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Chef De Cuisine for Feeling Koi - Chef Jameel

Maldives

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Chef De Cuisine for Feeling Koi - Chef Jameel

PUBLISHED August 01, 2018 | updated June 14, 2020 00:15

Feeling Koi, a unique Japanese Izakaya-style restaurant at Huvafen Fushi, Maldives was created by the CEO and Curator of The Small Maldives Island Co. - Mark Hehir. Feeling Koi offers guests authentic modern Japanese dining presented in a playful, Latin-influenced style. Shared dishes are prepared using the finest quality ingredients and features exquisite, yet straightforward presentation with a Latin twist, paired with an informal and laid-back Izakaya-style dining to the Indian Ocean archipelago. Working in this exciting, elegant restaurant, which was previously nominated for the World Luxury Restaurant Awards in the, has been a dream come true for the Head Chef of Feeling Koi – Jameel. A passionate, hardworking and joyful culinary enthusiastic, Chef Jameel has devoted a significant part of his life to becoming a sensational chef. In one of our visits to Huvafen Fushi, the luxurious resort located in the North Malé Atoll; The islandchief got to meet Chef Jameel who spoke about his daily tasks, motivations and enthusiasm for cooking.   Tell us a little bit about yourself. I was born and brought up in South Male’ Atoll, in the island of Tha. Madifushi. Later, I did my Upper Grade education in K. Bodu Huraa island for five years. Meanwhile, I used to help Four Seasons Kuda Huraa on special occasions such as Christmas and New Year. Hence, this is how and where my hotel career first took shape. I've enjoyed preparing Japanese cuisine since 2006, and will continue with this cuisine which I am most passionate about, in the future as well. How did you find your passion for cooking? I became passionate about cooking while I used to help Four Seasons Kuda Huraa on their themed nights. Initially, I not only supported them in cooking, but also with setting up, stewarding, cleaning, etc. I love setting up the buffet table with various types of cuisines, it all looks very creative. Moreover, understanding the actions and works of different chefs encouraged me to be one amongst them. Deep inside, I have always wanted to wear the distinctive uniform that chefs wear and believed that I could be a good chef too in the future. After some time, I got the opportunity to join the Four Seasons Kuda Huraa Hotel Management Training Programme (Apprentice) of one year, and as soon as I completed that, I started to work in the kitchen. Initially, I worked in the Italian kitchen and later, transformed to my favourite - Japanese cuisine. For me, the kitchen is not only a place where you cook, it is also a place where you learn a lot more about different cultures and various types of cuisines. Tell us the story of how you ended up working in Huvafen Fushi? Well, that’s a very interesting story. I spent 12 years in One&Only Reethi Rah and three years in Four Seasons' three different properties. I have worked in One &Only Nobu in Cape Town, South Africa and did my training in Four Seasons Houston Texas, USA. But all this time I felt I should do something by myself, to go from ordinary to extraordinary. Thus began my search for something even more remarkable and unique. In the end, I got an offer from Huvafen Fushi to change the concept of the Salt restaurant to a Japanese idea “Feeling Koi’ and this sounded very exciting. When I first started working, I knew that developing up a kitchen from its baby stage is very challenging. However, with a positive state of mind, I took up this challenge and I am pleased with how it has shaped so far. My team and I are still trying to make our kitchen even more impressive with our teamwork, it is an ongoing process. What is your day to day tasks and responsibilities? When it comes to my daily tasks, I personally get involved in the day-today promotions of Feeling Koi for our esteem guests. I work closely with our Thakurus team and our front of the house team for the restaurant experiences. We ensure that we have the main ingredients and work on a list of products that are needed to be ordered, ahead of service. In the absence of the Executive Sous Chef, I take care of his responsibilities as well. What are the challenges of being a chef? And what keeps you motivated to work in the hospitality industry? The key challenge in restaurant trade is recruiting the right minded team who share your drive and passion. Fortunately, I am blessed as my team is very active, adaptable and experienced. We have a group of 5 chefs and I am pleased with the team I have. However I am pushing to Improve quality of the food day by day. Observing how the other chefs work and learning new things about their varied cuisines, helps me to improve day by day, gives me the motivation to work in this industry and deliver with passion. From where do you source your ingredients for Feeling Koi and how often do you change the menu? We started from the root, we met various suppliers and identified the ones who we can work with. For Japanese products, we have 4-5 suppliers from Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. We always plan the list of ingredients 14 days ahead of time since most of the products are brought from abroad. 