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Nasser Khlef, kitchen boss at Hyatt Regency Hotel - I already have my table in taverns all around Belgrade
Thursday, 22.10.2015.
15:21
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(Nasser Khlef)
When he first stepped on the soil of Belgrade, while still at the airport, he was thinking about returning to Dubai immediately given that he came from 40 degrees Celsius to a sub-zero temperature and snow. Because of this, he disliked the capital of Serbia for the first couple of months, while today, only a year later, he wishes he could stay here forever.
Although only 29, Abdul Nasser Khlef is the head chef at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Belgrade. He got this job owing to his ten-year international experience.
Chef Nasser was born in the city of Hama, Syria and was successfully building his career at hotels Waldorf Astoria and Grand Hyatt in Dubai before coming to Belgrade. He`s coming from a family which runs as many as about 15 restaurants in Syria. All his close and distant relatives are in the culinary business. They also own three cheese factories. Six of his uncles have few restaurants in Syria each, while his brother runs a restaurant in Dubai.
While still a kid, Nasser realized he wanted pursue a career in this creative business, which is why he decided to study gastronomy.
- My family runs several restaurants and they need people to manage these restaruants. I realized that this job cannot be learned from books, but only from practical experience. This is the reason why I spent so much time studying the family business - Nasser Khlef starts telling his story for eKapija.
He got educated in Syria and Dubai, leaving Syria as a very young lad to join the Academy in the Emirates.
Markets in Belgrade and Dubai are completely different, says Khlef.
Although the Serbian cuisine is new to him, he says that food is similar because both cuisines were under the influence of the Ottoman Empire.
When asked how he was coping with the responsibilities of the kitchen boss at a luxury hotel like Hyatt given that he was still relatively young, he said he did not feel like he was working for Hyatt.
- Generally, I do not see my job as working for Hyatt because I feel as if I was working at home. When you work at Hyatt with the colleagues I have, it is like working with your own family. 'Hyatt' in Arabic translates as 'life'. There are not many companies that can boast this fact. I have even got an impression that whoever leaves Hyatt once, both here and Dubai, often comes back.
He adds that working with motivated people is what he finds the most important.
Connection with Serbia
- I had a lot of friends from Serbia in Dubai and all of them were talking about nightlife in Belgrade. When I came here in December 2014, I exited the airport building and saw an abundance of snow. I immediately wanted to go back to where I came from. The former kitchen boss who waited for me at the airport asked me, "Why, you have been here only five minutes?". And I just told him, "But it's too cold" - our interlocutor remembers.
He says he hated Belgrade the first couple of months because he came from 40 degrees in Dubai to -14 degress in Belgrade.
- I first thought, "No way am I staying here," and then I discovered taverns. Now I have become a Serb.
Although head chefs at Hyatt hotels are changing every two or three years, Nasser hopes to stay in our country a bit longer.
He lived in Ukraine, Jordan, Turkey, cities like Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Dubai... The wish he has is to go to China after leaving Belgrade because he considers that market to be quite challenging. Although he believes that "Dubai has it all," that it has become a hub for all cultures, his opinion is that China represents a challenge, that it is a demanding market because "there are so many people to satisfy."
Karadjordje's steak and quince brandy
Khlef lives in the hotel and has no fixed working hours because it all depends on how many guests the hotel has and what their requests are. When he's finished with the work, he loves to go to a club. He jokingly says that people already recognize him when he spends the night out.
Khlef notes he has gained a lot of friends in Serbia because he approaches people open-heartedly. In addition to Belgrade, he also knows Zlatibor and likes to visit farms in Novi Sad.
Aside from his mother tongue Arabic and English, he also understands Russian and, we can freely say, Serbian which he has been learning ever since he fell in love with Belgrade.
Although living outside Syria for a long time, he is worried because of the situation his fellow citizens have found themselves in. To make it worse, his mother still lives in Syria. He has helped migrants with translation on several occasions, but he also witnessed situations when people of other nations falsely identified themsleves as Syrians.
Arabic nights in Belgrade
Talking with friends about opening an Arabic restaurant or nightclub in Belgrade, Nasser Khlef found a compromise and proposed to Hyatt Regency Hotel in Belgrade to organize Arabic nights in the hotel. The idea was such a success that they now plan to organize Arabic nights every two weeks.
The Arabic cuisine brings flavors and scents of the Orient, dishes are prepared according to Islamic principles and in line with HALAL standards. Thanks to Nasser, the menu of the restaurant at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Belgrade now includes authentic Arabic snacks and traditional specialties from that region, such as hummus, grilled halloumi cheese, Fattoush, Mashawi mushakaleh, Shish kebab, kofta kebab, Arabic bread, as well as dishes with sea fruits, grilled shrimps, mullet and bass in tahini sauce. Apart from a wide range of appetizers, main dishes, salads and sauces, those with a sweet tooth also have a chance to try Oriental desserts and exotic fruit salads.
Chef Nasser is committed to a mysterious skill of combining spices, different flavors and scents, using olive and sesame oil and the greatest variety of spices: cumin, harissa, cardamom, cayenne pepper, saffron and, of course, tahini paste which gives dishes a specific flavor and aroma.
At first, most of the groceries were bought in the Near East, while now plenty of them can be found in Belgrade as well.
Jelena Djelic
Hyatt Regency Belgrade Hotel a.d. Beograd