Omar Allibhoy

Omar Allibhoy
Born Madrid, Spain

Culinary career

Omar Allibhoy is a Spanish celebrity chef. He has previously worked at elBulli under Ferran Adrià and Maze under Jason Atherton. He is the founder of the Tapas Revolution group. He opened his first restaurant at Westfield London in 2011.

Early life and education

Omar Allibhoy was born near Madrid, Spain and began to cook when he was five years old.[1][2] He started taking evening cooking classes while still at school.[2]

Career

After working at several restaurants near where he lived, he gained a position at elBulli under Ferran Adrià and worked there for two years.[2][3] In 2008, he joined the team at Gordon Ramsay's Maze under head chef Jason Atherton.[1] He had originally come to the UK in order to learn English, as he felt this was necessary in order to learn how to cook other cuisines.[3] Ramsay described him as the "Antonio Banderas of cooking".[1] After he left, he started the restaurant El Pirata Detapas in Mayfair.[2]

He then founded the Tapas Revolution restaurant group, wanting to promote Spanish cuisine in the UK as he felt that there were only poor examples available at the time, admitting that this was the complete opposite to his original objective in the UK.[3] While working on Tapas Revolution, he continued to be the executive chef at El Pirata Detapas.[4] His first location was opened at Westfield London in Shepherd's Bush in 2011,[5] and by 2015 he had three locations with plans to open two more.[6] He wrote a cookbook, also entitled Tapas Revolution, published by Ebury Press.[7] This was part of his objective to promote the home cooking of Spanish tapas style dishes in the UK.[1]

He took part in the Rumble in the Kitchen charity boxing event, where he fought Stefan Chomka, the deputy editor of Restaurant magazine. The card also featured Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti and Will Holland.[8] At the British Travel & Hospitality Hall of Fame event in April 2015, he was named the Young Entrepreneur inductee for his work with the Tapas Revolution Group.[6]

Personal life

Omar Allibhoy lives in London, he has a son called Noah with his wife Marsha.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Moore-Bridger, Benedict (13 August 2013). "'Antonio Banderas of cooking' Omar Allibhoy is firing up a culinary revolution in London". Evening Standard. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Omar Allibhoy". Good Food Channel. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Omar Allibhoy Leads the Tapas Revolution". The Bath Chronicle. 5 September 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2015 via HighBeam Research. (subscription required (help)).
  4. Whitney, Linda (3 February 2011). "The Host with the Most Chances of Promotion". Daily Mail. Retrieved 22 June 2015 via HighBeam Research. (subscription required (help)).
  5. Parker Bowles, Tom (27 March 2011). "!VIVA LA REVOLUCION! Tapas in the UK Used to Mean a Sweaty Piece of Lurid Pink Chorizo in Fat. Not Any More". The Mail on Sunday. Retrieved 22 June 2015 via HighBeam Research. (subscription required (help)).
  6. 1 2 Thompson, Hannah (15 April 2015). "Omar Allibhoy wins 2015 Entrepreneur Hall of Fame award". The Caterer. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  7. Koski, John (25 August 2013). "Food book of the week: Tapas Revolution by Omar Allibhoy". Daily Mail. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  8. Eversham, Emma (24 September 2012). "Rumble in the Kitchen raises £55k for Galvin's Chance". Big Hospitality. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/16/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.