In a city with about two degrees of separation between the “man’oushe man” and the Minister of Tourism, word of mouth has quickly spread and Richard Mebkhout is a widely fêted chef. With the new renovations at the top class restaurant, Au Premier, at the Vendome Hotel in Beirut, comes the recruitment of this glorious culinary inventor of unforgettable meals. Already satisfying hungry guests with his innovative creations, despite the fact that he has yet to be here for three months, Mebkhout is a complex character with similarly complex dishes.
Inspired by his grandmother, of Spanish origin, French-born Mebkhout first honed his cooking skills in France at the tender age of 15. With slicked back hair and high cheekbones he looks more like a French version of James Bond than a one star Michelin chef. Within the first five minutes of meeting him I find myself making note of his chef’s attire: neat, perfectly ironed and spotless. I have to confess that at the end of every question, I half expected him to excuse himself and step out to change from his chef’s attire into a dinner jacket.
Possessing more than 20 years of experience and trained culinary skill, Chef Mebkhout brings true elegance to his creations. With habits and gastronomic skill all coming straight from a mixture of some of the top rated restaurants in France and Switzerland, Mebkhout has worked at the prominent Grand Hotel Bellevue in Gstaad, where he worked for the previous three years as executive chef. He also had stints working as the chef de cuisine at La Grande Cascade in Paris and worked closely with world famous chefs Paul Bocuse and Alain Chapel.
The offer to embark on something “exciting and completely new” came when he was handed the opportunity to be the head chef of Au Premier in Beirut. This was apparently not something he could shut the kitchen door on. He subsequently took the job and despite the fact that he hasn’t even been here long enough to master driving around the capital, his Arabic vocabulary is growing by the day. He describes the language as “difficult” and his classroom is the kitchen where he spends most of his days. So far he has learned key words for survival and functionality in the workplace, such as “banadoora” “nahna” and “khoubiz.”
Often hailed as the “incredible creative star chef,” Richard is renowned for cooking with a twist and bringing a refreshing touch to traditional dishes. When probed as to why he thinks he has been described as “creative,” he paused then uttered two simple words, “personal touch.” His creativity stems from this “personal touch” indeed, predominantly because he excels in taking local products and transforming them into what he wants them to be.
A specialist in gastronomy, the study of the relationship between food and culture, he is keen in emphasising that every menu must change with new products and new spices depending on the culture you are cooking for. It is for this reason that creating the new menu for Au Premier has taken a lot of thought; he could not just use the same dishes and ingredients that he used in any of the previous restaurants he had worked at. After all, “what might work in Switzerland or France might not work in Lebanon”. I later saw that his coy use of zaatar with sea bass was the best demonstration that he is on a mission to accommodate the ‘cultural palates’ of Lebanon.
Shortly after the interview had dwindled to an end and I was allowed to observe him prep, albeit from a cramped corner, I quickly found myself mesmerised by the manner in which he was delicately turning a red pepper to decide which side to cut. A perfectionist to the nth degree, he was meticulous with each move, assessing before acting so as to ensure everything was perfect. However awkward, shy and reserved he may have been during our informal interview, he was quite the opposite when in his domain.
His dishes are neat, concise and elegant fusing together ingredients that a cup-a-noodles type of girl, such as myself, would never have thought would mesh well together. Sea bass with ginger and mango in one dish does indeed prove to be a cohesive and tantalising threesome never before entertained by many, least of all me.
When I asked to have a look at the a la carte menu he reworked at the Au Premier restaurant, my expectations were exceeded. Creamy pumpkin soup with fresh goat cheese, herb ravioli chestnuts and pistachio oil, roasted filet of lamb with sweet spices and crispy polenta and carrots with vanilla and roasted sea scallops, braised and crispy chicory leaves black truffles in hazelnut butter. Three separate dishes all of which I would definitely have ordered, probably in the same sitting.
In the future, I predict Chef Richard Mebkhout to be a household name, as commonly recognised as Daniel Boulud. In the short term, however, he can be found deep within the intimate confines of the prestigious Au Premier restaurant busy cooking what may very well be your next unforgettable dinner. Chef Mebkhout is France’s gift to Le Vendome, the ultimate little black dress.
