A Culinary Event at Construction Consultants: Meeting the Founders, The Company Scope of Work
He will come here and choose what he wants with all these things. Where are we? At Harkola. Do you remember Harkola? Harkola is one of the biggest distributors of Lebanese products in Sydney. What do we have? We have a lot of food. We have a lot of food. We have a lot of food. We have a lot of food. We have a lot of food. We have a lot of food.
We have a lot of products in Sydney. What do we have? We have all these products which are known to be Ertas, Mashalane, Tahine, Anater, and many more. These products are very important. I will remind you of them again for those who support villages in Lebanon. Rose water, rose water, pomegranate molasses, and many more. This new company is called Reach 961. It is filled with
Lebanese products from villages in Lebanon. Lebanese village products are found here as well. You want an exceptional Kabees here. I love this a lot. When we eat Waraa, I taste it. My mom rolled them. We will make a tour.
What should I choose to cook and work with them? We want to taste the taste of Lebanon. There are rose water, Kabees, and many things. But before that, I will taste something delicious. What? I will taste something delicious.
I am working with them all night. I rolled them by hand. They hurt my muscles. I put them, cooked them, and stuffed them.
One next to the other. Please taste and tell me. Look at the tiredness and fatigue. It is an honor. They are used to eating in Australia. I will try to open a candy and eat it.
It is juicy and delicious. Really. It is not possible for a chef to tell you that it is delicious because he rolls them. It is unbelievable. Today, we wanted to eat Waraa Aneb and we don't have much time. The solution is here.
Frikeh, walnuts, pine nuts, sumac, sumac, thyme, olive oil, and of course pomegranate molasses. A bit of olive oil and tahini. We can't do without it. We can't do without it.
We will leave David here. We will go to the upper floor. We will get organized. I have a small bakery hidden by something delicious. There? Let's go.
I missed you. Welcome. I missed you. Thank God. How are you? I missed you more and more. Welcome to Cedars of Lebanon. Welcome to King, King, King, King, Tripoli and France. Welcome, welcome.
Ice cream on cream. We didn't eat from any other place. What a taste! Its thickness, its stickiness, the musk in it, the taste of milk. A hero, a hero. I met you in a previous trip. Hassan, a very big thing.
A very big thing. You want ice cream on cream and you feel like you traveled to Tripoli? In one bite. What do you think? 100%. It is very delicious.
But we can't have something delicious. In France, we don't have it. Now, look at his eyes and taste. How do we want to serve him in France? This is Meloukine. Yes.
This is any kind of nuts that we want to eat. It has different colors. With honey, with fruits. It has walnuts. All kinds of nuts. All kinds of nuts and it has fruits in it.
This was for my Lebanese customers. This is the first time I taste it. What a taste! What a taste! Nuts. All kinds of nuts in it.
Dried fruits. What is this? Wait a minute, I thought the cream is better. No, wait, wait. If I take it with me in my bag, I will take it to Lebanon. We will make a special one for the Lebanese. Amazing! Important, important, important.
Important, important, important. I have never seen anything like this before. It is something new for me. Ashta, I buy it a lot, you hear a lot about it, but this is new. We need to melt it a bit more and it will become something different.
Look at it. Look at the texture. Look at how it stands. Its shine is beautiful.
It is a bit velvety. What a hero. Hero. You are a hero. You are a hero.
Traditional ice cream. Made by hand in the traditional and old way. There are no big machines, industrial, etc. It has generosity. It has the best kinds of pistachios and walnuts.
This is the lemon confit inside. The dried lemon peel is mind-blowing. Really. I ate a lot of ice cream.
My work is in food. But this is really amazing. This is the first time I am eating in Lebanon.
A king. A king. But there is a bit of controversy. Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing. Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing. Anthony, now it is time for vegetables.
A bit of fruits and vegetables. I see here that there is Labneh, olives, and vegetables. Really, there are amazing places in Sydney. We don't have it in France. We don't have it in Paris.
Let's see the Lebanese community because it is very important here. Come with me. Okay. Kensington Manga is the best of all Zine. Georges Ghassan from Fersour.
