Chairman & CEO, The Cheesecake Factory

As the founder and head of one of the favourite casual dining restaurants in the U.S.A., David Overton was guaranteed to be a busy man when he arrived in Kuwait to celebrate the opening of the brand. Unmissable, the location dominates the entrance to the hugely admired third phase of The Avenues. When we met him he was busy patrolling the restaurant, ensuring the standards he has insisted on for nearly 35 years are met and maintained. This is the secret to his success.

Men’s Passion: Did you have any idea thirty-five years ago that you’d be in Kuwait opening up such a magnificent restaurant?

David Overton: To be honest, I didn’t. And if it hadn’t been for Mohammed Alshaya (Executive Chairman, M. H. Alshaya) who contacted us and suggested bring us to the region, we might not have been here even today.

Medium, or rare?

There’s no doubt that meat production and consumption is under pressure, accused of being unhealthy and bad for the future of the planet. There’s a whole range of arguments that we won’t even attempt to go in to there. We can’t see ourselves removing a fine steak from our diet any time soon, instead we’ll ensure that those steaks we do eat are the very finest.

And who better to talk to about meat than two men who know how we like our steaks best - The Meat Company’s Chef Roy Soundranyagam and the Terrace Grill’s Chef Vikram.

Fine Contemporary Fusion Japanese Cuisine

Invited to lunch by two of the three partners and owners of the restaurant Maki, the journey and culinary heaven that I was taken on was an unforgettable experience that I was able to enjoy as well as learn a lot from. “We want to reward you. 

Recipes from the Gulf, with Sarah Al-Hamad

Food. There can be few strands that tie a society so tightly as that of our common food. At its most basic of levels food sustains us, but it also provides a focus at times of joy and indeed times of sadness. As nations are defined by their style of cuisine, so is this region. Little has been written of the traditional flavors of the Arabian Gulf, it is a rich cuisine and one for which its stories and iconic recipes has now been recorded by Sarah Al Hamad in the equally rich book ‘Cardamom and Lime’.

To understand another culture’s food is to have a unique insight into the culture itself.

Take four expert chefs, four chefs at the very top of their game, ask them about food and you’ll most likely get four differing opinions. That’s what we hoped anyway when we spoke to Mohammed Al Kadi, Executive Chef at the Arraya Ballroom, Marriott Courtyard, Joseph D’Costa, Executive Chef at the J. W. Marriott Hotel, Vikram Nowbutsing, Executive Sous at the J. W. Marriott Hotel, and Chef Raj, from Soul and Spice at the Marriott Courtyard. Here’s what they said...

Good food – um, what more do you want to know?

After oil and money there have probably been more words written in Kuwait about food than written about anything else. Sure, food sustains life in the same way that oil sustains Kuwait - but we’re only really interested when we come across somewhere, and also someone, that is really doing something a little bit special. That’s where The Baking Tray and Naser Al Mukhaizeem come in.

It’s not new, it’s been open since the end of 2008, but the thing about it is - it’s still good. We we’ve been to so many great places soon after they’ve opened, and then returned over a period of months to witness them slide into mediocrity. Not The Baking Tray. How’s that? Ask Naser…

“I’ve seen the same as you’ve seen at other places, and when the concept of BT was discussed I was determined that we’d not let our standards slip”.

…delivered on Wataniya Airways at 700km/h

Why ‘Slow Food’? Because we’ve had enough of fast-food and are happy to see that there’s a strong movement back towards taking a little more time (that’s the ‘slow’ in Slow Food) to prepare and serve food of all kinds, including on board an aircraft. But we have to admit to being slightly surprised, and hugely impressed, by the lengths Wataniya Airways are going to in order to ensure you get the finest food.

We’re used to hearing the captain introduce himself and his crew before take-off. So used to it that, in fact, few of us probably pay much attention to it. If he were to announce that the man responsible for the food they were serving used to be a chef at London’s Dorchester Hotel, well then I might sit up and take a little more notice.

Chef Dirk Heinen’s six-week ham

We’ve always been big fans of the Sheraton’s Italian restaurant Riccardo. Over the years chefs have come and gone - but thankfully not too regularly. Current chef, Stefano Balduccio, is one of our all-time favourites, as too is the Sheraton’s current Culinary Director, Dirk Heinan. When we want to enjoy the company of friends along with some good food, we know Stefano and Dirk have always got time for us, and they’ve always got an extraordinary amount of time for their food.

Regrettably we live a life where even the amount of time we allocate to eating is reduced. It follows that restaurants have almost invariably followed suit in reducing the amount of time they’ll take to prepare our food. Fortunately in Kuwait we’ve still got Riccardo, and we’ve still got Dirk’s ham - which takes a full six weeks to prepare.

Taking time over tea

When it comes to taking tea, you could be fooled into thinking it is an English invention. Of course, it’s not. However it is something the English honed to a fine art, and one that should never be rushed. So, it’s good to see that there is a corner of Kuwait that shall be forever England - The Sheraton’s English Tea Lounge.

Kuwait must be one of the best-restauranted cities in the world. What we lack in quality we certainly more than make up for in numbers. You know the feeling, no matter how many restaurants there are, no matter how diverse a range of cuisine they serve, sometimes there really is nothing you want more than a taste of our own fine heritage. Salmiya’s Beit Dickson (not to be confused with Colonel and Mrs. Dickson’s home in Sharq) looks back to the past and serves a tableful of delights.

The actual date of invention for this now world-famous dish is not known, but it was somewhere around 1860, a full 150 years ago. What is undisputed is that fish and chips were first served in England - and some would say there has been little of culinary merit that has been worthy of taking outside England’s borders since then. If you’ve been to any popular English seaside town you’ll be familiar with the sight and smell of fish and chips, and now you can find them in a most un-English seaside town - Mangaf. 

