Dubai has a new chef for hire
Dubai; Guess what, FooDiva’s discovered a new ‘chef for hire’ in Dubai (or rather he found moi), so if you’re planning a dinner or lunch party over the festive season and don’t fancy the hassle of grocery shopping and cooking, here’s who you turn to. Chef Tomas, or Tom for short, describes himself as your very own personal chef where he will pretty much take care of your catering from menu planning and grocery shopping to cooking and even washing up (he brings his own crockery and cutlery too!) All you need to do is set the table and get the booze in; oh and invite your guests of course.
Chef Tom
Chef Tom hails from the Czech Republic, yet thanks to many years of experience in the kitchens of UK restaurants could almost pass for a fresh-faced Brit lad. Having developed a passion for Chinese and Japanese cuisine, the Asian influence is strongly weaved into his menus. Believe it or not, he also loves growing vegetables in his own back garden – currently he has mini crops of zucchini, pea shoots, rocket, mustard cress and sweet basil blossoming.
To give you an idea of Chef Tom’s culinary repertoire, he pulled together the above menu for a dinner party for eight chez FooDiva, and surprisingly was the first time he’s concocted these exact dishes. Gotta love his spontaneity.
Chef Tom’s canapés are substantial and help get the taste buds rolling – a parmesan basket (grated, melted and moulded) filled with a confit of pea, shallot, tarragon and garlic – and a seared Wagyu ribeye sprinkled with pickled beetroot and parsley on a slither thin rye cracker. Perfect with some rose bubbles.
Two starters – one cold; zucchini flowers with a St Maure goats cheese, and his own home-made beetroot and parsnip vegetable crisps. Pretty like a well-manicured garden. And one hot; chicken and scallion gyoza; those divine Japanese dumplings on a bed of soya sauce with shreds of chive. Hands down FooDiva’s favourite dish off the menu.
Thanks to a nice gap between courses, we still had room for the main of roast leg of lamb (served medium to accommodate all guests preferences) with a butter bean cassoulet and pea puree – accompanied with rosemary and sea salt baby roast potatoes – the latter quickly devoured by all.
Dessert was light – roasted pineapple spiced with cloves, star anise, vanilla and a hint of coffee served with a generous dollop of mascarpone and drizzled with rum caramel. The pineapple’s alkaline content makes for perfect digestion.
If you love entertaining, but don’t want the stress of cooking, or the expense of dining out with over-priced beverage charges, then Chef Tom is your man. He comes FooDiva recommended :).
Chef Tom develops canapés, buffet or set menus for client events based on seasonal market ingredients (as well as his vegetable patch!) along with any dietary requirements. Price on request. T; +971 50 1579101. E; cheftom@gmail.com
Have you, or would you hire your very own chef for a private event?
FooDiva Friends if you are celebrating Christmas have a fabilicious day, and if not just make sure you eat well :). More next week.
A bientôt.
FooDiva. x
P.S – for more on Chef Tom and other chefs for hire, check out the January issue of Gourmet magazine – out January 5th.
I think chefs for hire will do good business in Cyprus…
Great article and good to know we have a great alternative to going out or sweating over the hot stove ourselves. Good luck Tom!
Thanks Tara. It’s good to see private chefs blossoming here.
Good luck Tom. Happy X-mass.
interested to see what your jan article makes of dish.ae – i was at a party last night that they catered for. interesting food, really friendly and unobtrusive staff and reasonable pricing per head.