When we opened it, it was our fitting. We rented the whole fitting. We put $150,000 to make it. We fixed it.
The work was light. Now it is very busy. Very busy shop. Nice and clean. Everything is nice. All the stuff.
Here at Hilltop Peru, we source a lot of our products from local growers. We try our very best to get a lot of things directly into the shop from farmers. And we also get a lot of great produce coming from Queensland, Northern Territory. Right around Australia.
Australia imports a lot of great produce when we can't get it here. We get a lot of USA pomegranates that are amazing. We get grapes. We get so many different varieties. Our specialty here at Hilltop Peru is sourcing things that you can't easily find for the Lebanese We have direct contact with a lot of people that grow for us and deliver immediately to the shop. So you can't get fresher than that.
You've got to try New Zealand Gold Kiwis. They're at their peak. They're almost finished for the year. But the flavor is 10 out of 10.
You get a tropical taste. You can't beat it. Please give it a try. Oh my God, this is amazing. If she knew I was eating good food, would she leave it in Lebanon? Kiwi is... Oh, it tastes like a mixture of fruits.
It's like it's cooked. Very tropical. So we have Jarnetik that's been locally grown and come in directly to the shop. As you can see, the size is spectacular.
Flavor is amazing. Freshness can't be beaten. The leaf is still on it. So come on in. They're 100% organic.
So you might not believe it, but these trees haven't been sprayed. They've been taken care of all year just to produce for one month of the year. So we're very blessed to have such great quality in Australia. These Fouls are not found in France. Janerek and pomegranate juice.
We still have them in Lebanon. I feel like you want to leave. When you tell me that Sydney is a part of Lebanon, you're right. What keeps the Lebanese people here is their heritage, traditions, and Lebaneseness. That's what they say. What? Come on, come on, come on.
Beep, beep. Get out, teacher. Get out, teacher. Beep, beep. Follow the road. We're waiting for you for lunch.
We want to drink Arak with you. Arak is from Fersou. We have it from Fersou. Today it's raining. Today it's raining in Sydney and I want to tell you the weather is amazing. We're hungry. We started, we arrived to Australia and the
emotions came back. The nice talk came back, the people came back, Lebanon came back. A person really comes back from Lebanon but he doesn't feel like leaving Lebanon. They have everything Lebanese. The Lebanese passion, the Lebanese vibes, the Lebanese talk, and the Lebanese flavors, generic, I will tell you the secret that I didn't tell anyone before. Last year I filmed with them, I filmed a lot, I filmed here, I enjoyed it, and we had an error in data and it got erased.
I was very upset and I said I will come back. And I came back, and I came back today as if we didn't know each other for a long time. I filmed with them, I enjoyed with them, I will go have lunch with them in our house.
Our story started with these. Our story started with fresh juices. Our story started when I was passing by by mistake, I don't know who I am and where I am from, and stopped to drink lemonade. And then, what are you doing here? Who are you? They stopped for their tea, their fruits, and their fresh juices.
Oh my God, this is outstanding. We can make a cocktail and mix it, it will be super delicious. It's a special lunch, and construction consultants, there will be more than 60 people, they will they will enjoy, we will talk, we will laugh, I will tell you about this company and its importance, of course, Lebanese, and what they do in Sydney, and you will get to know them, and they will eat fresh and we are very excited.
Our story started with these. Our story started when I was passing by by mistake, I don't know who I am and where I am from, and I stopped to drink lemonade. And then, what are you doing here? Who are you? They stopped for their tea, their fruits, and their fresh juices. Something amazing. I bought sourdough bread with me.
I told him not to cut the sound so we can take a bite. To smell its smell. And taste the exceptional butter. We are preparing for a special lunch today at Construction Consultants. We started yesterday.
Imagine, the lunch takes 2 days to prepare. We are getting all the ingredients and we came to the fish market. We got shrimp, we got fish. Yesterday, we went to the farmers market. We went to this cola and got all the Lebanese products that we need. What is the situation? It's a big story.
