Silvena Rowe has cooked for royalty – including the ruling family of the UAE – rock stars – Tina Turner loves her inspired dishes and boy band One Direction booked a private dinner in her kitchen – Hollywood’s finest – Pirates of the Caribbean star Orlando Bloom is a fan – plus politicians and VIPs galore.
She has written several award-winning cookery books, makes regular appearances on British TV and became the poster girl for kitchen girl power the world over after heading up Quince, the smart restaurant at the iconic May Fair Hotel in London, with her mouth-watering menu.
Now the blonde baking bombshell has decided to leave all that behind for a taste of the very high life in Dubai. “This is just about the most exciting place for me at the moment,” she smiles. “I am blown away by the quality of food and foodies in this city. The mix of cultures and cuisines is like nothing I’ve ever seen in my extensive travels.
“In just one day you can eat real Yemeni food, real Ethiopian, real Moroccan, real Iranian and then some Egyptian, Iraqi and Lebanese – it’s incredibly diverse.”
A strapping 1.8m tall in her chef’s whites and flat shoes – and even taller with her killer heels – Silvena plans to bring her unique brand of cooking to the UAE.
She’s already at the helm of the glitzy H Hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road as the consultant chef, but a rumoured chain of her own restaurants in the region could be on the horizon. She’s keeping the details under wraps for now, but admits, “I have a number of solid offers and will make my choice based on location and the right partner.
“I will be possibly the only celebrity chef – as far as I know – to be located here full-time,” she says. “It’s the only way things will work the way I want them to work.”
Known for her “feline sensuality mixed with tough-as-old-boots attitude” by the British press, the mother-of-two is grateful for the culinary journey and success she has enjoyed in the UK.
Silvena is an exotic blend of ingredients. Her father was Turkish and her mother Bulgarian, but Silvena left Bulgaria when she was just a teenager and arrived in London at the age of 19, able to say only one word in English: hungry.
After marrying an Englishman and having her first son, she stayed at home and taught herself to cook from Delia Smith’s recipe books and got ideas from eating out. That led to her first job as a chef, where she cooked for high-profile private clients including Princess Michael of Kent.
With her striking looks, outspoken personality and outstanding culinary talent, it wasn’t long before she became noticed and was asked to cook on TV. As well as appearing regularly on BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen alongside James Martin and on ITV’s This Morning, she hosted her own BBC2 series, Country Show Cook Off, and was a judge on ABC’s Time Machine Chefs.
“I’m breaking glass ceilings, but I want to do so much more,” she told the Daily Mail a few months ago. And now she’s in Dubai preparing for the biggest and most exciting challenge of her career. Here Silvena tells Friday how she’s going to set discerning Dubai diners’ taste buds on fire.
Now that you’ve moved to Dubai, what are some of the unique challenges you’ve come across?
I love Dubai. My biggest challenge right now is the consistent supply of good-quality local produce. My new team at the H Hotel and I hope to overcome this soon and eventually promote local ingredients, producers and in the process be respectful of the local environment.
Was it difficult to find the right people to work with? What are some of the qualities you look for when recruiting?
This was a major challenge. In my new venue I will be looking for staff who share my drive, passion, vision and energy. I want people who can take ownership of everything that they do and I’ll encourage all the people I work with to be part of the vision and to deliver. After all, I am on board full-time.
What can we expect from the menu?
My menu is all about taste. I want every dish to be so delicious yet simple that you can’t stop eating! My menu is based on the great traditions of French cuisine and the alluring tastes of the Mediterranean with some lighter touches.
Does it reflect your personality?
I do think my menu and food reflect my personality. It’s all about robust, strong, honest flavours. And yes, I like to cook what people like to eat at the right price point.
Now that you’ve found your bearings in the UAE, what do you think of the food culture here?
Diversity is what creates a very warm, gourmet-friendly environment over here. Chefs in most five-star hotels are brilliant, and the food served in most restaurants is of a very high quality. The speed at which the food scene is changing here is remarkable, and I am hugely excited to be part of it. The food writing and blogging community here is exciting too – it is close, fair, unbiased, knowledgeable and driven by passion.
Have you got any favourite restaurants and dishes yet?
Oh, there are many. I have been very fortunate to make some special foodie friends and be shown the best-kept secrets of Dubai very early on! To name a few, I love the feteer meshaltet (toasted and stuffed Egyptian bread) that I tasted at a place in Deira; the spicy curries from Kerala that I eat with my hands – a first for me! – at Calicut Paragon in Karama; the Iraqi Maskouf fish – a real speciality; and, above all, the Omani halwa, [a sweet dish] which is quite similar to what my father used to make for us.
Have you got any regrets that you didn’t come here earlier?
I wouldn’t call it a regret. I would love to have started it all a lot earlier, but I was busy raising my sons. So you see, that’s one of the major reasons that there are only a few women at the helm of professional kitchens – we’re too busy being mothers. It’s not the only reason though. This is a hard, hard job with long hours. A kitchen is very similar to a military field – it needs discipline and organisation. Women are very good at it, but also the tough nature and long hours are often not appealing to most women. I think most women are more organised and better at organising others than most men, but then again I would say that!
You seem to be enjoying your time in Dubai so far. What do you like most about the city?
I love Dubai. I am having a delicious love affair with Dubai. I love how safe it is, how progressive and fast it is, but most of all I love its energy. It’s a perfect fit for mine!
