Roundtable: Chefs from Dubai's newest restaurants

Meet the experts

Salero, Kempinski Hotel, Mall of the Emirates
Head chef: Francisco Llanos
Having worked around the world in F&B positions in South America, the USA and Europe, Argentine Francisco Llanos most recently was chef de cuisine at Ritz Carlton, Abu Dhabi for the Steakhouse and Lobby Bar. From there he moved to Salero in September 2013 to take on the role of head chef. He is in charge of the main kitchen, butchery and the cold kitchen.

Table 9, Hilton, Dubai Creek
Head chef: Darren Velvick
Darren Velvick, born in England, worked for 14 years alongside Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing at prestigious London restaurant Pétrus, where he became head chef. He then moved with Wareing to become the head chef of new restaurant, Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley. Velvick left London in December 2013 to take the helm at Table 9 at Hilton, Dubai Creek, where he is currently building on the restaurant’s classic elegance with his own style.

Reform Social & Grill, The Lakes
Chef: Ryan Waddell
Ryan Waddell is head chef at Reform Social & Grill. With plenty of experience in creating classic British menus in the UK, he most recently won acclaim for his work at The Canbury Arms and The Hoxton Grill – two classic British venues in London. Now in Dubai, Waddell intends to take Reform favourites from London and give them a twist. Fresh fish will feature prominently and Waddell looks forward to experimenting with local UAE produce.

Marco Pierre White Grill, Conrad, Dubai
Chef: Genny Lorenzo
In 1999, Genny Lorenzo began working with renowned British chef Gordon Ramsay at his famous London restaurant, Pétrus. She then moved backed to the USA where she was based in San Francisco for 10 years, working her way up the kitchen ranks in five-star hotel restaurants such as St. Regis Hotel and Hotel Palomar. Lorenzo was part of the launch team of Marco Pierre White Grill and was heavily involved in the menu creation. Lorenzo likes to experiment and strongly believes in working with a few key elements to allow her ingredients to shine.

Qbara, Wafi Fort Complex
Chef: Colin Clague
Before setting up Qbara, Colin Clague most recently was the opening executive chef for Pollen Gardens in Singapore in 2012. Prior to that he was in charge of the restaurants under the Caprice Holdings group and oversaw the opening of The Ivy at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers. Some of his notable achievements include being in the pre-opening team of the prestigious Burj Al Arab in Dubai, and executive chef of award-winning Japanese izakaya restaurants, Zuma in London and Dubai.

Chinwaggery & Soul, Mövenpick Jumeirah
Chef: Edi Pancamala
Having worked at Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts as chef de cuisine for the West 14th Steakhouse on Palm Jumeirah, Edi Pancamala left to take up a role at Four Seasons Beirut. He now returns to Mövenpick as chef de cuisine of Chinwaggery + Soul, bringing his philosophy “If you get the right products and cook them with passion, the food will speak for itself.”

Cravin’ Cajun, Novotel
Head chef: Jeffrey Whitfield
Born in Louisiana, USA, Jeffrey Whitfield has more than 27 years of experience in professional kitchens. He started out in Indiana at California Café, a fine-dining restaurant and his most memorable career stint was working for the French Quarter, Chartres Street in New Orleans. A firm believer in carving his own niche rather than following trends, Whitfield heads Novotel Dubai Al Barsha’s speciality restaurant Cravin’ Cajun – a true Louisiana, Creole, Cajun restaurant, and one of its kind in the region.

Toko, Vida Downtown Hotel
Head Chef: Ben Orpwood
Ben Orpwood started out as a commis at busy Japanese restaurant Zuma in London, from where he moved to Istanbul as part of the opening team of Zuma Istanbul. There he met fellow roundtable attendee, Colin Clague, before coming to Dubai with Clague in 2006 as part of the opening team of Zuma UAE. Orpwood then moved to Toko Sydney as a number two before returning to Dubai to head Toko UAE, opening this month.

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In Hotelier’s exclusive roundtable at Salero, Kempinski Hotel, Mall of the Emirates, a panel of head chefs from recently opened restaurants in Dubai reveal the good, the bad and the ugly of the food and beverage industry

The chefs present at Hotelier’s lively breakfast roundtable at new tapas bar Salero in Kempinski, Mall of the Emirates, have at least one thing in common; they each head up restaurants that aim to deliver an authentic product.

