Chef interview: Michael Mina

Opening a new restaurant is stressful. The days leading up to the launch are, no doubt, fraught with last minute troubleshooting and sleepless nights.

Getting some face time with the chef who is not only driving the concept, but who has his name front and centre just two days before the doors open is seemingly impossible.

Not so, with Michael Mina, who not only made time to sit down for a leisurely breakfast of steak and eggs with Caterer Middle East (more on that later), but provided a breakdown of the menu that he and his team have spent the past year carefully curating, explaining the creative process behind each dish.

The Egyptian-born and US raised chef’s enthusiasm for his new venture, Firebird by Michael Mina — located in Four Season DIFC, a hotel which itself opened just last month — was far more apparent than pre-opening jitters. Perhaps having launched 27 restaurants under his management company, the Mina Group, has something to do with it.

Speaking about why he has chosen Dubai for his first establishment outside of his home country, Mina reveals: “Culturally, I have always wanted to do something outside of the US and Dubai has always intrigued me. 

"When the opportunity presented itself to create something in Dubai for Four Seasons — to bring this Americana experience to the region but having it be a collaboration and a partnership with a company that is as established for quality and standards as the Four Seasons is — I seized it.”

Additionally, it was also an easy decision to make as soon as he heard who the Four Seasons had secured as its designer.

“The same designer did the restaurant as did the hotel — Adam Tihany — and he’s one of the top designers in the world. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with him numerous times, so I know him really well and I love how he designs,” he explains.

Another part of the appeal was also the allure of being able to marry the casual concept of a diner with the high-end experience associated with the Michael Mina brand.

“It was really fun to create a place that is true to a what a diner in the US is about, with the dishes and the food, but put my stamp on it — in terms of the culinary experience you’re going to get and the style of dining — in a way that really fits Dubai, where the dining scene is amazing.”

Elaborating further, Mina says that Firebird by Michael Mina presents creative and quirky ideas based around an all-American diner while catering to the “sophisticated clientele” expected of Four Seasons DIFC.

“We want the diners to feel very comfortable and know that this is a serious restaurant — but one with a fun Americana flavour.

"Something I’ve done a lot in the US is take a traditional American dish and make it a lot more fun, whimsical and high-end. A great example of this is chicken pot pie — every diner in the United States has chicken pot pie on the menu and so here, what we do, is a lobster pot pie. It is served in a beautiful copper pot, it has a truffle cream sauce, and it’s carved tableside.

“It’s still what a pot pie should be but it’s [got] a little more of that high-end flavour and it’s what’s going to fit the scene here,” he asserts.

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Another example of Mina translating US cuisine to appeal to the local market is Firebird’s lobster roll. He has refined what he calls “traditionally a delicious big sandwich” for guests of upscale Dubai restaurants, whom he thinks prefer to eat with cutlery or, at least, want something small if they are going pick something up to eat it.

Similarly, there’s a nod to the regional palate and preferences throughout Firebird’s menu with items such as the fois gras sliders with kumquat and date, and the fact the majority of appetisers are designed to share — an approach that lends itself well to Mina’s penchant for putting a twist on a classic.

Walking Caterer Middle East through the menu, and sharing details of how he refined dishes and “added whimsy”.

Mina says: “The meat and potatoes appetiser is really fun — it’s steak tartare cut up and served on a potato cake that’s similar to what we’d call a tater tot in the US, with caramelised onion sauce. The popcorn shrimp is another dish that’s big in the US, but we do individual little ones with house-made tabasco sauce and avocado under each one, then we dust them with cumin because the spices here are really amazing.”

Continuing, he adds: “The Philly cheese steak is a classic American sandwich but instead of one big, messy sandwich we do four little Philly cheese steaks. Grilled cheese and tomato soup is as American as it gets, but we give each person an espresso cup of soup with a little grilled cheese [on the side].”

Mina says that the salad section of the menu was important to him, partly because it is “market driven by product”, so instead of a traditional Caesar salad, Firebird's version includes black olives “because the olives here are really delicious”, for example.

Moving onto Firebird’s entrées, it’s no surprise to see burgers on the menu, given that they are a diner staple, however Mina is very particular about Firebird’s burgers.

