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Bahrain’s culinary heritage is quickly becoming one of the highlights of the Expo 2020 Dubai, and attendees are flocking to the kingdom’s pavilion to sample its unique twist on Bahraini traditional dishes.
The Bahrain Pavilion café, helmed by local chefs Bassem Al Alawi and Lulwa Sowaileh, has become one of the favourite eateries amongst attendees at the expo, with plans to fine-tune the menu underway.
“The menu created for the Bahrain Pavilion Cafe is authentic to its traditional flavours of Bahraini cuisine,” 29-year-old Chef Lulwa told GulfWeekly.
“Chef Bassem and I have focused on each dish to perfect it and make it stand out. The upcoming new addition is Short Rib Harres Soup - a childhood favourite of mine.”
The eatery, with a limited seating of 20, is always fully booked, with more and more patrons booking tables days and weeks in advance.
The two young Bahraini chefs are constantly asked if their cuisine will have a permanent home in the kingdom or in other countries across the region, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Each dish on the 20-item menu tells a story. For example, the Grilled Tikka skewers have been in the works since 2018 when Chef Lulwa started to prepare home-made dried ‘loomi’ limes to make the perfect tikkas.
“I tested different limes to find the perfect balance between bitterness and sweetness when dried,” added the chef, who worked for the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay’s venerable CUT by Wolfgang Puck restaurant at the time.
“From there I tried different meats and marinades to make the best tikka in Bahrain. It wasn’t very known at the restaurant back then, but easily became the best-selling dish at the expo, selling more than 35 portions a day!”
The main challenge that the duo seem to have faced is that people want to sample every dish on the menu, and to cater to them, Chef Lulwa and Chef Bassem have created a ‘tasting menu’ which they will be unveiling soon.
“Every dish in our menu has a story to tell on how it became what it is today and why it is on the menu,” Chef Lulwa noted.
“The menu is even sectioned using Arabic words – for example, Maz’raha, which translates to farm, is our header for the salads and ‘Freej’, which translates to neighbourhood, includes street food bites and starters.”
As far as possible, the duo source ingredients locally and from Bahrain. Goat cheese and the local dessert Halwa, for example, are sourced directly from Bahrain.
“We make everything from scratch – it’s the only way to create traditional, authentic cuisine,” explained 33-year-old Chef Bassem, who is the owner and executive chef at Darseen Café, which was set up at the Bahrain National Museum seven years ago.
“Even our spices are hand-milled. We buy whole spices, we roast them, we wash them, we dry them in the sun in exactly the same way our ancestors did.”
Although Chef Lulwa has not worked with Chef Bassem previously, she noted that she could not have asked for a better partner.
“Bassem and I have worked in harmony and have both learned from each other,” she added.
“The collaboration was authentic and smooth. We have even planned for more collaboration and pop-up events in the coming year with different themes and concepts!”
For more details, follow @bahpavilion on Instagram.
