love it. Being a chef is not a job, it’s a lifestyle.

What do you love most about your job?What I love about my job is making my guests happy and to see them enjoy the food, appreciate the time and effort that we put into preparing their dish.

be lightly spiced grilled lamb or chicken, rolled in a pocket of Arabic bread and served with salad, pickles, lime juice and tahini. Falafel and sandwiches are other common snack choices, and are often accompanied by milkshakes and juice cocktails readily available in the many juice bars to be found throughout the country.

Eating outDoha has an incredibly diverse range of places to eat out, to suit all tastes and palates. What is clear in these outlets is the popularity of dishes from all around the globe. As Chef Mattias Roock of Marsa Malaz

Kempinski says, “Arabic cuisine – mixed grill, pasta with mushroom and chicken, Indian biryanis, ori-ental rice, and lentil soups are very popular dishes.”

“More and more inter-nationally renowned brands are opening up in this market and they are revolutionising local food with their new concepts”

The choice of different places to eat is frankly huge, with everything

from domestic street cafes to international diners being repre-sented on the culinary circuit. This expansion is primarily because, in addition to local and regional culinary influences, the relatively recent increase in the number of foreign workers in the country has led to Qatari eating habits being influenced by culinary traditions that truly span the globe. More and more international outlets and fran-chises are opening, especially fast food outlets, all popular with locals and expatriates alike.

And at the higher, more expen-sive end of the culinary experi-ence, there are now numerous

November 2015

bq | HOSPITALITY+TOURISM | DOHA CHEFS 65

HASSAN ABDALLAHExecutive Chef, Sharq Village And Spa

What do you love most about your job?I find food absolutely fascinating, the creative part of menus and cooking. To be working with talented ladies and gentlemen and to be part of The Ritz-Carl-ton Hotel Company.

I find food absolutely fascinating, the creative part of menus and cookingWhat was your worst kitchen disaster? I don’t consider them as kitchen disasters but chal-lenges; it is to know how to continually be relevant to the changing expectations of our customers. There is more competition now than ever in the food industry and it is one’s ability to customize the guest experience to truly understand their expressed and unexpressed wishes and needs.

What would you say are the best qualities one should have to become a good chef? In my view, it takes a certain passion for this type of field. One must love what they do, have passion about food. Being creative and there should be attention to detail from concept to delivery.

SANJEEV KAPOORMaster Chef, Signature By Sanjeev Kapoor

If you had to cook a nice meal in 30 minutes, what would you cook?30 minutes is a lot of time. So, I would probably cook 30 different dishes for 30 different people.

What do you think is the hardest dish to cook? What I really feel is if you work with a smile and love the person whom you are serving, there is no such dish which is hard to cook.

To become a good chef, I must say that one must treat people with warmth and respectWhat is the longest you ever worked without a break in the kitchen? Being a chef, and in this industry, there have been many times where I have worked without a break in the kitchen. With the recent and one of the most mem-orable one being when I was in Abu Dhabi preparing an exquisite menu for our beloved Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Do you do the cooking at home? Yes, sometimes. Though most of the times it’s Alyona, my better half, doing the cooking bit and I must say I love all her dishes. What was your worst kitchen disaster?

Lucky to not have experienced one yet.

What would you say are the best qualities one should have to become a good chef? To become a good chef, I must say that one must treat people with warmth and respect. And do not be dis-couraged by failures, failures are lessons and will help you value success even more. Believe in your dream and work hard to achieve it, no dream is too big.

What do you love most about your job?That I can reach the masses (and bring about changes as well) with the language of food.

bq-magazine.com

66 bq | HOSPITALITY+TOURISM | DOHA CHEFS

MATTIAS ROOCK Executive Chef, Marsa Malaz Kempinski

If you had to cook a nice meal in 30 minutes, what would you cook? A nice salad or pasta

What do you think is the hardest dish to cook? I find the dish that a person creates for the very first time is always the most difficult. After that, it always improves with practice.

I find the dish that a person creates for the very first time is always the most difficultWhat is the longest you ever worked without a break in the kitchen? 24 hours, it was on a New Year’s eve.

Do you do the cooking at home? Yes, I love to cook for my family, but often don’t find enough time to do it.