Whether that means putting a modern twist on the classics or introducing an entirely new type of cuisine to the UAE, they are passionate about the experience they deliver to customers.

This enthusiasm, however, is somewhat curbed by the frustrations of recruiting talent and the hotel chain red tape that can block creativity. Hotelier lends an ear to listen to these gripes, as well as some less expected ones — such as chicken sticking to grills and the difficulties of getting hold of a freezer jacket.

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How achievable is it to have a chef-driven restaurant in a chain hotel?
Francisco Llanos: We have Alvaro our chef from Spain and he’s here every day. He cooks paella and talks to the customers so they see his face and they identify with him; he is Salero and this is what we were looking for. So having a chef driven restaurant is achievable yes – it’s dangerous also. What happens if Alvaro leaves?

Ben Orpwood: It’s my brand as well as the owner’s, so I don’t have to worry about anyone else’s input. I keep the GM and HR people well out of the kitchen so I think that’s why it runs so smoothly. I’m lucky because I don’t have to go to anyone for approval.

Colin Clague: I do what I want. I have people I respect that try out my creations though so we bounce them around a bit. The thing with Qbara is we want to develop unlike any other. Everything else has come to Dubai; Qbara is a brand that is made in Dubai that we want to take overseas, so they hired very senior people in the early days. There are some great talented guys that I work with.

Jeffrey Whitfield: I have total freedom to do what I want because no one knows about it. Educating people about Cajun food is fun. If you don’t know what it is and you come in and try it you think “wow what was that?” Before I got here the old chef had developed a menu and just because he had slapped some creole mustard on the plate he called it a Cajun dish.

Ryan Waddell: I have some control over what I do, although there’s a bit of authorisation. They have a look but rarely are there tweaks. I understand the brand concept and I’ve worked with the guys that are in charge of the brand. We want to take it and grow it here in the UAE and the Middle East in general.

Edi Pancamala: They give you the concept and say, “right, create the menu based on this” — but if you don’t have the right equipment you can’t get the maximum flavour out of the dishes. The hotel industry is focused on front of house; they forget to involve the chef in creating the kitchen. I designed the menu but because I’m part of a big hotel, the GM has to approve it.

Genny Lorenzo: We do have a guideline of what we have to follow but we all have our own liberty.

Darren Velvick: I think I’m quite lucky with the Hilton because I am almost stand-alone. It’s my name above the door and I’ve got free rein to put what I want on the menu. I do have to follow procedure and get things signed off, but they’re very supportive of me.

Table 9 has a really big following so when handing it over to me they were probably quite nervous as they didn’t know me apart from when I came over for a cook-off and interview, which was probably the biggest of my life because there are so many people involved in Table 9. They left me free to do the concept I wanted.

I’ve had to do tastings for the top guys at the Hilton and they’ve given their input. Some I’ve agreed with, some I haven’t and they’ve told me that if I feel strongly about it that’s fine. I don’t know what’s next; if you get the concept right, why not roll it out in other Hiltons?

Colin: I think you’ll see more hotels bringing in stand-alone restaurants.

Darren: I don’t think hotels want the hassle of it. They’re not restaurateurs — they’re hoteliers.

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What are the main challenges you face working as a chef in the UAE?
Ben: What kills me is signing off; you have to sign everything off through about 25 people. We’re a stand-alone restaurant and for some reason I ordered a freezer jacket three months ago and I still haven’t got it. And then they send you a quote and you’re like, “It’s just a freezer jacket!”

Genny: I have the same problem because when you’re in a big company there are so many people involved. In the US, I could just pick up the phone and I’d get something in two minutes. I think it’s because it’s such a large brand and once you expand out of your home country there has to be ways to track all these things on paper — it’s about measuring productivity.

Ryan: There are more staff in admin than there are in operations.

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How easy is it to source ingredients?
Colin: If you order it, you have to take it; if it runs out too bad. If you have too much, you still have to take it.

