It was a big night for chefs on Monday as Mena's 50 Best Restaurants returned to Abu Dhabi to name the region's top places to eat.
Among them was Bahraini chef Tala Bashmi, who last year was crowned best female chef in the region and her restaurant, Fusions by Tala, was ranked at No 39.
This year, at the city's second successive ceremony, her restaurant rose to third place, just behind Michelin-starred restaurant Tresind Studio and Orfali Bros Bistro, both in Dubai, and was given the Highest Climber Award.
"I am beyond words, really," she tells The National. "As they were working through the list, and they reached number 10, I thought they'd forgotten about us.
"To go from 39 to three, to represent a small island that gets very little credit and representation, in terms of food and culture ... I'm still in shock."
Bashmi's restaurant is in Gulf Hotel Bahrain, in the city of Adliya. In her kitchen, where she is part of a team of four, she works hard to reinvent traditional Bahraini cuisine, modernise it and put it on the world's stage. This includes dishes such as the standout bamia, a traditional okra and meat stew, for which she uses Wagyu beef cheek, crispy okra glass and tomato broth rice.
Bashmi inherited an interest in cuisine and cultural identity from her father through his in-depth knowledge of the ingredients used. She utilised it to launch Baked by T, before joining the Culinary Arts Academy in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Staying in the Central European country, she had roles at the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel and the Michelin-starred restaurant Prisma in Vitznau, where she learnt more about restaurant operations, as well as working in fast-paced kitchen environments.
She took over her restaurant in 2017, when it was known simply as Fusions, and has gone from strength to strength.
After returning to the Mena region, Bashmi competed on MBC's Top Chef Middle East television show in 2020, where she reached the finals.
Last year, alongside the Mena's 50 Best accolades, she was also the only Arab chef to appear on the top 100 list for The Best Chef Awards, alongside Heston Blumenthal, Clare Smyth, Yannick Alleno and Massimo Bottura, who presented Bashmi with her award in Abu Dhabi.
"To be given the award by Massimo Bottura is crazy and amazing," she says. "What he did with Italian cuisine back in the day, I'm still fighting that fight for our cuisine."
She says to compete with the "big boys" in Dubai's food scene, which receives more exposure than her home country's, left her speechless.
"To compete with everyone else who's on the list, who have a much bigger team, more equipment, more spending power," she says, getting audibly emotional. "We're just a little restaurant from a little island that made it to number three."
Women at Mena's 50 Best
Bashmi is not the only woman carving out a path for female chefs in the region. Neha Mishra's ramen restaurant Kinoya Dubai also ranked within the top 10, while Lowe, co-founded by Kate Christou, came in at No 15.
Among the special awards, Lebanese-Syrian cookbook author Anissa Helou won the Foodics Icon Award, and Opa in Tel Aviv, run by twin sisters Shirel and Sharona Berger, won the One to Watch Award, given to restaurants that have the potential to be included in the 50 Best list in the near future.
Palestinian-Jordanian chef Salam Dakkak took home Mena’s Best Female Chef Award. Dakkak, who runs Bait Maryam in Dubai, follows in Bashmi's footsteps. And yet the two could not be more different: where Bashmi — who Dakkak describes as “amazing” — is known for her highly experimental fusion cuisine, Salam is all about simple, home-cooked meals.
“I am now convinced that hard work pays off,” Dakkak says of her 50 Best award. “It makes me feel happy and accomplished, yes, but with it also comes the desire to do more and the responsibility to be both more successful and more supportive of others in my field.”
Scroll through the gallery below to see all the restaurants on the Mena's 50 Best Restaurants 2023 list
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Arsenal 1 (Aubameyang 12’) Liverpool 1 (Minamino 73’)
Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties
Man of the Match: Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal)
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Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
More from Armen Sarkissian
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
If you go
The flights
There are various ways of getting to the southern Serengeti in Tanzania from the UAE. The exact route and airstrip depends on your overall trip itinerary and which camp you’re staying at.
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Kilimanjaro International Airport from Dh1,350 return, including taxes; this can be followed by a short flight from Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti with Coastal Aviation from about US$700 (Dh2,500) return, including taxes. Kenya Airways, Emirates and Etihad offer flights via Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.