99% of the times it is feasible to get the products we want. When we started, we have had a minimal menu and after three months; we added more varieties to it. I have been here for seven months, where we have changed the menu twice. Typically, we change the menu once a year. What would you recommend as the best dish from your menu? If you are looking for sushi and sashimi, I will recommend you “new style Sashimi”. The best thing about this is that people who do not like eating entirely raw can also relish this. I would also like to recommend Nigiri and Japanese toro, which is hard to get and is the belly portion of bluefin tuna. My favorite Hot dish from the menu is, “Japanese Wagyu Beef on hot rock” where we import the beef from Japan and it is very rare in Maldives. The best part of the products we use is that we not only bring them, but we store them in the right temperature as it should be. Therefore, we bought Supper Freezer from Japan that is (-)80.c. If you freeze and defrost from this freezer, the food tastes good and is fresh. And guests get the chance to see their food being prepared! Yes! In Feeling Koi, we have an open kitchen, so the guests will be able to see what we prepare and while we prepare the dishes. The most exciting thing about this kitchen is the “live lobster cage”, where the guests can look at how we pick, cut and prepare the lobster to eat. Tell us what makes Feeling Koi unique compared to other restaurants. The idea of “Feeling Koi” came from Mr. Mark Hehir, where he wanted to make a restaurant that gives something innovative, sometimes naughty and almost teases you with its playful combination and setting. In English, Coy means shy, understand and hidden and in Japanese, it can be taken as fish and love. Mr. Hehir wanted to make a unique tapas-style restaurant unlike most of the restaurants that have starters, main course and desserts. Here, the servings are petite to make it easier to indulge 4 or 5 different types of flavours. Feeling Koi has recently been nominated for World Luxury Restaurant Award. How do you feel about this? I am delighted about it. I feel very proud to work here. Firstly, Feeling Koi has two different branches; in Amilla Fushi and Huvafen Fushi. We have a similar menu, and there are some signature dishes for which we share the same recipe. Now, we are working as a team to make more dishes. Japanese cuisines are not as simple as it seems to be. We have Japanese consultants who visit and help us in prepare the recipes. What is your advice to the youngsters who enter this field? The kitchen is not a comfortable place to work. It is tough. In my first three months, I spent my time in peeling garlic, potato and onion, which tired me. However, later I realised that I have been learning and improving day by day. So that being the case, my advice is to keep working, learning and never give up. Always focus on what you are doing and target to reach the extraordinary. Be passionate, patient and always ask questions. That is most important thing to do when learning and it is the best way to explore new ideas. As the Island chief was speaking with Chef Jameel, we were joined by Ahmed Ali, the Operation Manager of Feeling Koi. The Island chief made use of this golden opportunity to get to know more about him and the restaurant. Tell us how you first ventured into the hospitality industry of the Maldives? I joined hospitality industry in the year 2009 when one of my friends suggested me to go to a job fair which was held in Male’, where I got a job from One and Only Reethi Rah Resort. Initially, I did not have much of interest in this field. However, after some time, I realised that this is an area from where I could professionally grow and develop myself, and that is how I found my interest in this industry. In the first year, I worked as a Bell Assistant to gain experience and grow from there to a higher position. Later, I accepted a job offer from the Restaurant Manager there, to work in the F & B department. Prior to that, I did my training in the restaurant while working as the Bell Assistant. It took me 1.5 months to learn more about the service and the menu. The realisation of how vast this department is and how much I could learn and improve my knowledge, compelled me to continue the work and build my passion. I love Japanese cuisine. Thus, the Restaurant Manager believed in my potential and hired me to work in the restaurant.

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