I am a big fan. I went to Dubai and ate butter for 3-4 days. My wife would ask me what is this exceptional butter that stays soft even when it's in the fridge. It's a very delicious butter.
I am very excited because today, we are in Israel and I want to show you this butter and its We have had butter for a long time. Since 100 years. Today, we have a generous butter. It has a very important fat. What's nice about it is that it doesn't bother you. It's not heavy.
It's light. It has a bit of salt. It's the right dose. I can make a whole breakfast with this butter. Amazing. Amazing.
Regards to Regards to David. He is working with us. He is filming with us. We will make a bite for him and taste it. It's amazing. I will go to the other side. David, all of this wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you.
This was planned to make risotto. But this butter for risotto, it will be the same. I will show you.
David David David David David David David David David David Edward Dakour in Arabic. Edward Dakour in English. In our company, we do surveying of project management in Sydney, Australia. Michael D'Acoul, who is here, who in the assets of the business in activity in Sydney, Sydney, in Canberra, Queensland, and Western Australia. So quantity surveying, project management, compliance, management, everything to do with the industry.
The office here, of course, we are happy because Anthony came to visit us. Now we don't have many things in the food, but now I will take you to the news, because the office reached the kitchen. So we did a warehouse conversion, open space, steel structures, exposed ceilings.
So we have the construction consultants, QS, PM, Strata construction consultants, and also our project, furniture business level O, design and furniture. So we made the design for the office. We were helped by an Italian designer named Francesca.
When we bought this place, it was an old gym. It was a gym that did MMA, fighting, and I don't know what. So we changed everything. But there was one nice thing, that they had a fully equipped cafe. It has a kitchen, a cafe, everything. And the refrigerators, everything is there.
So I left it, I resisted. We'll preserve it, we'll fix everything, and it will be part of the business. So what did we do? The guy came from Colombia to learn English, so he trained with us, and we taught him how to make and we gave him a good job.
I hope he will be happy in Australia. And the staff, every day, if they want, whatever they want, they can have coffee, they can have a they can drink whatever they want, they can make a toast, a sandwich, anything like that. So let's go back to the business, and then we'll talk about it. So quantity surveying, in English, what I always say is that it's like an accountant to the industry. If someone wants to build a building, let's say 50 apartments or something like that, they can't go the bank and say, look, I want to build a building, I want 50 million dollars. So what they need is a quantity surveyor to look at all the plans, measure everything, quantify and the budget for the construction.
This is, in simplicity, what is wanted to serve. There are many things they do, from expert reporting to, you know, feasibilities and things like But the most important thing is that when you make the budget, you go to the bank, and the bank tell you, I swear, uncle, I like this idea. This is 50, go spend it. What do they do? They give you approval, but they want the QS, which is our team, to go every month to see what built, make a report, and pay you as much as you've built. This was done in the 50s, so if you think about it, the 50s are over, and the construction is over. So this is the QS.
The PM is almost the growth in the business we had, organic growth, because the projects in Sydney Australia and the demand for it grew, and there were many investors, not just those who build and it and build again. You have governments that build, you have investors from Hong Kong or China or that want to build in Australia. So they need a project management, a client side. Meaning, we represent the developer, the investor, in their projects, and to make sure that is going absolutely on target, on budget, and on plan. OK? So that's project management.
So we have about 60 employees who also collect strata construction consultants. Now in Sydney, like all over the world, there's a big focus on compliance. Meaning, if the construction is going fast, they don't want everyone to come and open an account go out and do things that have defects and are not worth it, and now they're buying it and doing, know, complaints and things like that. So SDSS is the business that focuses first and foremost on latent defect insurance. In order to get the insurance, you have to submit to five stages of inspection. One of the most important, or two of the most important, is structure, which happens as you're We go and inspect the building by, you know, engineers to make sure the structure is correct and is fine.
The second is make sure that waterproofing. And making sure that the building is sound and structurally strong, right? We are internationally accredited to do this. We have a team of inspectors and engineers that can do all of that work. We also do all of the other defects.
