A young Arab chef melds traditional Middle East food ingredients with modern techniques

Born and raised in the UAE, Haddad’s passion for cooking started when he was only 4 years old. (Supplied)
Short Url
Updated 21 May 2021
Follow

A young Arab chef melds traditional Middle East food ingredients with modern techniques

  • Solemann Haddad is making the most of his experiences in Japan and roots in Lebanon and Syria’s culinary traditions
  • The French-Syrian chef’s cooking is decidedly high-end and shows an obsessive attention to detail and technique

DUBAI: Smoked shishito hummus? Check. Cured hamachi, mandarin and zaatar? Check. With these fusion dishes and many more in the offing, a young French-Syrian chef, who has led one of the most successful restaurants in Dubai, is raring to go down the revolutionary road as far as cooking is concerned.

Using local regional products such as dukka (a nut and spice mix), zaatar (based on thyme) and muhammara (a dip made mainly of red peppers), and ingredients such as shishito (another type of pepper) and hamachi (a Japanese fish), 24-year-old Solemann Haddad is shaping the offering in his hometown.

His goal is to meld traditional ingredients with modern techniques.

Born and raised in the UAE, Haddad’s passion for cooking started when he was only 4 years old, when he would steal his brother’s cookbook and lock himself in the kitchen to bake cookies and omelets with his mother’s help.

“That was my first-ever memory with food,” he told Arab News. “It was like making potions, with a different outcome every time. I found that very interesting as a kid.”

The path to realizing his ambitions has not been easy. After studying international relations in university, he found himself frustrated and lacking direction.

“I did not enjoy university at all, although I had good grades,” Haddad said. “I had panic attacks every night.”

Conversations with his father about his future profession in cooking led to dead ends. “My dad, and many Arab men from his generation, would question the idea of a man becoming a chef,” he said. “The idea of being a chef was so far-fetched to him, but it has more to do with the old-school culture.”

Still, Haddad was not ready to give up on his calling. One day, four weeks before his final university exams, he made the jump. He took money from his father and got on the first flight to London, where he stayed at a friend’s house. “I told my father I wouldn’t come back until he accepted the fact that I was going to be a chef,” he said.

“So, there was an unspoken agreement: He would send me to culinary school, and I’d come back and finish university. And that’s what I did.”

Haddad attended two cordon bleu culinary schools in Japan and London over a period of 10 months, while juggling internships at Michelin-starred restaurants. After returning to Dubai, he completed university in 2019 and started consulting for restaurants on the side, providing advice on menus and ingredients.

It was while working at a Michelin-starred restaurant in London, where he tasted every dish to further his learning curve, that he had an epiphany. “I tasted something with mushrooms and thought to myself, ‘I never thought food could taste this good’,” Haddad said.

“It’s like I was seeing a new color. Then I realized the possibilities. My eyes opened, and it changed my life. It was the most impactful moment in my schooling years.”

Back in Dubai, Haddad started working as sous-chef at Inked, a self-described food and music cooperative, for a few months. During his time at the restaurant, he created and served 25 new menu items a month. Then in March last year he was let go due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lockdown soon followed, with six months of forced rest. “I didn’t even crack an egg,” he said. “I took a vacation because I had been working intensely for three years, so it forced me to relax.”

THENUMBER

$136,000-340,000 - Average cost of opening a small, independent restaurant in Dubai.

The downtime proved beneficial, as the young chef soon started broadcasting homemade videos on Instagram Live and developing recipes for fun. For him, it was much-needed research and development.

His cooking is decidedly high end and shows an obsessive attention to detail and technique derived from Haddad’s experiences in Japan, roots in Lebanon and Syria’s proud culinary traditions, and influences from India. Is this fusion personified?

"I always say my life is fusion because I'm just cooking what I grew up eating. My mother was French, so I used to eat French food, but I would also eat shawarma with my father, and Syrian/Lebanese food with my grandmother,” Haddad said.

“My life has been centered on having no fixed cuisine so the way the dishes come out is organic and it's what makes sense to me.”

