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The kingdom’s own celebrity chef, Tala Bashmi, currently starring in a popular reality TV cooking series, will soon be crowned the first Bahraini to have a signature restaurant at a five star luxury property.

Final preparations are in place to open ‘Fusions by Tala’ at the Gulf Hotel Bahrain Convention and Spa in the New Year following extensive refurbishment and rebranding, alongside the unveiling of the 50-year-old property’s first-ever rooftop terrace.

“I’m so excited, delighted and very humbled by the opportunity,” said the award-winning 31-year-old culinary star from East Riffa, who has developed her own unique style of Bahrain fusion cuisine which has impressed judges during the current series of MBC’s Top Chef Middle East.

Normally, hotel signature restaurants in Bahrain are named after international culinary icons like the Gulf Hotel’s own Rasoi by Vineet, operated under the wing of chef-restaurateur Vineet Bhatia, three times awarded a Michelin star, and the Italian La Pergola by Giancarlo Perbellini, another multi-Michelin star partnered attraction.

But hotel executives have long known they had an iconic home-grown talent in their midst. Chef Tala picked up the coveted Gulf Hotel Group’s CEO Award, presented annually in recognition of an ‘outstanding contribution’ to the success of the company by an employee at any level of the organisation.

The former Ibn Khuldoon National School pupil signed up for the hotel’s management training programme in 2014. “The training lasted around one-and-half years and it consisted of doing a rotation in the main kitchen, starting with butchery, and then continuing through all of the restaurants in the hotel,” she explained.

Chef Tala attended the Culinary Arts Academy in Luzerne, Switzerland for two years and received an MBA in Culinary Management. Putting that knowledge to the test came next with internships at some of the leading restaurants in Switzerland such as the Les Trois Rois in Basel and Prisma in Park Hotel Vitznau.

She joined the hotel’s Fusions team at the end of September 2018 as Senior Sous Chef before taking up the head chef’s role and responsibilities and officially being appointed three months later.

Chef Tala says her family is the ‘biggest influence’ when it comes to food. Her mother Layla, an artist, ‘grows so many beautiful vegetables’ for the family, she said, and her father, Ebrahim, a retired leading journalist, has a ‘wealth of knowledge about local ingredients’. She has two elder sisters, Luma, scientific research and development head at King Hamad University Hospital, and Rawan, a retail executive.

One of her culinary creations is a unique take on the humble Bahraini Tikka dish. She has completely modernised the black lime-marinated beef offering, for example, using Bahraini bread to soak up the juices, with added foie gras for an added taste explosion.

On the TV show, insiders filming in Beirut revealed to GDNonline that when German celebrity chef, Thomas Bühner, joined the regular judges on one episode, he thought Chef Tala’s salmon offering was so superb it was the ‘only dish’ he would happily put on his own menu!

The spotlight will remain on her at Fusions by Tala as the new restaurant will feature an open kitchen with one special ‘chef’s table for six’ intricately placed offering a ‘theatrical view’ of the chef and her team in action.

There will be 48 seats inside the fine-dining restaurant and 25 of the 95 outside terrace seats will offer guests choices from the main menu. The interior look will be minimalist as Chef Tala doesn’t like ‘clutter or overly ornate decorations’. With neutral tones, the oak tables will add warmth to the ambience alongside the gallery-like displays showcasing the work of local artists.

Chef Tala has also created lounge / tapas-style offerings for the other guests enjoying the stunning views of the Manama skyline on the new rooftop terrace.

·        Episode 2 will be broadcast on MBC on Wednesday at 9.30pm. At least one of the professional chefs competing will be ousted from the show each week until the grand finale.