The World’s Best Pastry Chefs Come Together for an Empowering Lunch
In 2020, Japanese Chef Natsuko Shoji was recognized as Asia’s Best Pastry Chef. Two years later, she scooped Asia’s Best Female Chef 2022 award.
That same year, Emirati Chef Sahar Al Awadhi was awarded the MENA’s first-ever Best Pastry Chef accolade, setting her sights on expanding her culinary influence beyond the sweet kitchen and into the savory. But how can one navigate such a course without a guiding star?
On a warm sunny day in June, Shoji, who had tread this path before, joined Awadhi for a very personal lunch; both chefs drew on their past experiences and future aspirations to craft a unique menu that showcased their formidable talents.
The setting for the first lunch of this edition of Cairo Food Week was The Dinner Club at Bouy. Envisioned by its founders Ahmed Ganzoury and Kareem Nabil to be an intimate dining experience, one that brings Egypts’ creative and intellectual minds in conversation with a different chef each time, it was the ideal venue for this collaborative meal.
Both chefs sought to integrate the flavors of the United Arab Emirates and Japan in a single menu: The result was as bright and refreshing as the setting we inhabited. Unsurprisingly, seafood featured prominently on the menu due to both nations’ historical reliance on the sea as a main source of protein. This common ground allowed the back and forth to be cohesive, leaving us to play a fun game of “Which dish, which chef.”
Written by Wesam Masoud
The entree was ‘Mehyawa Churros,’ a tongue-in-cheek reference to a fried egg breakfast. The crisp churro dusted with mint powder was used to sop up the faux egg yolk and lemony “whites,” with flourishes of a tangy fermented Iranian fish sauce that were deeply delicious. As an opening dish, it stated clearly that alongside the delicious food, we would be treated to the culinary conversation; each dish would contain a backstory of a personal nature to each of the chefs.
Chef Natsuko Shoji of été, Asia’s Best Female Chef 2022
Crispy Tilefish
The next dish came covered in gold: citrus fruit arils in a bowl arranged in the shape of a flower, adorned with smaller sunflowers to the right and left. Underneath the flower, inside a hollowed-out pomelo was a sea bream tartare. Shoji appeared at our table, lifted the flower and spread the arils onto the fish, demonstrating that it takes only two seconds to destroy something that took 30 minutes to assemble. She flashed a shy smile, thanked us for listening and left us to ponder the intricacy of her composition.
This dish was created specifically for the event, drawing on the sun being an important icon for Ancient Egyptians.
What followed was Shoji’s signature dish ‘Caviar Mille-Feuille’: caramelized layers of pastry sheets with sweet-tart golden berries and briny caviar. Arguably, it is this dish that earned her the Asia's Best Female Chef title, and rightfully so; it’s both daring and inventive. It also perfectly encapsulates the blending of flavors and techniques from both the sweet and savory kitchens.
After the mille-feuille, Awadhi served ‘Malleh Tacos’ featuring cured mackerel. Accompanying the composition was a tomatillo and lemon confit that delivered a profoundly satisfying accent, while the green, barely-steamed tortilla guaranteed tenderness with every bite.
Mehyawa Churros
Chef Sahar Alawadhi MENA’s Best Pastry Chef, 2022
“For me the image of Cairo is the Sun. I wanted to create something custom & emotional, that reflected the Sun over Egypt.”
- Chef Natsuko Shoji
Pomelo Flower
We were then offered a crispy, skinned tilefish with white asparagus and kombu consommé. A pleasantly delicate rebuttal to the mackerel, the dish boasted layers of texture and subtle flavors that evolved with every chew.
The sixth dish came as a collaboration between both chefs: steamed corn rice with carabineros and Salona sauce, the Emirati equivalent of a French Bisque. Both the rice and corn nibs were steamed in a corn husk. Meanwhile, a pair of large prawns sat in a pool of red orange sauce with a pile of bright red pickles.
The last word of the afternoon’s conversation arrived as a singular sphere, a bold culinary statement: Om Ali 2.0. Native to Egypt, playing up Om Ali may be seen by some as audacious. But the bursting flavors of white chocolate mousse flavored with rosewater, crispy pistachio, coconut cream and toffee sauce did not disappoint. And at the end of the night, both chefs received raucous applause and a standing ovation.
This celebration of two powerful chefs ignited conversations on female representation in the food industry at large, an issue that remained on our minds and in discussions all week. It was also a testament to the beauty of collaboration.
Malleh Tacos
Ahmed Ganzoury & Kareem Nabil , Gn’K Group
“There was a lot of cohesiveness. We have sort of similar backgrounds and I guess our thought process was the same, and without even deciding, somehow it became a seafood menu.”
- Chef Sahar Al Awadhi
Chef Natsuko’s team in preparation
Chef Ellie Baddour, KIKI’s
Chef Wesam Masoud & Chef Sahar Al Awadhi
