RIYADH: Italian food aficionados in Saudi Arabia might want to consider changing their travel plans to include Qatif, the small coastal city which is about to get a major culinary upgrade as its first fine-dining restaurant prepares to open its doors.
Saudi chef Ali Al-Jishi, a 23-year-old graduate of the Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland, will launch Osteria Dal Nonno after studying under the acclaimed Italian chef Francesco Gasbarro in training reminiscent of scenes from TV series “The Bear.” The restaurant is expected to open in around three months at C-Front in Qatif.
Although he harbored ambitions to study at culinary school for a long time, Al-Jishi’s parents took some convincing that it could lead to a successful career, he said. After eventually winning them over, he travelled to Switzerland as part of the Kingdom’s first batch of Cultural Scholarship students in 2019.
AlJishi hosted five cooking classes for kids and one for adults, where participants learned to make dishes from scratch. (Supplied)
“I thought it was going to be easy,” said Al-Jishi. “Like, ‘We’re just going to cook and eat some food.’ But no, it’s not like that at all.”
The training encompassed every little detail of what it takes to run a restaurant — from the nutritional value of every ingredient to accounting.
Al-Jishi did his first internship in Geneva under Gasbarro, who has two Michelin-starred restaurants, and a Bib Gourmand for Osteria Della Bottega.
HIGHLIGHTS
• The training encompassed every little detail of what it takes to run a restaurant — from the nutritional value of every ingredient to accounting.
• Although he harbored ambitions to study at culinary school for a long time, Ali Al-Jishi’s parents took some convincing that it could lead to a successful career.
• After eventually winning them over, he travelled to Switzerland as part of the Kingdom’s first batch of Cultural Scholarship students in 2019.
“The first three months were very hard, he didn’t allow me to cook in the kitchen,” Al-Jishi said, explaining that he was on mise-en-place duty, meaning his job was to prepare the ingredients and ensure that all the necessary equipment was ready to use.
Osteria Dal Nonno, will be the first fine dining restaurant in Qatif and promises to deliver in both experience and quality of the food. (Supplied)
“I started downstairs in a small room under the kitchen. It was very dark,” said Al-Jishi. “He was giving me 20 kilos of cherry tomatoes to cut into cubes every day. He had me picking the leaves off of parsley stems. And if I went up to him with a tray full of leaves and he saw one small stem, he would tell me to throw them all away and do it again.”
Gasbarro tried to scare him off a culinary career, telling him that “no one” makes it to the end of the six-month internship and that most quit or fail after two or three months. He also expressed doubts about how a young Saudi would fare in a high-end Italian kitchen.
After three months of grueling training that could have come straight out of “The Bear,” Al-Jishi finally moved to the kitchen, and eventually successfully finished the six-month internship.
AlJishi opened a pop-up stand for Osteria Dal Nonno in Qatif last December as a small test run. (Supplied)
“He was very strict, but it was actually a good thing. I learned more in the internship than I did at university,” said Al-Jishi. “I entered the restaurant on my first day as someone and I left as someone else.”
Al-Jishi knew that he wanted to return to Saudi Arabia and open a fine-dining restaurant in his hometown. And he knew he wanted it to be a place where people can enjoy authentic Italian cuisine and a high-end dining experience. The name of the restaurant, he said, is a nod to his school days.
“Everyone saw how obsessed I am with Italian food and Italian people, so they asked me: ‘Do you have anyone in your family that’s Italian?’ To which I replied ‘Yes, my grandfather is Italian’ as a joke.”
AlJishi hosted five cooking classes for kids and one for adults, where participants learned to make dishes from scratch. (Supplied)
And thus Osteria Dal Nonno (Grandpa’s Restaurant) was born.
Everything on the menu will be made from scratch — including 12 different kinds of pasta — and every dish has been meticulously curated. Al-Jishi gave Arab News a sneak peak of what to expect.
One feature dish is gnudi — a ricotta dumpling served with burnt onion, a butter sauce, and mushroom cream.
The chef also highlighted manzo — Italian dry-aged steak grilled on charcoal served on a bed of arugula salad and topped with parmesan and balsamic vinegar — and slow-cooked beef cheeks served with dark chocolate and smoked mozzarella on homemade focaccia.
Dessert will include a classic tiramisu, crème brulee, and “special” gelatos, including Al-Jishi’s favorite — Italian basil.
Breakfast dishes are inspired by Greek, French and local Qatifi fare. For example, the beloved Qatifi breakfast dish siwiya is getting an Italian remix and being made with angel hair pasta.
Al-Jishi has also focused on hiring mainly Saudi talent — especially Qatifis. He wants to be able to contribute to the growth of the city, and said that the restaurant is about giving the people of Qatif a place where they can celebrate marriages, graduations or just a good night out locally.
“I want people to see how Qatifi chefs can do big things,” he added.
In December, Al-Jishi opened a pop-up in C-Front in Qatif for three weeks to test out some of his food with the crowds and get a buzz going. It was a little difficult for the first few days because a lot of people were unfamiliar with real Italian dishes and kept asking for “pink sauce” or “chicken pasta,” he said. But once they tried his authentic offerings and word got out, Al-Jishi was making more than 300 servings of pasta a day with his friends.
Echoing his own internship experience, Al-Jishi wants Osteria Dal Nonno to be a place where other students and culinary graduates can spend time learning. He’s already had calls with ZADK Saudi Culinary Academy in Alkhobar to discuss future internships.
Al-Jishi is also opening the takeout-and-delivery-only Crumbs & Curry (serving katsu curry), which he said could potentially evolve into a casual dine-in spot.
As if that wasn’t enough, Al-Jishi also hosted several culinary courses in 2024, five for children and one for adults. “I want people to see how cooking can change the way you feel inside,” he said.
In that regard, Al-Jishi hopes to one day open his own academy where people can learn to make pastries, baked goods, pasta and even Arabic food.
“We should not forget about Arabic food because Arabic food is not easy,” he said. “I can’t say that I’m good at it, even now. For me, it’s harder than Italian food.”
