DUBAI: For Omar Basiony, eating has always been more than just about meals, it has been a way to connect with culture, family and identity.   

“I’ve always loved cooking,” he tells Arab News. “I’ve been passionate about cooking from a very young age.”  

Born to Egyptian and Italian parents, Basiony’s culinary journey began when he was just 13. “My mom had sent me to spend the summer with my uncle in Padua, Italy, and he got me a job working in a restaurant,” he says. “I came back like, ‘OK, this is all I ever want to do with my life.’” 

Basiony grew up in Chicago, which he describes as “a city of neighborhoods drawn on very ethnic lines.” He adds: “It became this gateway for me to explore different cultures through food.” 

After honing his skills at renowned kitchens in the US, including a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago, he moved to Dubai in 2014 to help open La Serre. His current role as executive chef at Bâoli Dubai reflects both his fine-dining background and the wide range of culinary influences he has encountered throughout his career. 

When you started out, what was the most common mistake you made? 

Probably not tasting the food enough. If there’s any takeaway in my kitchen that I try to instill over and over, it would be that.  

What’s your top tip for amateur chefs? 

Invest in your tools, because that way they’re going to last a while. And it makes cooking much more enjoyable if you have a decent knife, a decent pan, good scales. Sometimes recipes fail just because you haven’t either measured the ingredients properly or you’ve compromised on the vessel that you’re going to cook it in, or the oven you’re going to cook it in. 

What’s one ingredient that can instantly improve any dish? 

I think improving a dish isn’t so much about ingredients as it is about understanding the different roles they play, and how balance plays such a big role. So, say you’ve over-seasoned something, there’s a role that fat can play in diminishing the salt. That all goes a long way to improving the overall flavor and complexity of the way something tastes.  

When you go out to eat, do you find yourself critiquing the food?  

I just feel like I’m getting ripped off most of the time. Sometimes I get a plate and I’m, like, “Come on. I know how much money is in this plate.” So yeah, my major critique is: what are people putting on their plates? What are they charging us for? But I can forgive a lot if the food is good and it’s made with heart and soul, and you can feel that someone cares about what they’re doing. 

What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? 

Asian — something within the scope of either Japanese or Korean. I have an eight-year-old son, and there was a time when I was actually afraid to be alone with him, he was that attached to his mother. The first time we really began to build a bond as father and son was over dim sum. I’d pick him up from nursery and take him out for dumplings and noodles. Since then, I think I’ve essentially hardwired him to enjoy Asian cuisine. I picked him up from school the other day, and brought him to Baoli. I try to offer him pizza, and he says, “No, it’s OK. I can get pizza anywhere. I want the signatures from the restaurant. Don’t try and push the cheap stuff.” But yes, as a family, we’ve really developed a strong appreciation for Asian cuisine overall. 

What’s a customer request or behavior most annoys you? 

Sometimes we get people who will either pre-order or push for food to arrive at a certain time. And then, you know, you activate this whole apparatus to make sure that happens, which is an undertaking, and then they don’t respect the time. I’m not a punctual person in my personal life, but in my professional life I’m very punctual. 

What’s your favorite dish to cook? 

I love to work over fire and over charcoal. So anything that’s coming off of the restaurant’s wood burning grill is a lot of fun. That element of dynamism that comes with cooking over live fire is very enjoyable. And it’s very much a craft — being able to harness it and utilize it in different ways.  

What’s the most difficult dish for you to get right? 

A perfect omelet is something that takes quite a level of mastery.  

What are you like as a leader? 

When I was a head chef, I was much more of a disciplinarian; there was a lot more yelling and shouting. Now, with a strong management team in place, I want them to feel empowered to run and manage the space themselves. A kitchen can very quickly become a tense, chaotic environment if everyone’s shouting. That’s never the kind of space I want people to work in. There’s only room for one voice of authority in a kitchen and, over time, I’ve learned that you don’t have to shout to earn respect or to maintain discipline. I do believe in the importance of discipline and, yes, at times there needs to be accountability. No one wants to be told they’re underperforming, but it’s worse when that message comes from everyone around them. That doesn’t motivate; it discourages. So, while I believe in maintaining standards, I also think it’s important to create an environment that encourages people to improve rather than fear failure. 

Chef Omar’s sea bass Provençale  

Provençale sauce 

¼ cup olive oil  

4 cloves of garlic, crushed 

50gm pitted nicoise olives, quartered 

1 tbsp capers 

500gm cherry tomatoes, quartered 

Sprig of thyme  

Sprig of fresh oregano 

½ cup semi dried tomatoes cut into chunks 

Salt to taste 

Method:  

Combine the olive oil and garlic in a wide, flat-bottomed sauté pan on low heat and cook gently until the garlic becomes golden and very fragrant. 

Add the olives and capers and continue to cook until aromatic. 

Raise the heat to medium and add the quartered cherry tomatoes and herbs. Cook the tomatoes until they begin to break down, releasing their juices and creating a silky sauce. 

Off the heat, add the semi-dried tomatoes and mix through the sauce. Adjust the seasoning as needed with salt. 

Allow to cool before using. 

When you’re ready to prepare the fish, start by preheating your oven to 200°C. You will need parchment paper and a baking tray large enough to fit the fillet or whole fish you will be baking. 

Lay a sheet of parchment paper out on the table—the paper should be large enough to enclose your fish like a well-sealed envelope. 

Drizzle a layer of oil on the paper and lay the fish on top. Season lightly with salt and add another drizzle of oil. Spread the prepared sauce evenly across the fish. 

Close the parchment paper, folding the edges to seal it tightly, ensuring steam will stay trapped inside your parcel. 

You may opt to also wrap the parchment in aluminium foil in case you are doubting your sealing skills. 

Bake for 20 minutes at 200°C or until cooked through. 

You can serve it directly to the table in the parchment paper, cutting the parcel open in front of your guests to many ooohs and aaahs, and a pleasant puff of steam and delicious cooking aromas. 

You can garnish with a pinch of fresh chopped herbs and a drizzle of olive oil.