“The amount of love and support from our guests is priceless to us,” Chef Mohammad Orfali begins to say, “it gives us the energy and power to do more.” Hailing from the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, not too far from the Turkish border, Orfali and his two brothers, Wassim and Omar, have contributed to the expansion and development of what many local chefs like to call, Dubai cuisine.
Making the food they love to eat, the three brothers blend together gastronomic and bistro culture in something they call Bistronomy. They work together as a family in their Bib Gourmand restaurant, Orfali Bros, which they cherish in the kitchen as it allows them to easily divide in conquer. Mohammad Orfali is the Chef de Cuisine while his brothers Wassim and Omar are the brilliant pastry chefs behind the restaurant’s iconic desserts.
The three talented brothers tell us more about what makes their profession personal and how they create priceless experiences for their guests and those they want to inspire.
“We are not just chefs, we are family,” Mohammad Orfali proudly explains, “the food at Orfali bros is personal.” Their three pillars are ingredients, tastes and textures, with inspiration coming from their Aleppo roots and its surroundings. One of the staples Orfali made into his own is the eggplant-based Turkish dish, Imam Bayildi, which commonly consists of an aubergine stuffed with onions, garlic, tomatoes and simmered with olive oil. For his signature Orfali Bayildi, the Syrian chef uses local eggplant, smokes and charrs it, tops it off with makdous muhammara (a spicy dip made of walnuts, eggplant, red bell peppers, pomegranate molasses, and breadcrumbs), and some tahini sauce, giving a classic Turkish dish that his own personal touch.
“Between the Japanese, the Sichuanese, the Afghanese and the Lebanese, I’ve created something new called ‘Orfali’s’,” he says playfully as he describes another signature must try. Shish Barak a’a la Gyoza is Orfali’s way of personalising the ever-evolving and multicultural dumpling. An ode to the Levant region’s comforting Shish Barak (stuffed meat dumplings cooked in garlic yogurt sauce), Orfali’s version is a Gyoza-style dumpling stuffed with wagyu beef, placed over yogurt sauce and drizzled with sujuk oil (dry, spicy and fermented sausage oil) that is inspired by Sichuan flavours. To Orfali, it is these new types of dishes that represent his restaurant and Dubai’s international community.
A dream that initially started in Aleppo, opening Orfali Bros with his brothers with the aim to be different and create an out-of-the-box culinary experience. “For us, all rules are meant to be broken,” Orfali explains, “but we respect traditions.” Just as creative as their brother Mohammad, pastry chefs Omar and Wassim Orfali add their own unique touches to the bistro’s dessert selection, inspired by their country’s ultra-sweet desserts and fruits.
Their beautifully crafted cakes mirror the fruits they pay homage to. The Karaz (meaning cherry in Arabic) cake is made of chocolate sponge, sour cherry confit and sour cherry cremeux on the inside and covered in a sour cherry glaze on the outside. While their Mandarina Cake is inspired by the brothers’ childhood dessert in Aleppo called Riz Bel Halib Moubatan, an Arabic rice pudding dessert. “We usually eat it in glass but here we shape it like a mandarin,” Wassim says, “it’s got rice pudding, mandarin marmalade and mandarin confit inside it, with an almond sponge and classic sablee under it.”
Thinking big doesn’t only happen in the kitchen for the Orfali brothers. “My ultimate dream after Orfali Bros Bistro is to start The Orfali Bros Academy, we may start it in Dubai, then take it to Syria,” Mohammad Orfali says, “the goal behind it is to inspire the young generation about our food culture, food heritage and to introduce the world to the cuisine of Aleppo, which is priceless to me.”