“We focus a lot on what’s going into the burger: always 50% short rib, 25% brisket and 25% chuck, and it took us a long time to nail those measurements.

"We also do our grinding in-house and there’s a real trick to how you grind, so that you get all of the air pockets into the burger, making it juicy, airy and crumbly. We also focus heavily on the bread; we call it a brioche bun because people know what that is but we put some potato in our brioche so that it soaks up some of the richness and cuts out about half the butter. It has a little more substance, which works really well for a hamburger.”

He adds that while “the all-American burger” in the US would include pork bacon, for the Dubai, this flavour profile is replaced with smoked Gouda, veal bacon and onion marmalade.

As befitting a diner, steak and eggs is one of the signature dishes. The meat is cooked over wood, which Mina says makes “the flavour second to none” and a sunny side up egg is served on top of a pressed potato gratin (without cream added), which is caramelised on both sides to make it similar to a hash brown. A roasted avocado, hollowed out and filled with Firebird’s house-made tobasco sauce is the final component.

“It’s clean and sophisticated,” he says of the dish. “Every diner in America has steak and eggs —I don’t want to go too far out of the box; I just want the dishes to be refined and reflect the refinement you find in everything in Dubai. This is one of the most interesting cities in the world. I love the F&B scene in Dubai.”

Elaborating on what he finds intriguing about Dubai, Mina says he sees an abundance of great restaurants launching over the next decade, stating: “You can feel with this city that the food scene is exploding because the clientele is here. As a chef, our job is to seek out places where you can push the boundaries.”

He notes similarities between Las Vegas’ food scene when it emerged several years ago and Dubai today: “It exploded with Vegas quickly and every time I come to Dubai, I see that.

"There are parallels between what’s happening with the dining scene here and what happened in Las Vegas with it igniting over a ten-year period. And that happened because chefs want to go where there are people that appreciate the time and effort you put into food. If the clientele is there, the chefs will find their way there; that’s what’s happening with Dubai.”

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No conversation about the growth of Dubai’s culinary scene would be complete without addressing the realities for restaurateurs looking to make their mark.

Discussing how he intends to make Firebird a success against Dubai’s saturated backdrop, Mina states: “Our strategy [to deal with the competition] is to be who we are. We’re bringing something new and different to the market, and I’ve grown up in a Middle East household in the United States so I have a good idea of the flavour profile that clients have here. I cook in the way I was raised, based on my mum’s cooking, and adapted for the United States.

"In the US, you wouldn’t put salt and pepper in the honey, for example, but because I grew up in a family where they always did that, I do it in my restaurants and people love it.

“I’m confident that I have a good handle on what the market wants and once we open the doors, we will keep adapting. I also think we are very lucky to be part of Four Seasons and in an area where people are already dining.”

He believes in the constant evolution of a concept, remarking that while Firebird has “a very good menu”, it will be different a year from now. “You have to keep moving forward as seasons change and new product comes, and keep elevating as staff get more trained and cooks get better.”

Elaborating on his previous points about launching Firebird in a competitive market, Mina says long-term vision and remaining true to what you set out to do is imperative.

“The first thing that you learn when you are launching a restaurant is that your goal is not to come in and create something that is hot and has a buzz; this should be a by-product of your philosophy and foundation. My philosophy and foundation is about how do we connect with our guests and foster those long-term relationships?

“Everything plays a part in that — great food, the speed at which guests want to eat and the amount of interaction with the staff that they want. You have to look at it one customer at a time and that all starts with training, which is why we brought 20 people out here to train the staff. It’s important to take that time to work the staff.”

He adds: “Restaurants are an interesting animal — every day will be better or worse than it was the day before. It is never going to be the same because it has too many moving parts. If you can create a culture in which each day, everybody’s goal is to improve and you keep moving forward, you end up with a restaurant that has a long run. That’s the goal; we don’t just want to be hot for a year.”

The learning process extends to the man in charge as well, with Mina remarking that any time a chef thinks he knows everything, he can visit another country and realise how much he still has to learn in his profession.

“You could live 20 lifetimes and never learn it all as a chef and that is why it is the best industry. I feel as fortunate as you can be, to be in the career I chose,” he concludes.