This is something I do often, but I still get nervous when interviewing influential people. It’s because of my introverted and socially awkward personality. I have spoken to top celebrity chefs and was nervous, but recently I spoke with Tara Bashmi, a Bahraini chef who holds the title of MENA’S (Middle East and North Africa) Best Female Chef of 2022. When I did that, I was surprisingly calmer than usual. The moment she entered her room, she felt her sense of zen accompanied by dynamism and her confidence.
Through his restaurant Fusions By Tala, located in Bahrain’s 5-star Gulf Hotel, the chef is on a mission to share modern Bahraini cuisine with the world. Her restaurants have won multiple awards including 3rd place for Best Her Restaurant in the Middle East and North Africa. And in 2023, Chef Tara was named #63 Best Chef and Rising Star at the Best Chef Awards.
The chef recently visited Bangalore and Mumbai to showcase the flavors of Bahrain as part of Taj’s Rendezvous series. Curious to find out what Bahraini cuisine is all about, I decided to spend a Saturday afternoon at Taj Lands End in Mumbai. After chatting with Che himself and taking a peek at the dish, we sat down to enjoy his five-course meal, which reflected the atmosphere of Bahrain. Her heritage and learning to cook in Switzerland.
To the world of cooking
Food wasn’t Tara Bashmi’s first choice. Her dream was to become a soccer player. Unfortunately for her, her injury permanently interrupted her sports career. But as the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens. Tara always knew one thing she was. It’s that her food is always something that comforts her. “It doesn’t matter if you’re having a bad day or a good day. Food is something that gives me joy. As I got older and started cooking for people, I realized that it was my love language. So it’s about showing people that I care about them. The feeling of giving back gave me satisfaction and gave me the courage to do this for a living,” she says.
Fusion by Tara
A baking business he started at home led to him joining a professional kitchen at a Gulf hotel and then being sent to Switzerland for formal culinary training. “restaurant has been in operation for 14 years and was always called Fusions. I think it was around 2017-18, the management gave me the restaurant, told me to take it over, and gave me a year to make this place profitable. Once they do that, they can look at the renovation and come up with my concept of what this restaurant will be like. That’s how it all started,” she says.
Everything you need to know about Bahraini cuisine
Just as Indian cuisine is diverse and regionally different, the same is true for Arabic cuisine. “When people look at the Middle East as a region, it becomes very specific. No one knows what Gulf cuisine is. First of all, Levantine cuisine is probably known as Arabic cuisine. It’s hummus, tabbouleh fattoush, baba ganoush, and shish tauk. All of these are from the Levant, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Palestine,” says Chef Tara. I will explain. But the Gulf region is very different and partly influenced by India. “The main grain we use is rice. For us, if we don’t have rice for lunch, it’s not a meal.”
“Bahrain is an island. We are very well known for our culture and tradition of fishing and pearl diving. My father told me that if someone eats chicken for lunch at home, he is rich. All of our cuisines and traditions come from very little. Most of our protein comes from seafood. For example, my Our tasting menu now includes 80% seafood-based dishes. We use spices similar to those used here: cardamom, bay leaf, long pepper, and black pepper. But this is a dish that was created out of necessity and has since evolved. It’s an evolution of seafood,” she added.
Elaborating on some of the Bahraini dishes on the menu at Fusions by Tala, she says, “I love Bahraini food. “Bahrain tikka is different from Indian tikka. It is considered a street food and consists of small pieces of lamb marinated in black lime, skewered and cooked over charcoal. Served as a dish. Another signature dish on my tasting menu is muhammara, which is rice sweetened with date molasses and served with salty fried fish. So it’s a combination of sweet and salty. , that’s the first thing on my tasting menu.”
Some of the dishes she made for me in Mumbai that I enjoyed for lunch included Buranya. (A dessert featuring lamb, charred eggplant, mint, atlaf altibe), honeycomb-inspired mango, white chocolate, smoked honey and chamomile.But that’s her signature The green onion and clams (green onion ravioli, clams, and finger limes) stood out to me as it featured green onions as the star rather than a supporting character in most dishes out there.
Bahrain’s lost recipes
Chef Tara is also on a mission to revive some of Bahraini’s traditional recipes. “If you talk to the current generation, you’ll have no idea what Bahraini food is unless you go to your grandmother’s house and eat there. An elderly Bahraini man from whom I buy fish introduced me to different types of fish and told me about the traditional dishes made from them. One example is a dish called Muaddam. You rarely see this fish served in any restaurant.My father said that if you have a family of 10 people, you can’t afford to feed everyone one fish. They cooked a whole fish, sautéed it with ginger, garlic, onions, spices, and herbs, and spread it over rice. That way everyone got a little fish and rice. So I think a lot of dishes have been lost, but I’m trying to bring them back and bring back that spirit and education through tasting menus.”
Ceva is also a dish that can be found in Bashmi’s restaurants and was often made by her grandmother. “It’s shrimp dumplings stuffed with raisins and onions and simmered in tamarind sauce. I haven’t changed much. I’ve just used the techniques I learned as a chef to slightly refine them, but that’s about it,” she says..
fight against sexism
As a female chef from the Middle East, Bashmi faced a lot of sexism early in her career. However, she got through it by staying focused on her job. “Standing up for yourself is really hard but important. It’s really hard when you’re young and just starting out. You end up being scared to say something, but I’ve always told women that I’m like a mentor. “You always hope you have someone on your team who you can trust and have a conversation with. But it’s so important to speak up and stand up when someone crosses the line,” she says. Advice to up-and-coming female chefs.
About her future plans
Although Bashmi has a lot of things she wants to work on at Fusions by Tara, she admits that she is spending her days as she pleases. For now, her upcoming projects include supporting refugee camps in the Middle East. “In Ramadan, we will have iftar and cook food for them. As we move from camp to camp, there will be fewer people in the world who only think about themselves, and we will help others.” “Because I think we need more people. The world doesn’t need more celebrities, actors, musicians, celebrity chefs. We need more people. That’s what I’m trying to do,” she said. says.