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The Gulf Hotel’s new Executive Chef Louis van Reenen is on a mission to bring food back to basics, building on the establishment’s five-star reputation and leaving guests with dining experiences that will have them craving for more.
The South African chef boasts more than 16 years culinary experience having worked in five-star hotels at home and in the UK, West Africa and Turkey.
Chef Louis is responsible for over-seeing all of the hotel’s kitchen operations which include nine fine-dining restaurants, banqueting and convention facilities that can cater to up to 2,000 people. In addition, he aims to implement fresh plans to keep up with current market trends.
He said: “The first thing I want to do at the hotel is focus on authenticity. For example, our Italian restaurant now has a talented Italian chef that will offer Italian fare at its purest. The Mexican restaurant will also have a Mexican chef.
“Once we have that authenticity then it’s time to focus on going back to the basics of what food really should be. I think the days of heavy sauces and over-garnishing are long gone and the world is becoming more responsible in the way they eat.
“We are going to eat more organic and sustainable food. I’d like to make that part of the food regiment here. We are all becoming more health conscious. Food, in my mind at least, is about creating fond memories for guests and that’s what I plan to do.”
One of the 16 specialty restaurants that Chef Louis will be bringing back to life is Fusions, the well-established roof-top venue where East meets West with its breathtaking views over the majestic Grand Mosque.
Fusions can seat around 48 food lovers comfortably and is only open in the evenings for dinner, except on Saturdays.
Unlike the other themed-restaurants at Gulf Hotel, the style of cooking at Fusions cannot be categorised by one specific technique and does exactly what its name suggests. Fusion-style cuisine is when a dish combines various forms of cookery and ingredients from different regions to create a medley of extraordinary tastes to satisfy the appetite.
Chef Louis explained: “I always say that fusion cuisine can often turn into confusion and that is what we are trying to avoid at all costs. At Fusions you are not going to have wasabi-flavoured croissants and stuff like that. You will have proper food that is re-interpreted.
“It’s not about recreating the wheel or putting together ingredients that will never work together. Truffles and oysters for example just don’t work, will never work and we are not going to do things like that.”
Another interesting feature is that guests will be able to witness the creations as they are being made. “The idea is after guests have chosen their meals for the night; they can watch how it’s being made as well in the kitchen from its open-style view.”
The GulfWeekly team witnessed Chef Louis at work serving a three-course meal that looked simple but promised to be packed with an explosive amount of flavour.
The first course was a twist on a roast vegetable salad with a delicious amount of goat cheese on top. It resembled the French provincial vegetable stew, ratatouille, just presented more elegantly. To fully enjoy each bite guests must not forget to add some cheese which can really make the flavours pop.
After devouring the salad, a bowl of bite-sized salmon, shrimp, tomato jelly and asparagus soup appeared.
Chef Louis poured it into the bowl which then continued to heat the tiny seafood and vegetable portions in the bowl.
He said: “What we did was take a soup that is classically quite heavy and made it a lot lighter. That is the sort of philosophy we are trying to establish. We want to keep the food pure and true to its roots. The seafood was already freshly-cooked but just lacking the soup. It is poured over and mixed with the little slab of tomato jelly.”
The soup was filled with different textures from the crunch of the asparagus to the juiciness of the salmon. Every spoonful creates a whole new taste sensation.
The last course was the ultimate show-stopper. Chef Louis reinvented Duck à l’Orange and duck confit, both classic French dishes, by adding some Asian elements.
Chef Louis explained: “We took the breast off the duck, grilled it classically and sliced it. As for the duck confit, the piece of meat is normally cooked in goose fat for a long period of time. We took the fat out completely, cooked it very slowly and rendered the duck’s own fat.
“A lot of restaurants would simply cut the fat out but we rendered it so that it wouldn’t lose the flavour or moistness of the dish. The duck leg was rendered in foil for about 12-16 hours at 80 degrees. It became so tender and beautiful. Then we added two sauces with a puree to go with it and a little bit of sesame.”
After cleaning the plate dry, the dinner ended on another high note with a small bowl of sweet sorbet to cleanse the palate. It was a perfect ending to a perfect meal.