His next break came when Rami Farook, the owner of Maisan15, a restaurant and gallery, suggested they form a partnership to open a restaurant in an art gallery in Dubai’s hip Alserkal Avenue.

“There was neither a kitchen nor gas. I thought it was a bit crazy, but the more I thought about it, the more I saw it as an opportunity and, within a few hours, I was convinced,” Haddad said.

In 30 days, a kitchen was built from scratch, and Warehouse16 was launched in mid-September 2020.

“Everything was smooth sailing, and we were doing very well,” he said. “We were fully booked from the first to the last dinner.”

At the restaurant, Haddad combined dishes based on Japanese kaiseki — a formal, traditional multi-course Japanese dinner — with local Middle Eastern ingredients. He credits Misbah Chowdhury, a childhood friend and partner at Warehouse16, who is also its operations and social-media marketing manager, with making the venture a success.

“We were always very aggressive on sales and social media,” Haddad said. “Many restaurants leave things to fate, but this helped us out a lot in the beginning when we didn’t have a fan base.”

Haddad says he is meticulous in both cooking and presentation. He will serve a dish only if it both looks and tastes good, dedicating therefore 51 percent of his effort to flavor and 49 percent to plating. The results are dishes of artistic beauty.

“The visual aspects and the flavor are almost as important as each other,” he told Arab News.

Such a mindset translated into a surge in success. Warehouse16 generated more than a year’s planned revenue in half that time. “It exploded in five months,” Haddad said. “We were very humbled and pleasantly surprised.”

Despite its economic ups and downs, Dubai is home to a lot of prosperous people with money to spend. A meal chez Haddad is likely to come in at Dh400 to Dh500 a head, and that can include a seven-course tasting menu.

Since that successful opening, however, the pandemic has intervened. The restaurant has had to shut down due to license complications arising from new COVID-19 regulations. In the meantime, Haddad is conducting a number of pop-ups across Dubai.

“The goal for me is to either open the best restaurant in the world in Dubai or die trying,” he said. “There’s no middle ground.”

He speaks of many in the industry who wrongly believe Dubai’s food scene solely focuses on franchising international concepts, expressing no faith in the city they operate in.

“There’s so much potential (in Dubai) because the food scene doesn’t exist yet. It’s developing, so now’s the time to put your chips in. The market is so young.”   

-------------------

Twitter: @CalineMalek


Bella Hadid turns spotlight onto powerful Ms. Rachel poem

Updated 08 June 2025
Follow

Bella Hadid turns spotlight onto powerful Ms. Rachel poem

DUBAI: American Dutch Palestinian supermodel Bella Hadid has shared a powerful poem by popular children’s educator and YouTuber Rachel Griffin Accurso, known globally as Ms. Rachel, amplifying its message of hope and solidarity with Gaza.

The poem, titled “The People Were Brave,” went viral on social media for its stirring call to action urging people to show bravery and use their voices for good.

“The leaders were mostly silent. They were scared of what they might lose. The celebrities were mostly silent. They were scared of what they might lose. The media was mostly silent. They were scared of what they might lose. But the people were not silent. They were brave,” the poem begins.

“So never stop speaking up for those in need. Never wait for the world. It was ordinary people that became extraordinary. And changed everything. And moved us all. And saved us all,” it ends.

Last week, Ms. Rachel made headlines when she said she was willing to jeopardize her career to advocate for Palestinian children suffering under the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

She said she had been targeted by online campaigns and faced calls for government investigation after voicing support for children affected by war in Gaza and elsewhere.

Despite growing criticism from some pro-Israel groups and conservative media, in a recent interview with WBUR, a Boston-based public radio station, she said she remained defiant.

“I would risk everything — and I will risk my career over and over to stand up for children,” she said.

“It’s all about the kids for me. I wouldn’t be Ms. Rachel if I didn’t deeply care about all kids.”

The YouTube star added a recent meeting with Palestinian mothers whose children remain trapped in Gaza had had a profound effect on her: “When you sit with a mother who’s FaceTiming her boys in Gaza who don’t have food, and you see that anguish, you ask yourself: What more can I do?”

