Simply Abu Dhabi Magazine XVII

5 9 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I Executive Head Chef – Mohamed Ourad Executive Head Chef Ourad received his training at the national Cookery and Hospitality College in Algiers. After further studies in France, he spent two years cooking in France and the UK before returning to Algiers. There he opened the Hilton Algiers as Executive Sous-Chef and the Saint George Hotel as Head Chef. Ourad was appointed Executive Head Chef at Momo in 1999 and has continued to elevate the standard and variety of North African cuisine offered at Momo Restaurant Familial. In 2000, he played an integral part in compiling the award-winning Momo Cookery Book, which has achieved a worldwide reputation. In 2002 he set up the opening of Momo in Selfridges, Oxford Street, London. Then, Ourad moved East and in 2006 opened the Almaz by Momo restaurant in Harvey Nichols, Dubai – a superb amalgamation of modernist North African design and food. In 2008 the Prada Foundation asked the Momo team to help set up the Double Club Pop-Up Restaurant & Bar, an installation of a Congolese and Western bar and restaurant by world-renowned artist Carsten Holler. Ourad then set up and run Momo at the Souqs in Beirut, which was opened in 2010, followed by Al Tayer’s second Almaz in The Galleria at Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi in 2013 and the third one at The Beach opposite JBR, Dubai in 2014. Almaz by Momo Founder – Mourad Mazouz Mourad Mazouz was born in Algeria in 1962; he moved to Paris in 1977 and has been living in London since 1995. Mazouz opened his first bistro Au Bascou in Paris in 1988. Since then, he has launched the 404 restaurant in Paris and the phenomenally successful Momo Restaurant Familial in London in 1997, which won the Evening Standard Bar of the Year award in its first year of trading. In 1999, Mazouz expanded Momo by opening the Mo’Cafe next door, an innovative venue concept of Bazaar and Kemia (Arabic tapas). He also financially supported the launch of Michelin-starred restaurant Club Gascon in Smithfield Market. In 2002 Mazouz opened his most visionary project to date, Sketch, with three-Michelin-starred chef Pierre Gagnaire. A tribute to superb gastronomy and cutting-edge art, Sketch is now a London institution having won a host of major awards, including its first Michelin star in 2005. “My success in both Paris and London led to many partnership offers from entrepreneurs and investors. I always resisted the temptation of an easy expansion, instead focusing on developing my places and expertise with discernment and no sense of urgency,” Mazouz explains. “I need to feel and experience the spaces I create as they come to life. I’m not a chef and I’m not a businessman with a multitude of chain restaurant brands either. I’m a restaurant owner. Food is the central element, and what I care about is the heart and soul of each and every restaurant I create. I wouldn’t be content with just replicating a certain style like a formula.” In 2006, in partnership with Al Tayer Group, Mazouz opened his first Almaz by Momo restaurant in the UAE in Harvey Nichols Dubai, and the Abu Dhabi location opened at The Galleria on Al Maryah Island in 2013. The third and latest addition to the UAE locations is a new two-floor restaurant at The Beach opposite JBR, opened in 2014. Mazouz has published a culinary journey through North Africa, The Momo Cook Book (2000), which has subsequently been translated into five other languages: French, Spanish, English, Dutch and German. Mazouz is also the founder of the Mo’Zik record label, which aims to create a diverse musical universe that crosses the boundaries of Eastern, Western, contemporary and traditional music. The latest CDs produced by the label include Sketch 02 day, Latinesque and Arabesque 4.