What was your worst kitchen disaster? Well, that occurred only a few days ago. We were in a real hurry to set up a buffet lunch, with only 20 minutes to go before we were due to open and admit

guests. One of our staff was so focused upon carrying a trolley with 30 to 40 plates of food on it, that he failed to notice an obstacle, tripped, and dropped the whole trolley on the floor. What would you say are the best qualities oneshould have to become a good chef? Passion

What do you love most about your job?I love the variety. My work is never boring.

MARCO CALCATERRA Executive Chef, Antica Pesa

If you had to cook a nice meal in 30 minutes, what would you cook? Pasta

What is the longest you ever worked without a break in the kitchen? I once worked for 17 hours straight, without a break, for MTV music in London.

Do you do the cooking at home? I cook a little bit at home but not much

I once worked for 17 hours straight, without a break, for MTV music in London. What was your worst kitchen disaster? A few days ago, we had no gas. None whatsoever. That was the worst night, and our only option was to use electric burners. There were 17 chefs working with only three burners. It was very confusing, and not an experi-ence we would ever want to repeat.

What would you say are the best qualities one should

have to become a good chef? Passion and passion. If you have these two vital ingredients, you cannot fail to be successful.

What do you love most about your job?I love the look of enjoyment on faces of the people in my restaurant when my food is served. I love to observe my customers closely, and their joy brings joy and happiness to me too.

November 2015

bq | HOSPITALITY+TOURISM | DOHA CHEFS 67

WILLIAM KHALAChef De Cuisine, The Ritz Carlton

If you had to cook a nice meal in 30 minutes, what would you cook? Fish. I would always choose locally sourced fish, hand fillet and pan roast it.

I love the daily oper-ations of the job. I am a great fan of ritual, routine, and order, but I also find my job challenging on a daily basis.

What do you think is the hardest dish to cook? The hardest dish to cook is the sim-plest one.

What is the longest you ever worked without a break in the kitchen? 38 hours, it was in Canada.

Do you do the cooking at home? Not so actually.

What was your worst kitchen disaster? One day, as we were preparing for a regular dinner service, I was sud-denly notified that a VVIP was due to arrive. I was given an extensive list of items of food that they preferred to eat, but was only given 15 minutes to complete the dishes. Everything turned out great in the end, but the short notice time made it a really stressful experience.

What do you love most about your job?I love the daily operations of the job. I am a great fan of ritual, rou-tine, and order, but I also find my job challenging on a daily basis.

world-class restaurants in Qatar, many located in the wide range of hotels that offer traditional local dishes alongside contemporary international favourites. Famous chefs from around the world are working in Doha, creatively utilis-ing essential local ingredients and combining traditional Qatari dishes with international variations that are resulting in an unforgettable and unique culinary fusion. Master chef Sanjeev Kapoor at Signature by Sanjeev Kapoor says, “Qatari cuisine is on the up. More and more internationally renowned brands are opening up in this market and they are revolutionising local food with their new concepts.”

Dependency on imported ingredientsQatar relies on imported ingredi-ents for almost all its food. “About 50 to 60 percent ingredients we use in our restaurants are imported, and if you import products you always have some challenges. Most of the items are imported by air, so sometimes we can face serious

issues with delay, and this poses significant challenges for chefs and restaurant owners,” says Roock.

“Qatari cuisine is on the up. More and more internationally renowned brands are opening up in this market and they are revolutionising local food with their new concepts.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t source enough ingredients from local Qatari markets. We have only five months of the annual season where we can get local products because of adverse weather conditions. We would love to have the possibility to use more Qatari products, and work more together with local farmers to develop certain products for us. At the W, we will start using local produce starting this month and planning to expand from one outlet to the others. We are very excited

about the opportunities to develop these products. Being a chef the best thing you can do is use local and fresh produce in its season,” says Chef Kim Hyung Gyu at the W Doha.

He goes on to add, “We do face challenges. The Doha market is quite small compared to other markets in the region, like Dubai. In a few years or so, as many other hotels start to open here and demand increases, products and ingredients will hopefully become more accessible.”

However, with so many tempta-tions from the global culinary spec-trum, locals and visitors to the coun-try alike are truly spoiled for choice when it comes to indulging in their passion for food. And with so many options, the future of cuisine in Qatar is a tasty one.

bq magazine is retailed at all the leading bookstores and supermarkets in Qatar.To subscribe, visit bq-magazine.com or magzter.com for the digital edition.