Interview: Ruya

Anatolian concept Rüya is setting out to be more than just another Dubai restaurant looking to take a slice of a lucrative, albeit saturated, F&B market.

First of all the project represents the latest venture from d.ream Group (Doğuş Restaurant Entertainment and Management), which is a partner in Coya, Nusr-Et, and Zuma.

Second, the kitchen will be headed up by Colin Clague, a chef who has previously worked with Burj Al Arab, Zuma London and Zuma Dubai, Qbara, and Jean-Georges Dubai.

And third, the concept’s creator — Umut Özkanca — already has plans underway to introduce Rüya in the UK, with a vision to turning it into a global brand.

Indeed, Özkanca tells Caterer Middle East that he has had Rüya’s launch in the works for a long time, hence the name, which comes from the Turkish meaning for dream. He and his father have been in hospitality for several decades, opening numerous Turkish restaurants in Istanbul — always with the ambition to bring authentic Turkish food to major international cities around the world.

“Sometimes people have the misconception that Turkish cuisine is all kebabs and doners, which is not even 2% of the cuisine,” Özkanca explains.

“I have been working on this project for 10 years, and we said let’s keep the DNA of Anatolian cuisine as a base and bring it into an international market. I wanted it to be a contemporary Anatolian concept through the eyes of foreigners,” he adds, referring to the fact that his executive chef is from the Isle of Man, an island between England and Ireland.

Asked how the pair started working together, Özkanca says: “Two or three years ago I was in Dubai with a friend and my father, and we had dinner at various restaurants — with the last stop being Qbara. We wanted to get a couple of bites to see what the cuisine was like, but we ended up eating the whole menu — and my father is usually a tough guy to please. This is how we met Colin and when we started working on this project, I called Colin to ask if he wanted to be a part of it."

Clague reveals that he “didn’t need much convincing” to join the project.

Speaking about Rüya’s appeal, he comments: “Umut and his father saw what we did with Zuma and Qbara, and they really wanted to elevate Turkish food in terms of presentation, lightening up some of the dishes and making it more modern. We’re not doing anything fusion at all and obviously Turkey is an enormous country — it’s as big as France and Germany put together — so we have years of going to Turkey and exploring [the cuisine].”

It was the fact that the new concept offers huge scope for creativity and menu development that really piqued Clague’s interest: “A reason I left Zuma Dubai is, no matter how much I love Japan, it is a very small geographical area. It got quite repetitive; you’re thinking of new recipes but it’s all soy, sake, miri. The sheer size of Anatolia, and the number of dishes it offers, will last a lifetime.”

Illustrating his point, he reveals that at a pre-opening dessert tasting, Rüya’s pastry chef, Elizabeth Stevenson-Hocks — who previously worked with Clague at Qbara restaurant — was surprised to be presented with a dessert made of chicken (which didn’t make the final cut for the menu, he notes).

Coming back to Rüya’s appeal, Clague reveals: “Something new where I can learn always excites me. It was great working with Jean-Georges but I could see that fine dining is not what the people of Dubai want.

"People of my age are leaving Dubai because it’s getting too expensive; the demographic is changing and people are not wanting a 1,000 dirham (US$272) a head three-Michelin star experience. They want a Zuma or a La Petite Maison type of thing — a three-in-one stop comprising great drinks, great food and great music.”

Using this formula, the team is planning to roll the concept out in other countries and Özkanca says this will happen sooner rather than later.

“If we are successful, which we will be, the next stop will be London. This is going to be the first brand born in Dubai of this calibre to be exported abroad,” he asserts.

Özkanca had been looking at locations in London at the same time as he was in Dubai, and it could have been either city that came first. When the opportunity arose to open in Grosvenor House, it was the Gulf region that clinched the debut, as he had always been impressed with the property, which he describes as “a beautiful, well established hotel”, on previous visits to the emirate.

Sharing Özkanca's confidence in the burgeoning brand, Clague tells Caterer Middle East: “Consider the partners involved. Mr Ferit Şahenk is a hugely powerful man. He is a partner in Zuma, La Petite Maison and Coya, as well as numerous other businesses. The capital is there to really make this a world brand and knowing that the project has legs is an attraction — we’ve just got to make sure we hit the ground running.”

Clague was also in favour of opting for Grosvenor House to house Rüya, pointing out that being on the periphery of Dubai Marina makes it easily accessible from various directions.