If somebody's buying something, post-construction defect inspections, like a certificate that your apartments that you're selling are absolutely perfect. ♪♪♪ I mentioned in the project furniture. So this is what we call a sit-and-stand desk. Okay? So, one of the things that we do is project furniture.
We focus on commercial and we focus on hospitality. Hotels, hotel apartments. We have a team of designers that work with hoteliers in case they're refurbishing hotels or they're new ones and we provide the furniture. Now, when we set up the business, it was a small apartment.
It was a small business, the main business. But we believe in the fact that we need to have quality furniture available to people and in Australia and business people. So we represent a few good Italian companies. One of the most famous ones is Estelle Federale. Also, Sedos, which are a German company that does all the task chairs and office chairs. This is one of them here.
Very comfortable. We also deal with the companies in Lithuania, in Poland for furniture. So the best advertisement Level O is the fact that this entire office has furniture from Level O and each office and each each whatever, there's different places and so on. But for the comfort of our staff, we always use Sedos for task chairs. Boardroom, for example, is from, you know, German, also manufacturer, Sedos. And there's a few, Estelle and the rest, you know, a few other companies.
So this is a smaller part of the business, but it also adds value to some of the stuff that we do. And then we've done a hotel in Sydney. We're doing another two in far north Queensland. I mean, we've reached everywhere for the business and for our clients.
So that's the entire business. Now, we have over 60 staff. There's a, our general manager for project management is Lebanese. He's educated in Lebanon, Charles Boumoussa Labidji Nakhdimao Kamel. One of the beautiful things also is that we have my nephew, Michael's son, Anthony, who's a architect. He also operates from this office and hopefully he'll attend today so we can talk to him.
He was in Lebanon a long time ago and when he came back he was very happy. His voice hasn't even changed. So, and I'm also very proud to say that we have my son, Alexander, who also works with us in this And the rest of the team, we have my cousin, Joe. We have, you know, an Englishman who's been a friend for, you know, many, many years, I think over 16, 17 years. And we treat everybody in this business operationally. We do the best we can.
We produce quality work. But more importantly, we treat everybody like family and we tell our staff whether they're, you Malaysian, Chinese, all of, most of the QS team or Australian or Italian. Australia is a mix of a whole lot of nationalities. But we always tell them that we are a family and we act that way.
So, it's good to say that during COVID, we had two years of COVID, every business let go of staff dropped their salary. I'm really proud to say that Michael and I made the decision that we will not drop a single dollar any of our staff for their salaries. And we did not let go of a single staff member during COVID. It took a lot of effort.
But Michael always had the vision that when COVID is over, it's going to bounce back. And if we don't have the staff and we don't treat them well and we don't keep them on our side, we're going to suffer. And absolutely true to his vision is the fact that we came back from COVID and touch wood.
We are stronger than ever. We are, the growth has been phenomenal and then we're very pleased and happy with that. And then we share all of our success with the staff and we thank the staff, which brings me to the point. So, we talked about the kitchen and the cafe. I'm actually looking at it here and I can see Chef Alain and my beautiful wife, Norma, helping him a sous chef.
And they prepare lots of vegetables in it. We kept the cafe and we said, you know what? The best we can do is a free coffee for the staff, you know, simple sandwiches. When the opportunity was presented to have Anthony here, who we love dearly and follow, as well as Alain from the first Lebanese Michelin star chef, proud to say that he's Lebanese. And we came up with the idea, why don't we cook for our staff? And we treat them for something So, I would say we'd be the only place in the world to say that we've got a Michelin star chef into office cooking for staff members.
And that is, and we've been pumping the staff and saying, you know, wait on Friday, we're going to a special thing and all that. So, that's the story behind it. This is why Anthony ends up in a quantity surveying in a project management office, not another or another restaurant, but also he'll get the chance to see the story of Lebanese abroad and a star chef, you know, cooking in a cafe inside the office.
