Omar Allibhoy
Omar Allibhoy | |
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 Omar Allibhoy, 2015 | |
| Born | January 1984 |
| Culinary career | |
Current restaurant(s)
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Previous restaurant(s)
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Award(s) won
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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
[edit]Omar Allibhoy was born near Madrid, Spain and began to cook when he was five years old.[1][2] He is of Indian Muslim descent through his father's side (hence his Muslim name) and Spanish through his mother's side.
He started taking evening cooking classes while still at school.[2]
Career
[edit]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 to learn English, as he felt this was necessary 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] His first location was opened at Westfield London in Shepherd's Bush in 2011,[citation needed] and by 2015 he had three locations with plans to open two more.[4] He wrote a cookbook, also entitled Tapas Revolution, published by Ebury Press.[citation needed] 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.[5] 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.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Moore-Bridger, Benedict (13 August 2013). "'Antonio Banderas of cooking' Omar Allibhoy is firing up a culinary revolution in London". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
- ^ a b c d "Omar Allibhoy". Good Food Channel. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
- ^ a b c "Omar Allibhoy Leads the Tapas Revolution". The Bath Chronicle. 5 September 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015 – via HighBeam Research.
- ^ a b Thompson, Hannah (15 April 2015). "Omar Allibhoy wins 2015 Entrepreneur Hall of Fame award". The Caterer. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
- ^ Eversham, Emma (24 September 2012). "Rumble in the Kitchen raises £55k for Galvin's Chance". Big Hospitality. Retrieved 22 June 2015.