Silvena Rowe is on a mission: to make Emirati food more alluring. “You think of French restaurants, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and these places have this whole aura,” she says. “Customers think they’re alluring and sensuous. And I suppose they are.
“But that’s a reputation we should also be trying to elevate Arabic and Emirati food to. Because taste-wise and experience-wise it is every bit as good as all those others.”
The kitchen queen – owner-chef of three Dubai restaurants, TV star, and Friday’s very own Domestic Diva – thinks for a moment.
“In fact,” she says, “for me, it’s better. It’s authentic.”
It is for this reason, perhaps, that she is the headline ambassador for the 2015 Dubai Food Festival (DFF).
The mammoth extravaganza – currently running across the city until February 28 – is in its second year. And this time the focus is on highlighting the benefits of eating local, eating healthy and eating Arabic. Individual events will include street food markets, food-and-film nights, and five-star restaurant tours (one by helicopter, no less).
But at the heart of everything will be a desire to put traditional UAE food and the produce of traditional UAE farmers into the city’s consciousness.
And that, says Silvena – whose latest venture, Omnia by Silvena, which opened in Downtown Dubai earlier this month – is especially satisfying. “My restaurants are all about this,” says the mother-of-two who also runs Omnia Gourmet and Omnia Blue in Jumeirah Fishing Harbour. “They are about showcasing the best food from this region; promoting local and organic produce; and giving people an incredible, mouth-watering experience at the same time.
“My menus are filled with modern takes on traditional Arabic foods like gasheed [sustainable baby shark], Emirati fois gras made with lulu dates, and Emirati masala made with traditional bezar spices. Plus 65 per cent of all our ingredients are produced locally.
“The food festival is building on what I’ve been doing for years. It’s brilliant for the city.”
Silvena has just completed a 9km run along the beach when we speak. She’s out there every morning at 8am. That might explain why, as she approaches her 50s (she refuses to give an exact age) she looks amazing.
With her platinum blonde hair, trademark vampish eyes, statuesque frame and no-nonsense attitude, she’s equal parts friendly and equal parts intimidating.
And while she could spend hours talking about the diet that helps keep her in such good shape (25 per cent of everything she eats is raw and she generally eschews carbs), today she’s here to talk about the DFF.
And who can blame her? In a city renowned for festivals, this surely has to be among the best. Certainly it’s the most taste-tastic. Silvena herself has been at the forefront of most of it.
Just the other day she was among city chefs giving cooking demonstrations in The Dubai Mall, offering shoppers tips on how to make delicious raw foods. Before that she went into a number of different schools to talk to children about healthy food. And at the opening weekend she was one of the main draws in the Chef Dome at the three-day Dubai Food Carnival showing how to cook good food using local produce at home.
“I enjoy doing demonstrations as I am very passionate about food and because people like me,” she says. “I’m very well known now and that’s nice. There are other celebrity chefs in Dubai, but none are doing what I am doing. None are women either.
“You know when someone mentions [a brand of fast food], you know exactly what they mean? In Dubai, I think that is the same with Omnia. When someone says it, you know they mean a restaurant where you will get quality, healthy, organic, local food that’s well done.”
Indeed, her restaurants have also featured on the festival’s Mystery Dining Tours where diners are whisked around the city enjoying different courses in different restaurants.
Non-Silvena events at the DFF have included the Ripe Food and Craft Market in Zabeel Park; a street-food photography exhibition at Dubai International Airport; and Gulfood, the world’s largest annual food, beverage and hospitality trade show, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
Still to come is The Urban Farm (a Creek-side market featuring stalls serving up local treats) that runs next weekend.
Silvena reckons the events she’s involved with are among the best (of course) but she also reckons the Beach Canteen has been especially good for the city. Running throughout the entire festival, this has seen 11 city restaurants (including Chez Sushi, Pantry Cafe and Moti Roti) set up pop-up street food stands and stalls at Kite Beach. It’s attracted huge numbers.
“If it was up to me, this would run all year long,” says Silvena. “You have everything you need there – great eating, the beach, the sea, lots of people socialising. It’s a wonderful thing. I have eaten there a few times and it’s always a lovely atmosphere.”
