Celebrated chef Tala Bashmi, who is known for transforming traditional Middle Eastern cuisine into contemporary works of culinary art, has whisked up an international ranking for being one of the best in the world.
The 33-year-old Bahraini, who leads the team at Fusions by Tala at the Gulf Hotel Bahrain, Convention and Spa, is thrilled to be listed in the Top 100 Best Chefs for 2022, as well as being the only Arab to join the crème de la crème of the cuisine world.
“It’s beyond crazy, unbelievable and amazing to have the opportunity to even make it on this list,” said the former Ibn Khuldoon National School pupil and former captain of the Venus football team in the Bahrain Ladies Football League.
“To be among some of the greatest of all time chefs on this list – I’m so grateful, humbled and honoured.
“I am beyond excited to be able to now share our food; our Middle Eastern cuisine further. Being the only Arab chef who has made the list shows how much more exposure that we need in the region and that for me is a big thing.”
The Best Chef started in 2015 by Polish neuroscientist Joanna Slusarczyk and Italian gastronomist Cristian Gadau to globally unite the best thinkers and leaders in the world of gastronomy and fine dining and highlight their process.
In 2017, The Best Chef Awards: a ranking list focused on chefs was formed with awards held in Warsaw in 2017, in Milan in 2018, Barcelona in 2019 and in 2020 virtually over three days due to the global pandemic.
The competition starts with a shortlist of 200 nominees, including 100 ‘fresh faces’ as well as the Top 100 from the previous edition that automatically are nominated again.
The 100 fresh faces are then shortlisted through a group of 150 anonymous professionals including food journalists, critics, bloggers, photographers and others with fine dining knowledge that travel the world and discover talents.
The professionals include food journalists, critics, bloggers, photographers and other notable people with a broad knowledge of fine dining. They are all experts within the industry, and their choices for each of the fresh faces comes with an explanation as to why they recommend them.
Once there is a shortlist of 200 chef nominees, the voting begins for the Top 100.
This ranking is created by votes, via a secure online survey, from the 150 professionals as well as the current ranking Top 100 chefs and the 100 candidates.
Chefs’ votes make up 70 per cent of the final result and the professionals’ votes make up 30pc of the final results. Chefs cannot vote for themselves. Once the survey has been completed, the votes are then cast. The voting started at the beginning of May with a one-month window to vote.
“Thank you to those who voted,” Ms Bashmi stated on her @tala.bashmi Instagram account after being judged as number 93. “A big thanks to the best chef awards for making this happen.”
Ms Bashmi, who attended the Culinary Arts Academy in Luzern, Switzerland for two years and received an MBA in Culinary Management, joins other greats such as three Michelin star Spanish chef David Muñoz and Slovenian Ana Roš, who is the head of chef two Michelin star Hiša Franko restaurant and was featured in Netflix’s Chef’s Table.
Ms Bashmi has made quite a name for herself over the years as well by being the winner of the Middle East and North Africa’s (Mena) Best Female Chef Award 2022, as part of the inaugural Mena’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022.
She had interned in Switzerland at the Les Trois Rois in Basel and Prisma in Park Hotel Vitznau. She joined the Fusions team at the end of September 2018 as senior sous chef before taking up the head chef’s role and responsibilities. She was officially appointed three months later.
She also received the coveted Gulf Hotel Group’s CEO Award in 2019, presented annually in recognition of an ‘outstanding contribution’ to the success of the company by an employee at any level of the organisation.
She also competed in MBC’s Top Chef Middle East in 2019, impressing judges with her unique style of Bahrain fusion cuisine.
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