A former teacher in New York, Ms Rachel said her work had always been rooted in the principle that all children, regardless of nationality or background, deserved dignity, safety, and access to basic needs.

“That’s the basis of everything for me — children are equal,” she said. 


Petals and thorns: India’s Booker prize author Banu Mushtaq

Updated 24 min 58 sec ago
Follow

Petals and thorns: India’s Booker prize author Banu Mushtaq

  • Mushtaq won the coveted literature prize as the first author writing in Kannada — an Indian regional language
  • As a young girl worried about her future, she said she started writing to improve her “chances of marriage”

HASSAN, India: All writers draw on their experience, whether consciously or not, says Indian author Banu Mushtaq — including the titular tale of attempted self-immolation in her International Booker Prize-winning short story collection.
Mushtaq, who won the coveted literature prize as the first author writing in Kannada — an Indian regional language — said the author’s responsibility is to reflect the truth.
“You cannot simply write describing a rose,” said the 77-year-old, who is also a lawyer and activist.
“You cannot say it has got such a fragrance, such petals, such color. You have to write about the thorns also. It is your responsibility, and you have to do it.”
Her book “Heart Lamp,” a collection of 12 powerful short stories, is also her first book translated into English, with the prize shared with her translator Deepa Bhasthi.
Critics praised the collection for its dry and gentle humor, and its searing commentary on the patriarchy, caste and religion.
Mushtaq has carved an alternative path in life, challenging societal restrictions and perceptions.
As a young girl worried about her future, she said she started writing to improve her “chances of marriage.”
Born into a Muslim family in 1948, she studied in Kannada, which is spoken mostly in India’s southern Karnataka state by around 43 million people, rather than Urdu, the language of Islamic texts in India and which most Muslim girls learnt.
She attended college, and worked as a journalist and also as a high school teacher.

Constricted life

But after marrying for love, Mushtaq found her life constricted.
“I was not allowed to have any intellectual activities. I was not allowed to write,” she said.
“I was in that vacuum. That harmed me.”
She recounted how as a young mother aged around 27 with possible postpartum depression, and ground down by domestic life, had doused petrol on herself and on the “spur of a moment” readied to set herself on fire.
Her husband rushed to her with their three-month-old daughter.
“He took the baby and put her on my feet, and he drew my attention to her and he hugged me, and he stopped me,” Mushtaq told AFP.
The experience is nearly mirrored in her book — in its case, the protagonist is stopped by her daughter.
“People get confused that it might be my life,” the writer said.
Explaining that while not her exact story, “consciously or subconsciously, something of the author, it reflects in her or his writing.”
Books line the walls in Mushtaq’s home, in the small southern Indian town of Hassan.
Her many awards and certificates — including a replica of the Booker prize she won in London in May — are also on display.
She joked that she was born to write — at least that is what a Hindu astrological birth chart said about her future.
“I don’t know how it was there, but I have seen the birth chart,” Mushtaq said with a laugh, speaking in English.
The award has changed her life “in a positive way,” she added, while noting the fame has been a little overwhelming.
“I am not against the people, I love people,” she said referring to the stream of visitors she gets to her home.
“But with this, a lot of prominence is given to me, and I don’t have any time for writing. I feel something odd... Writing gives me a lot of pleasure, a lot of relief.”

‘The writer is always pro-people’
Mushtaq’s body of work spans six short story collections, an essay collection and poetry.
The stories in “Heart Lamp” were chosen from the six short story collections, dating back to 1990.
The Booker jury hailed her characters — from spirited grandmothers to bumbling religious clerics — as “astonishing portraits of survival and resilience.”
The stories portray Muslim women going through terrible experiences, including domestic violence, the death of children and extramarital affairs.
Mushtaq said that while the main characters in her books are all Muslim women, the issues are universal.
“They (women) suffer this type of suppression and this type of exploitation, this type of patriarchy everywhere,” she said. “A woman is a woman, all over the world.”
While accepting that even the people for whom she writes may not like her work, Mushtaq said she remained dedicated to providing wider truths.
“I have to say what is necessary for the society,” she said.
“The writer is always pro-people... With the people, and for the people.”