Edi: The online ordering system is a big challenge for us. If you want to order broccoli for example there will be five types and when you place the order it automatically goes to the cheapest product, and you can’t do anything about it.

Colin: I do the same at Qbara as I did at Zuma; there’s no middle man involved, the chefs take everything out of the boxes and put it all in the fridge. It takes a long time to get the quality you want, but if you’re the person that orders, you should be the one to accept it.

Edi: This is another problem in the company. The receiver isn’t allowed to take anything if the chef isn’t there to supervise. I went to the vegetable supplier to say what I wanted and then they followed up with me, so they are also playing with us.

Colin: At the start, if you let anything through the door that’s not 100% the quality starts to go down, so just say no. I take stuff off the menu because I don’t have the ingredients, because I’ve sent them back, and the next time it gets better.

Francisco: As soon as you send it back they will realise and they will not play with you.

Ben: I ordered caviar truffles seven days before I needed them. When they didn’t come I phoned up the supplier and said that I had to take three things off the menu that night so I wouldn’t be using them again. Then they showed up at 9pm that night with caviar truffles. Why do they have to push you that hard?

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How do you motivate staff to ensure they maintain standards?
Ben: You’ve got to have people on the front of house that are not just looking for a job; they’re here for a career and they want to be a front of house person.

Ryan: You’ve got to be there with them at the forefront. Repetition is the only way, you can’t take your eye off the ball for two minutes, especially at the start.

Ben: They have to see you working; if they’re in six days and they see you coming in seven they’re not going to complain.

Colin: You have to be first in, last out. If you rock up at 12 o’ clock they’ll have no respect for you.

Francisco: When they ask if they can go you say yes because you are still there. Afterwards they will respect you and they will stay with you. I’m not saying every day, but at the beginning, especially during the training period.

Colin: You can also listen to people too. You can learn a lot from a commis or a demi chef, they might have ideas for something you’ve not thought of — especially people from the Middle East who can show you how they tend to do things. It’s just taking what they know, twisting it, and presenting it in a modern way.

Ben: For some reason I had a grilled chicken and because of the metal the grill was made of, the chicken just stuck to it no matter what. We had a Mexican girl, a waitress and she told me to rub the grill with lemon — it just came off. So you’ve just got to listen, you’ve got to be open to it.

I think the days of the shouty chefs are gone. I say I’m like a dog — if you’re nice to me I’ll be nice to you but if you kick me I’ll bite you. With the guys you have in the kitchen you know who you can shout at — you have to know your team inside out. You need to maximise what you’ve got because there’s no home-grown talent.

Darren: The one thing I find quite refreshing is the team. They’re so loyal and motivated to learn. Back in London it’s just a job for them but these guys have got such big agendas. They are sending money back home, grafting hard and I really quite admire that. I’m really energised by the way they are.

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What is the main challenge with recruiting and retaining talent in the UAE?
Colin: They come out of college thinking they can cook and they can’t! Firstly there are no third commis anymore, there are just commis, and they say they want to be a demi chef yet they’ve only been in the job six months.

If you don’t give it to them they move because someone will offer them it somewhere else. So what happens is that within two years, you’ve got demi chefs and junior sous chefs and they don’t know that much. You have to do your time, I mean Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Ryan: It’s not just in Dubai though, it’s the UK as well. It’s started to change back now a bit — you’re starting to get more guys coming back in young as students now.

Colin: Guys come out of college and say that you don’t need to fillet a fish because you can get filleted fish. They are no good to me if they can’t fillet a fish or bone a chicken.

Darren: I think new techniques have also taken away skills. There are so many young cooks today who are hotshots and they only know water baths, or how to do all the froths and foams. But if the water bath goes wrong and you tell them to cook it in the pan they look at you like you’re mad. I still teach the guys the classic way because I think it’s important; to learn the modern you need to learn the classics.

Genny: For the opening of Marco Pierre White Grill, when trying to fill the chef de partie role I knew that they had a tendency to disappoint so I took mostly commis and trained them up in my way of doing things. I think that’s a lot easier as opposed to hiring a chef de partie who has been trained by someone else.

Edi: If you bring people up you have the chance to keep them longer.