He’ll collaborate with chef Stephen Gillanders of Valhalla fame.
It was a no-brainer, really — when we set out to recognise individual excellence through our inaugural ‘Chef of the Year‘ award at the FACT Dining Awards Dubai 2022, Reif Othman was an obvious winner. Now, the homegrown talent is gearing up to partner with chef Stephen Gillanders from Chicago for a collaborative chef’s table dinner. Entitled Chefs on Tour and hosted by Time Out Market, it will see chefs from different Markets come together to offer an exclusive, one-off dining experience.
Gillanders from Valhalla, the first standalone fine-dining restaurant at Time Out Market Chicago, will travel to Dubai to create a unique fine-dining experience alongside Othman on 19 March. Leading up to Chefs On Tour, the two award-winning chefs worked together to create a bespoke menu that showcases their joint talents and fuses their creativity and signature cuisines. The menu will feature several courses with new, never-before-served dishes by Othman and signature dishes by Gillanders.
The Valhalla menu items that he will recreate in Dubai will include crowd favourites such as Shaved Raw Hirame with green apple and Grilled Maitake Mushroom with finger chilli vinegar to name a few. He describes his soulful, Asian-inspired dishes as equal parts decadent, globe-trotting and personal — a summary of his entire career. As part of this collaboration, Reif Othman will serve a bespoke menu of unconventional dishes including Tartar date maguro with shio goma sauce and Codfish with Yuzu Togarashi cream, both reflecting his knack for culinary creativity.
Chefs on Tour offers a fine-dining experience – complete with specially-curated drinks pairings – set within the casual yet energetic environment of Time Out Market Dubai. Guests will be seated around a large communal table, right in front of the open kitchen where the two chefs will cook and present their menu. Prior to his trip to Dubai, Gillanders will stop in Portugal for the first leg of Chefs On Tour, where he will create a dining experience together with Chef Susana Felicidade at Time Out Market Lisbon.
Speaking of the upcoming event, Reif said, “I’m looking forward to welcoming Chef Stephen Gillanders to Time Out Market Dubai and introducing him to this city which has an excellent and rapidly evolving food scene and where consumers are always up for a new experience. It’s been thrilling to work with him across thousands of miles over the past few weeks to come up with an incredible menu and new dishes that complement his, bringing our ideas and cuisines together to create a chef’s table like no other for our guests. It’s going to be a truly fun, fine dining experience.”
The Chefs on Tour experience is priced at AED 650 per person. Seats are limited, and reservations will be taken on a first-come, first-serve basis.
GO: Visit www.timeoutmarket.com/dubai for more information.