“The only problem we had at Qbara was location and Dubai is getting very ‘location, location, location’. Dubai is two cities as far as I’m concerned — you’ve got DIFC and you’ve the Marina, and very rarely do people from those areas go to the other. I’m in the industry so I’ll come to the Marina from where I live, but the traffic puts people off, making it a difficult market [for F&B operators]. The area that we’ve picked will hold us in good stead and the vision that Umut has is very forward thinking, so if we get the food and service right and deliver on the affordability aspect, we’re onto a winner.

“All the elements are there to make Rüya really successful. The service will be very good but not stuffy; the food, I hope, works; and the restaurant looks stunning with one of the focal points being a big oven in the centre of the restaurant.”

Returning to the topic of affordibility, Caterer learns that the team intends for Rüya to be priced attractively.

“It’s going to be a tough couple of years in Dubai and to be ahead of the game, you need people to be able to afford you. We want people to come once or twice a week, so we are definitely not going to be pricing ourselves out of the market,” Clague reasons.

To keep costs down, the chef says he is “very tough with suppliers” — many of whom he has been working with for 10 years. A lot of ingredients from Turkey are also being imported, such as lamb, honey and fish to name a few, as part of the team’s determination to retain the DNA of Anatolian cuisine.

“The quinoa even comes from a farm Umut owns near Syria,” Clague notes.

Özkanca says that finding suppliers in his homeland was not difficult due to the many years of experience both he and his father have working in Turkish hospitality. Rüya is, in fact, “the 16th or 17th outlet” the restaurateur has opened in his career.

“We are buying produce from all over the country; butter from a village in the Black Sea; pistachios from Gaziantep; and olive oil from the Aegean part of Turkey,” he says.

Also hailing from Özkanca"s native country are some of Rüya’s workforce, namely for key roles in the kitchen. Other staff members were recruited through Clague’s F&B connections.

“I am lucky as I spoke to lots of the guys I’d worked with before, told them I was doing a new place, and they said ‘count me in’. A lot of the guys I have worked with are Turkish anyway, such as my sous chef and junior sous chef in Zuma Istanbul, Zuma Dubai and Qbara,” the chef comments.

He also reveals that he received about 180 CVs after one of the team made a short film about Turkey and posted it on Facebook with an announcement about a Turkish restaurant opening soon.

While the team seems to have sidestepped the difficult challenge that the recruitment process usually poses, there is no denying that launching a new concept in Dubai is not easy, especially at the moment when, as both Clague and Özkanca acknowledge, the health of the emirate’s economy this year has caused some concerns. Nevertheless, the pair remain confident in the concept and the reception they see it receiving in the market.

Reflecting on this, Özkanca remarks: “Dubai is a really fierce market. Every five-star hotel has 10 or 12 outlets, and there can be 15 five-star hotels within walking distance of each other. For me, every new restaurant I open is like a new baby, bringing new excitement. I have always built new concepts from scratch, rather than buying restaurants, and this one is particularly special as it’s the first one I am opening abroad [outside of Turkey] and because it is my dream is to make Rüya an international brand.”

Clague thinks the local market will embrace Rüya’s menu. He elaborates: “When we opened Zuma London, we knew the Japanese were going to hate it but look at the success it’s had, and now I’d say the Japanese love it too.

“I thought Qbara would be the same — that the Emiratis might have a problem with us playing around [with their cuisine] but, on the contrary, they embraced Qbara. That says a lot about Dubai, how forward thinking Emiratis are, and I think Emiratis are going to do the same here [with Rüya].

“There are some Middle Eastern elements and something for everybody — salads, grills, breads, even a few vegetarian dishes — making up a big menu. We’ll have about 50 dishes, not including desserts. And it is all going to be real food — there definitely won’t be any foams or any molecular gastronomy.”

Özkanca thinks the Turkish expat community in Dubai will also welcome the restaurant, as its menu retains the DNA of their homeland’s cuisine, and adds that on Saturdays, Rüya will even serve “a typical Turkish breakfast”.

At the time of going to press, the fit-out was nearly finished, ready for a September launch — followed fairly quickly, of course, by the next Rüya. Özkanca is excited to see his dream become a reality, not least because, by going global, the brand will be blazing a trail.

“No similar restaurant that has a Middle Eastern base has survived internationally; there are no restaurants from Lebanon, Syria or Turkey, for example, that have become brands like Zuma, Nobu, Hakkasan or Coya.

“Ours will be the first one in the market and, if we do this well and provide a product that is accepted by an international palate, the sky’s the limit,” Özkanca concludes.