Five-star cuisine from travelling chefs Story
Al Bustan Palace, A RitzCarlton Hotel recently hosted a troupe of travelling chefs who are planning to visit 20 cities across 20 countries in 20 months. Called One Star House Party (OSHP), the group spend three weeks foraging for some of the best ingredients in the countries they visit, before setting up a pop-up restaurant for discerning diners in the final week.
OSHP are a group of chefs led by James Sharman, Trisha, and Kevin McCrae, who are travelling around the world in search of culinary experiences you can never find inside a restaurant. A rotating roster of chefs works with them for the experience, which is truly unique, as they travel around the world learning new techniques and experimenting with local cuisine.
Muscat was their only stop in the Middle East, and their trained eye procured some of Oman’s finest and freshest ingredients. Their seven-course menu was less sit down dinner and more of a gastronomical journey.
OSHP’s culinary escapade displayed not just their keen eyes when it came to spotting quality ingredients, but their superb skills to convert even the simplest of components into food that made your heart swoon and your tongue sing in unabashed glee.
Every dish they brought out was an amazing mélange of tried and tested techniques infused with new, bold experiments that have been refined over the last three weeks. No two places offer up the same ingredients, which means every pop-up restaurant OSHP makes, is different from every other one.
From their pan-seared Omani mackerel salad with a side of East- meets-West tabbouleh, presented in the form of an amazing mint and lemon jelly and cucumber salad, to their stunning eggplant focaccia that was served with an infusion of ricotta and the finest honey procured from Oman’s famed apiaries.
Next on this panoply of fusion food was a delightful slab of some tenderest meat we had ever eaten.
The fish was served in a dee-lish cashew and milk sauce, the cuts of lamb came with a piquantly flavourful eggplant dip and a roasted chickpea hummus that easily surpasses any other version I’ve consumed. Just when you think the good folks from OSHP have surpassed themselves, they oneup your palate even further. A palate cleanser like never before was deftly placed, a wonderfully sweet and citrus lemon sorbet made from a foundation of dried Omani lemons. Every dish spoke volumes of the traditions, the cuisine, and the food that shaped the Sultanate of Oman: Date puree has long been a staple of Oman, but turns out that when you reduce it down with caramel, palm vinegar and serve it with some velvety-smooth baked cream, you experience a sensation that is, well, indescribable.
Under the tiki torches and starlight, with the waves lapping the shore in the distance, we savoured a meal that spoke volumes of the culture, the people, and the history of Oman.