Here’s a refreshing change. A new restaurant in Kuwait that’s decided to keep themselves low-key and focus on the food instead of the hyperbole. Yet of all the restaurants we’ve eaten in, this is the one that has every reason to shout louder than all. So, when you’ve got something this special, why not make a song and dance about it? We were intrigued, and went down to Melenzane to meet Mohammed Jasim Al Dhubaib to find out what the story is, and it was quite a story we discovered.

When one thinks of the things we do best in Kuwait, fine food isn’t usually at the top of most people’s list. There’s a lot to be said for our traditional staples, and you’ll have to travel far if you’re looking for something more tasty than machbous with daqous.  Yet when it comes to serving international cuisine we have, in the past, (let’s be honest) sucked at it! Not so these days however. Look at the current crop of great cafés and restaurants that continue to appear with increasing regularity. And this is where sisters Bedoor and Noor Al Shebli come in.

We love food. You’ll have figured that out for yourself by now. Above all, we love healthy food. If it’s organic - that’s even better. Going organic in Kuwait isn’t the easiest of tasks to set oneself. Eating healthy feels difficult enough at times. So, we’re big fans of Café Organica because they make our life much easier. Kuwaiti international fencing champions - Balsam and Lulwa Al Ayoub agree with us. In fact they fell in love with those lovely people at Café Organica that they agreed to become their Brand Ambassadors. We met the girls at Café Organica’s branch in Hawally to find out why.

As ideas for TV shows go, it probably wasn’t all that original. Take a foreign chef, send him to a country he barely knows, and ask him to cook a fusion of tastes for the locals. Original or not, when the chemistry works, it is a guaranteed to be a cracker of a show. Men’s Passion was invited to the screening of the pilot show, and what a cracker it turned out to be. 

A dietitian by background, Barbara’s passion is promoting a more holistic view of healthy eating. Healthy eating to her means healthy for the body, and also healthy for society and for the environment. “Dietitians and scientists can’t keep blindly telling people to eat fish because it’s good for them without considering the sustainability of fish populations. We can’t consider the technological solution of feeding the world with Genetically Modified or cloned animal foods without looking at the root causes of the lack of food, or the implications of these decisions”. 

La Chaine des Rotisseurs is the world’s oldest gastronomic organisation. Its roots can be traced back as far as the year 1248, although in its current incarnation it was re-born in 1950. An open fellowship of gourmets, It is dedicated to fine cuisine and promoting and developing the gastronomic values while at the same time widening its focus to table art. Men’s Passion met with Madame Marie Jones, herself a stalwart of La Chaine, to find out more about the modern day society.

Fergus Henderson (left) and Trevor Gulliver opened St. John in October 1994. The former smokehouse, situated around the corner from London’s Smithfield Market had fallen into serious disrepair since ham and bacon smoking ceased in 1967.

Everyone has to have their ‘thing’ in life, writes Men’s Passion’s Simon Balsom. I’ve yet to discover what mine is, and I’m not sure Bianca Simonian truly knows what hers is going to be yet either. Besides, some of the most interesting people I know have yet to make up their minds, and amongst some of the most interesting people I know, Bianca rates very highly. So, how many reasons are there for a Californian girl trained in the culinary arts to travel around the world to open up ‘a little piece of home’ in deepest, darkest Fahaheel. It had to be either for a man, or for food. In fact, as I discovered, it turned out to be for neither of these. Well, not exactly, anyway..

Instinct, curiosity, intelligence, poetry, sensuality, open -mindedness, humility, confidence without ostentation, sincere but complex, research, exploration, science and conscience, Ambition, determination, bold yet considered, quest for happiness and love for life…

Kuwait has seen a plethora of boutique cafés and restaurants open over the last twelve months, each of them catering for its own particular niche market. At Men’s Passion we appreciate this diversity, and we always welcome an opportunity to try something unique, and that has been created by an individual for the individuals that we are. In Organica Café we found what could become our spiritual home.

Tokyo, which already boasts a record number of Michelin stars, can expect even more of the coveted awards when the second edition of the renowned culinary guide for the city is published this month writes Gilles Campion.

La Chaine des Rotisseurs was established in Paris in 1950 as an international gastronomic society - one that is devoted to promoting fine dining and the pleasures of the table. In fact, the Chaine can trace its roots back to the 1209 and the reign of King Louis IX.

Heston Blumenthal has been described as a culinary alchemist for his innovative style of cuisine.

Healthier for You and the Planet

As the world’s top athletes head for Beijing for the Olympic Games, 2008 is turning into the year of China. In our latest journey around the world of food, Men’s Passion looks at Chinese cuisine.

The Art of food
Honorary President of the Chaine des Rotisseurs - Kuwait

“ The Chaîne is run by a committee of seven people who meet monthly. Every November we put together an agenda of dates and venues for the coming year, and that’s when the ball starts rolling.”

Cooking WITH PASSION

For Khalid Al-Kanderi, food is a joy - both to cook and to eat. He tells Men’s Passion how he hopes to inspire more people to eat healthy food and why Kuwaitis should return to the kitchen to cook more of their own meals.

DISCOVERING EXOTIC THAI CUISINE

Spicy food is normally associated with Indian cooking, but further east in Thailand, fiery curries and hot dishes are also the norm. In the second instalment in our travels around the fascinating world of food, Men’s Passion looks at the cuisine of Thailand. A meal at a Thai restaurant is always a special event. From the graceful waiting staff, usually impeccably dressed in colourful national costumes, to the relaxing music and abundant greenery and carved vegetable displays, the setting and ambiance is as important and tasteful as the food.

Having a dinner in a three stars Red Guide restaurant is the ultimate experience

A PASSION for COOKING for FRIENDS