Nobody will defend teamwork like I do, success NEVER comes from the effort of just one person… there is always a team working around him (the person) don’t get all feminist on me…
Tell that to a Chef D’orchestre, he knows the value of team work when it comes to performing symphony… but the invisible keyword in this is “leading”… each team has a leader, a chef d’orchestre… and in the case of Bent el Sultan, we have: Executive Chef Rabih Chouman
From the very very first bite you have of any dish that was laid out on our table that night… you could sense a special aura surrounding every ingredient… but let’s not get carried away…
Bent El Sultan has all the configuration of a Middle Eastern café, its location facing an armed forces barracks is not the ideal, however, it’s still on a main street, which should give them a lot of visibility…
The décor inside was bright, the furniture comfortable with a clear penchant to the Ottoman Empire the music was playing international oldies instrumental versions… soft and soothing.
Throughout the experience the service was impeccable, a lovely atmosphere was set thanks to the relentless efforts of the 2 little bees of Pencell…
All this, had prepared our pallets to positively receive what quickly turn out to be a festin of creativity in presentation and taste embedded in the simplest dishes… Executive Chef Chouman truly reinvented the wheel…
It’s only after the feast, that I got to speak to Chef Chouman, and when he spoke his first word, his secret was out… Cast aside his self-confidence, his professionalism, his overflowing experience… his secret was simpler than that… it’s his passion, his love… And here, I hear you all saying:
-Man… every chef loves food and has passion for it…
To which I would reply:
-Absolutely true, but not in the case of Chef Chouman.
His passion and love aren’t specifically for food… it’s actually for feeding people and watch them enjoy every bite… watch them close their eyes as they assimilate each droplet of that pumpkin soup in their mouth… watch them get high with the Kale & Pomegranate salad that was presented, watch them trying to catch their breath while savoring that Mama Ghannouj, watch them twitch of pleasure while chewing on that Hassan Pacha, watch them reach heavens with the Iskandar filet, watch them climax with body tremors with that bite of Aysh el Saraya… only to watch them relax and lay on their back on that sofa… satisfied and filled, with glowing lost in space eyes… sipping slowly on that much needed refreshing Mint Lemonade…
The Tawook was a second orgasm on its own…
Donc voila, that’s where Chef Chouman’s passion and love goes to…
And I say that with absolutely no intention to minimize the role of every single person who participated in making those dishes, absolutely not… From the owner to the waiters, the teamwork effort was never as intense and coordinated as today… but what a hell of a Chef D’orchestre… what a symphony of tastes and flavors…
All what can one wishes is that they stay at this level and keep going… from now on… the sky is their limit… and only God knows there is no such thing as limit to the sky…
Gaston Ebn El Sultan
Leave a Reply