Emirati artists perform in showcase at London’s Kensington Palace

Updated 07 June 2025
Follow

Emirati artists perform in showcase at London’s Kensington Palace

LONDON: “If we do not tell our story, someone else will. And they will get it wrong,” said Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, founder of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation, following a performance in London on Friday that brought Emirati talent to a major international platform.

Emirati artists took to the stage at Kensington Palace to present a night of operatic performances. Fatima Al-Hashimi, Ahmed Al-Housani, and Ihab Darwish performed in multiple languages including Arabic, Italian and English. The performance was part of the Abu Dhabi Festival’s Abroad program in collaboration with the Peace and Prosperity Trust. The event was intended to promote Emirati cultural expression through classical music and cross-cultural collaboration.

Fatima Al-Hashimi, Ahmed Al-Housani, and Ihab Darwish performed in multiple languages including Arabic, Italian and English. (Supplied)

Alkhamis-Kanoo said an event like this is vital for cultural diplomacy and is not a one-off, but a commitment to placing Emirati talent on the world stage. 

“It’s about creating understanding, building dialogue, and showing the world the strength of our cultural identity through music,” she explained. “We invest in the young, we partner with the world, and we build cultural legacies that last.” 

The evening also included the premiere of Darwish’s latest composition “Ruins of Time,” which blended orchestral arrangements with traditional Arabic elements.

“Music is the fastest way to reach people. It creates peace, it creates understanding,” Darwish told Arab News. “Music removes boundaries. It creates a shared language, a dialogue of coexistence, peace, and tolerance. When people from different cultures come together to create music, it naturally fosters mutual understanding.”

Al-Hashimi explained the intention behind adapting a classical repertoire to reflect Arab identity. “Even while singing in Italian, I included Arabic lyrics to keep our signature present,” she said.

Al-Housani described the event as a “professional milestone,” adding: “Performing here is more than a concert, it’s a message. We’re here to show the world the strength and beauty of our culture.”


As goats get pricier, Pakistan’s capital turns to falooda dessert to keep Eid Al-Adha spirit alive

Updated 08 June 2025
Follow

As goats get pricier, Pakistan’s capital turns to falooda dessert to keep Eid Al-Adha spirit alive

  • Falooda is made with vermicelli in cold milk, softened basil seeds and generous scoops of vanilla or kulfi ice cream
  • Final touch is a fragrant pour of rose syrup, turning concoction into a pink-hued celebration of summer and Eid

ISLAMABAD: With sacrificial goats commanding million-rupee price tags this Eid Al-Adha, many in Pakistan’s capital are seeking solace not in the livestock markets, but in a humbler tradition: a chilled bowl of falooda — a silky, rose-scented dessert layered with ice cream, nostalgia, and just enough sweetness to lift a heat- and inflation-weary soul.

A dessert with Persian roots, falooda made its way to South Asia during the Mughal era, evolving from a frozen, rose-infused noodle pudding in Iran to the vibrant, multi-textured treat beloved across Pakistan today.

At its best, falooda is an edible symphony, a tangle of thin vermicelli swimming in cold milk, softened basil seeds (tukhmalanga) floating like miniature pearls, and a generous scoop of vanilla or kulfi ice cream crowning the glass. The final touch is a fragrant pour of rose syrup, turning the whole concoction into a pink-hued celebration of summer — and now Eid.

Nowhere is this more evident than at Bata Kulfi Falooda, a small, family-run dessert shop in Islamabad’s bustling I-8 Markaz marketplace.

There, amid the clatter of spoons and the hum of Eid shoppers, customers line up for what’s become a seasonal staple, the shop’s signature Matka Falooda, served in traditional clay bowls that keep the dessert ice-cold, even under the blazing June sun.