So, that's the story. ♪♪♪ tomato, a little bit of chili which I like a lot here and coriander and now we're going to do it with the fish we're going to fry it and add a little bit spices and here's the potato the small one that's being fried we're going to make it like the hot of course without garlic and we're going to put with it the small calamari we're going to fry it flour so it becomes crispy and we're going to add it with the coriander and the potato today's I still have 2 hours, I hope I can catch up let's go we're going to cook lamb, lamb shoulder and putting it in the pan for the freekeh it's going on top of the freekeh I met them in a previous it was by mistake we were in a long day and we got to an event for real estate and I met them and I what they're doing but I didn't know that they're this big this Lebanese, this special their work this beautiful when you enter their office, you're happy the design, the lines the lighting, it's a place people are working inside and everyone is smiling and they have a cafe, a restaurant and they their team and their VIP customers for lunch, wow this is amazing we accepted the challenge Alan and I, we've been working for 3 days and we're buying these things left and right so we can and have lunch here he's very happy and he's new to the company and I'm very happy to show you this a great success I didn't know how much I love construction, architecture and design I didn't know that there's a company that specializes in numbers and prices and you ask them ok I built a building, easy only engineers and architects come no, there's more that and how beautiful their work is and one of the biggest and most important in the area I won't talk much, I'll go back in and see where the cooking is and the details everyone will come the smell is amazing and I haven't had breakfast yet because Alan promised me breakfast time to pass we still have 2 hours do you need your watch? I'm coming to film the risotto is cooking slowly look at the smell this is not a menu but we wanted to have breakfast this morning I saw risotto, champignon and crevettes parmesan and whole eggs the smell is amazing the smells are amazing and the food looks delicious I want to make sure that they are working properly I don't need anything else wow oh my god it's amazing the quality is amazing the meat is amazing if they have 2 eggs we put on top of the meat so they look like awarma we mix them all together we put cheese on them we wrap in Lebanese bread the most delicious sandwich do you have eggs? no sorry it's time for the carrots look at the lettuce it's clean let's do it we're walking around so we're going to meet a few of the business people here this is my dear Joe hi he's part of our compliance business the one I explained before SDSS how's your Arabic? good, it's right here it's right here I don't mind I don't mind where are you from? I'm from Kfour I'm from the north how are you? I'm good it's wonderful to have you here Anthony Australia loves all your content and all the amazing experiences you share with us from the world except we can't believe you don't like garlic that questions your we have to do a DNA to make sure that you actually are but it's wonderful to have you here and we're looking forward to some time with you today I'm also a rising star from a Lebanese background you're born here of course your dad was born as well, ah wow, so third generation wow very good, Isabella Bounassif so where are you from in Asroun see, this is Lebanese diaspora thank you this is a level of business as I told you before Marianne is also born in Australia but she speaks Arabic hi, how are you? Marianne loves you she's going to come and introduce herself she's Arabic where are you from? where you from? I'm from Kfour very nice close to Beirut here we are in the project management area of our business Charles Boumoussa general manager for the project management team David almost Arabic, Egyptian a Chloe how is my Arabic? Tony, where are you from in Lebanon? Dede Koura so over to you you know Anthony? yes, he's pretty in Lebanon around the world around the world where's Julian? I don't know where are you from in Lebanon? Kfourzaina you notice they're born here but they're from Kfourzaina keep trying that's it come on, Arabic is good you know Arabic, don't you? yes are we done? we have half an hour thank God they came and helped me 60 people not a restaurant 20 people and a ceiling in Australia we like to eat here Kfourzaina the pomegranate molasses the quality you don't need a lot of vinegar to get a good taste it's we don't have it in France we have it here in Sydney it's the second Lebanese everything is here we everything here we're good to go I'm very excited to eat we promised to have breakfast I'm very excited Kfourzaina I promise you I'm not going to talk too long. Regularly in this office we have lunches and then we bring catering in and then we have lunch as a We are a family as staff members and all this would not happen without, you know, Michael's idea to the business and the rest of the team putting in their effort and hard work into it. So it's a team effort and we always get together and have lunch and say happy birthdays or do new members. So I'm not going to do any different today except the fact that we are absolutely so proud to have superstars with us.
One of them which I'm proud to say of Lebanese origin, the first Michelin star chef in Paris. So if you ever go on holidays to Paris. So Alain Guillaume, what's your restaurant's name in Paris? Alain Guillaume. Oh, okay.