As for Silvena herself, the food fest is just one of a number of ongoing projects.
Above and beyond all else, she says, is her continuing quest to turn Dubai into a healthy city.
Few people would disagree that it’s needed. Obesity is a major issue in the UAE with 66 pr cent of men and 60 per cent of women living here overweight according to a study released in 2014. And almost 20 per cent of people here suffer with diabetes, thought to be caused by a high-sugar diet.
In the past Silvena has advocated slim-while-you-sin deserts and eating more raw foods to improve health. She’s still fully promotes both those things, but today – in line with the festival’s aims and ambitions – she is also banging the drum for eating local.
The benefits, she explains, are several, both for the individual and the community. “If more of us ate more fruit and vegetables, herbs and spices, produced by farmers right here, this would be a healthier, happier and more environmentally friendly city.”
Indeed, studies conducted by the University of Vermont in Canada have shown fruit and vegetables consumed within the locality in which they are grown are significantly higher in nutritional value.
The reason is that vitamins, minerals and nutrients begin to diminish within two days of picking.
For similar reasons, local produce lasts longer once bought and generally tastes better because its simple sugars haven’t started to break down into starch.
If it’s organic, meanwhile, chemical fertilisers and pesticides have not been sprayed on the produce.
And then there’s the important aspect of farming techniques. Farms in the UAE are almost always small-scale rather than industrial. That means they don’t mass-produce one line of product. They grow a little of a lot. And the things they do grow – cucumbers, asparagus, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, dates, chillies and onions, among others – are foods that are packed with vitamins, iron, alpha-lipoic acid and choline. All of which help reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart issues, Alzheimer’s and even cancer.
Silvena knows all that better than most. She’s spent many a happy hour on farms, looking for suppliers to her restaurants.
“The farms in the UAE have to adhere to very strict standards,” she says. “And the ones I use have to adhere to my standards too. I go and visit and they are always lovely places, well-run with people so knowledgeable about their produce.”
And the benefits aren’t just for the individual either. Silvena points out that if more of us bought local that would boost agriculture here, which would lead to a trio of benefits. Firstly, it would help the rural economy. Secondly, it would lead to a more self-sustained country. And, thirdly, it would vastly reduce the UAE’s carbon footprint because of the need for fewer air miles.
“This is what we are trying to encourage,” says Silvena. “Dubai has come a long way… but imported foods still account for 98 per cent of everything consumed in the city. That needs to come down. There is a shift starting to happen towards local and organic produce, and I am at the forefront of that. It won’t be easy to change people’s habits but the benefits are there.”
Silvena is a busy woman and it’s coming up to lunch time. She’s spread her organic message but I keep her talking for a few more minutes about her own plans.
The daughter of a Turkish-born journalist and a Bulgarian housewife, she left London with husband Malcolm to come here some 15 months ago after establishing her name in the UK as a chef of considerable talent.
She learned to cook at home while bringing up her two sons, and then rose from chef at a Notting Hill café to opening up her own restaurant, Quince, attached to the world-famous May Fair Hotel. She also became something of a TV star, appearing as the guest chef on UK staples such as This Morning and Saturday Kitchen.
She moved to the UAE, ultimately, because of the sheer opportunity – and her first restaurant proved she was right to do so.
Omnia Gourmet was an instant hit, featuring healthy dishes for foodies. In the past three months she has also opened Omnia Blue, just next door, and Omnia by Silvena in Downtown. Omnia Blue is all about lobsters and burgers; while the latter is a far more glitzy affair.
“It’s one of the best restaurants in Dubai,” says Silvena. “It’s glamorous, a real five-star, fine dining experience. There’s sumptuous art by Tunisian graffiti artist eL Seed all over the walls and the food celebrates Emirati-Arabic culture.
“There’s a diamond-shaped ‘top table’ private eating area to add to the glamour and the kitchen is over two floors. It’s already proving very popular.”
Not that she’s happy with just that. She plans to open three more places in Dubai this year – similar to Gourmet – and then stretch her empire into Abu Dhabi.
And then? Well, international domination is the goal. She has Kuwait, then the US in her sights.
“Why not?” she says. “I think every city deserves food as good as this.”
