Ramadan delights are so appetising

The Life: Mohammed Chabchoul, a chef at The Ritz-Carlton at Dubai International Financial Center, talks about a day in his life during Ramadan.

Mohammed Chabchoul, the garde manger chef at The Ritz-Carlton DIFC, has 28 chefs under his charge. Satish Kumar / The National

Mohammed Chabchoul is the garde manger chef at The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). During Ramadan, he has designed the menus and presentation for DIFC's official Iftar and Sohour majlis at the hotel. Here, the Lebanese chef talks about a day in his life during the Holy Month.

7am

I wake up, have my coffee and go through news of the day.

9am

I reach the hotel and, based on the Iftar menu of the day, I order ingredients from the store. We have three rotations of menus and each has 14 dishes, including seven Arabic and seven international. Among the Arabic dishes we have the local food called harees, made from rice and lamb, and Syrian, Jordanian and Lebanese dishes. We also have French, Thai and Indian food, including bœuf bourguignon, Thai green curry and dal makhani.

Noon

I get my 28 chefs ready. I check how much has to be paid for the ingredients and change those menus that do not move around much. We expect 120 guests each day and we have to be ready by 6:45pm. All chefs have to be present by the buffet stands for the majlis starting around 7:10pm, smiling and ready to greet the guests.

3pm

We start setting up the buffet stands and get the props ready. We use local and traditional things such as lamps, Arabesque tables and tagine plates. We have a shawarma stand, a chocolate fountain and a crêpe station, among other things. The menu is large [in order] to meet the expectations of the guests. We fry the mezze right before the guests come in so these are fresh and hot.

5pm

We start mixing the salad.

This year, fattet hummous is the special dish. It is made from chickpeas, tahina sauce, lemon juice, cumin, salt, pepper and pine nuts.

7pm

I have five minutes to break my fast with dates and some water around 7:30pm. Of my 28 chefs, 14 are fasting. I have to see that we have time to break the fast and operations go on smoothly. We have more than 18 servers on the spot. But the chefs also engage with the guests and go over to the tables to ask for feedback because there is always room to grow. For instance, we have chicken shawarma but we had requests for lamb shawarma. So I am looking to include it in the menu.

8:30pm

The buffet ends. My other guys get ready for Suhour majlis where we have shawarma, falafel and other light snacks with Moroccan tea. The Suhour à la carte menu is on offer between 9pm and 3am.

10pm

I head home, get some rest and go out to have coffee and shisha with my friends. We go to hotels to see how they have set up.

2am

I don't go to sleep before 2am to 3am because I love watching television.

* Sananda Sahoo

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