Opening Spice Market and Market in Qatar

I was in in Doha, Qatar last week, opening both a Market and Spice Market in the city’s new W Hotel. It was thrilling to be in such a different part of the world. Despite its relative proximity to India, Asia, and Europe, it retains its own unique culture.Perhaps most surprising is the popularity of falcons. Throughout the city, guys with falcons perched on their arms (covered with laced metal gloves, of course) stroll casually down the street. Sometimes, there were so many of them, I felt like I was on the movie set of The Birds. It was fascinating to learn about the history of falconry in the Arab world, and just cool to see the birds everywhere.

On my last trip here, two and half years ago, the neighborhood surrounding the W was barren. Now, there are over a dozen high rises lining the street. Doha is growing so fast, it seems like a new building pops up every five minutes.

We’re in one of the many luxury hotels here, but I think we bring something new to the scene. The dining room at Spice Market is just one example of that.Although my dishes are quite modern, I keep the white tablecloth service old-school. Most of my cooks and waitstaff come from India, Bangladesh, and Southeast Asia, and they offer a very natural, gracious style of service.

Of course, we also try to work with local ingredients as much as possible. At the fish market, I found great shrimp, rock lobster, and hamour, which closely resembles grouper.

To find the best source of meat, I went to few different markets to check out the lamb, goat, and chicken. (We’re using lamb in place of pork in our dishes, and it tastes great in Spice Market’s satay and vindaloo.)
In Qatar’s culinary culture, most restaurants offer many dishes, so we expanded our Spice Market menu to include a section of meze. Training my chefs to do all these new dishes meant I spent most of my time in the kitchen, but I did get out to see Doha’s beautiful Museum of Islamic Art.This was actually a quiet opening of the restaurants. Once we have everything running perfectly, we’ll throw a grand opening in May orJune. That being said, this was a pretty spectacular opening. On Sunday night, someone from the emir’s palace called and asked us to deliver thirty-five dishes from both restaurants. The next night, the emir himself, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, showed up in the dining room. In his long white robes, he was incredibly striking and elegant.

While I was there, four of the five wealthiest Qatarians dined with us as well. From my experience, that segment of our clientele usually requires extra hospitality on our part, but they were also amazingly hospitable, kind, and friendly to me and my staff. It was a joy cooking for them—and everyone else who came to our restaurants—and I can’t wait to return.