CUISINE queen Tala Bashmi has been recognised as the best female chef in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.
The Bahraini, who leads the team at Fusions by Tala at the Gulf Hotel, Convention and Spa, has been named the winner of the Middle East and North Africa’s Best Female Chef Award 2022.
“It is an absolute honour to be awarded with the first Best Female Chef Award as part of the inaugural Mena’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022,” Ms Bashmi, 33, said.
“It has always been a dream to put my culinary heritage on the global map, highlighting it not only within the Mena region but around the world. One of my main goals as a chef is to bridge the gap between high-end gastronomy and simple food, making each meal a journey.”
Ms Bashmi will receive the accolade at the debut edition of Mena’s 50 Best Restaurants award ceremony, set to take place in Abu Dhabi in February next year.
In 2018, Ms Bashmi took the helm as head chef of the Fusions restaurant, and last year, she became the first Bahraini chef to have a signature restaurant at a five-star luxury property.
In 2019, she competed in MBC’s Top Chef Middle East, impressing judges with her unique style of Bahrain fusion cuisine.
Ms Bashmi attended the Culinary Arts Academy in Luzern, Switzerland for two years and received an MBA in Culinary Management. “Working in the hospitality sector isn’t a nine-to-five job,” she earlier told our sister newspaper Gulf Weekly. “You spend long hours, actually most of your hours, at work but it is one of the most rewarding things you could ever be part of. You can find a sense of purpose that would be very difficult to find elsewhere.
“My family is my biggest influence when it comes to food. My mother grows so many beautiful vegetables for us and my father has a wealth of knowledge about local ingredients and dishes. I realised I wanted to be a chef when I was 16 but I never acted on it until later on.”
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