“We first opened in Peshawar [northwestern city] in 1962,” said Shah Faisal, the shop’s manager, as he rushed between customers to take orders. “In 2015, we brought the same taste to Islamabad. Nothing has changed. The ingredients, the method, even the feel of it, it all comes from Peshawar.”

During Eid week, Bata Kulfi Falooda’s signature Matka Falooda becomes more than a dessert. It’s a celebration in a bowl.

“It’s a memory in every bite,” said Muhammad Kamil, a 27-year-old student who had just returned from a livestock market, saying he was stunned by the jaw-dropping prices.

“Right at the entrance, we saw a goat priced at Rs1.5 million [$5,350]. A little further in, there was a sheep for Rs2 million [$7,140],” Kamil said as he waited for his bowl of falooda.

“After seeing a goat worth Rs1.5 million, only ice cream could cool us down, otherwise it would’ve been hard to keep the spirit of sacrifice alive.”

Determined to celebrate in his own way, Kamil turned to falooda, at a far more palatable Rs450 ($1.60) per bowl.

What drew him in, he said, was the comforting presentation: the cold earthen bowl, the soft noodles slicked with syrup, and the melting scoop of ice cream sinking slowly into the milky depths. He’s even considering gifting bowls of it to friends this Eid.

Indeed, with families across Islamabad and beyond rethinking how to celebrate Eid this year, it may not be the size of the goat that sets the mood but rather the shared sweetness of something simple, familiar, and deeply rooted in tradition.

So, while this Eid may see fewer families walking home from markets with goats in tow, many are still finding ways to savor the spirit of the season with a humble bowl of falooda, which is doing more than just cooling people down — it’s lifting spirits, one spoonful at a time.

According to shop manager Faisal, falooda easily outpaces even their famous kulfi in popularity during the Eid holidays.

“In this heat and with everything getting so expensive, people still want something festive,” he said. “And falooda brings joy that doesn’t cost a fortune.”


Andria Tayeh nominated at Austrian Film Award

Updated 07 June 2025
Follow

Andria Tayeh nominated at Austrian Film Award

DUBAI: Lebanese Jordanian actress Andria Tayeh has been nominated for best supporting actress at the Austrian Film Award for her role in “Mond.” 

The ceremony is scheduled to take place from June 12 to June 15.

Tayeh shared the news with her followers on Instagram, thanking her supporters and the awards organization for the recognition.

She is nominated alongside Italian actress Gerti Drassl and Austrian actress Maria Hofstatter.

“Mond” is directed by Austrian filmmaker Kurdwin Ayub. The film follows former martial artist Sarah, who leaves Austria to train three sisters from a wealthy family in the Middle East. 

What initially appears to be a dream job soon takes a darker turn: The young women are isolated from the outside world and placed under constant surveillance. They show little interest in sports — raising the question of why Sarah was hired in the first place.

Tayeh plays the role of Nour, one of the three sisters. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Andria Tayeh (@andria_tayeh)

The actress, who is also known for her roles in Netflix’s hit series “Al-Rawabi School for Girls,” has had a busy year collaborating with multiple brands and fronting their campaigns.

In February, Giorgio Armani announced her appointment as its new Middle East beauty ambassador.

She took to Instagram to express her excitement: “I am thrilled and honored to embark on this new journey with Armani beauty. This marks a real milestone for me, as the brand embodies values I have always cherished: timeless elegance, dramatic simplicity, and women empowerment.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Andria Tayeh (@andria_tayeh)

That same month, she was named the first Middle Eastern ambassador for French haircare brand Kerastase.

In a promotional clip, she appeared in an all-white studio, answering questions about why she is the ideal Kerastase ambassador. Tayeh spoke in a mix of English, Arabic and French, playfully flipping her hair for the camera as she discussed her dedication to maintaining healthy hair.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Andria Tayeh (@andria_tayeh)

In March, she also fronted Armani’s Ramadan campaign, set against the backdrop of a desert landscape.

Draped in a flowing emerald-green abaya, Tayeh was seen in the video applying the Vert Malachite perfume from Armani Prive as the camera captured the details of the fragrance and her attire. The setting featured sand dunes stretching into the horizon.