Well, okay. The restaurant is called Alain Guillaume. So if you ever go to Paris, I've got the number, I take 10% on every booking.
Equally a superstar with followers in excess of the population of Africa is Anthony Rahayel. Also proud to say that he's from Lebanon and he's been all around the world and he's with us today document this historic event. So I don't think it's ever happened around the world that a QS and a PM company with a whole bunch modest staff having a Michelin star chef cook for them in their own cafe kitchen and you can see result. Now as much as you would love to have this as a feast, I'm going to say this is not a feast. It's a tasting menu because of the time restraints. So all the big eaters here, just take it easy the portions.
I was looking for David. Here you go, David. Yeah. Just for the record, I'll get you McDonald's. For the record, they're still cooking in the kitchen, but what we did say to the staff when we it is make sure you have a heavy breakfast.
So we did think it through because obviously a very small modest kitchen, but really superb food. And that's what it is. You know, when you go to Michelin star restaurants, you get little pieces. So welcome again to Construction Consultants, Anthony and Alain. Now equally as per our staff lunch, I want to welcome Margaret to our team.
Margaret Bahn is our CFO, Julian Nader, where's Julian, as assistant project manager, and in our office, we have a Waleed Mimon who joined us last Monday and we welcome him. I'm sent here. So with the QS team, we have Addy Hedge. Where's Addy? When did you start, Addy? Last Tuesday.
Last night we were here, you know, working in the kitchen and cleaning and doing whatever. And Addy started last Tuesday and a few members of the QS team that are regular here, but he was till about seven o'clock or thereabouts or after seven. So this is a true dedication of some of the staff and we really appreciate it, not just for you, everybody else that stays behind and always has a client in question. Now amongst our family, there's an extended family. Michael and I are two blood brothers, but we have a whole lot of brothers standing around and all are our closest friends. We count them as brothers, you
know, and I'll, you know, engage with them talk to them because they're really good friends and they always, you know, appreciate the fact we ask them to join us for this stuff. So finally, I want to thank all the staff for a brilliant, we're nearing the end of the year. I know Jade has been trying to convince me about a harbour cruise and she succeeded and she did a Only two responded, but she said most people like the harbour cruise, so I said, all right. I said, all right. So I know Tiffany gets married on the 11th of November, so congratulations in advance.
And if you didn't know, Jacob got married and he's on a freaking seven weeks honeymoon. Mate, the guy's going to be a shadow of his former self when he comes back. I'm just going to get, ask Michael to say a few words and I'm going to present Anthony and Alain a very token Australian gift, a funny one, but, and so Michael, please.
Look, I honestly can't add anything to what Edward said. It's usually the case because he's, he's superb and he's, he's a hundred percent covering to our extended family, to our beautiful brothers and sisters. Welcome again. Welcome Dr. Anthony. Welcome Alain.
We appreciate today more than what you think. You're giving us your whole day and it's ultimately our luck and our, very good luck. So thank you again.
Please enjoy the degustation. Thank you. David, special thanks to you for organizing this. I think it was an idea, sitting around the coffee here. And then I want to thank my beautiful wife Norma for, you know, excitedly, you know, offering to be the sous chef. My pleasure.
And in absentee of John, the sous chef that prepared this, he couldn't be with us. So there's a couple of famous things here, one of them is a Tim Tam. The other one is, I'm sure you're going to love this.
And there's a little Australian book about Don't call me Skippy. And if you play poker, there's Australian cards. So that's for you. And equally for Anthony, there's your Tim Tams.
You're going to love them. You're going to buy more. Have you tried this? Disgusting. You're not doing that. You're not doing that.
And there's a book here called Shit Towns in Australia, The Great Aussie Road Trip. And playing cards with Aussie symbols on them. So thank you very much.
Thanks for having us and thank you for your trust. No problem. And I'm sure not going to finish this.
And David, that's for you. I'm very happy to be here. Thank you for this guy.
This guy, they called me in June, tell me I'll come to you in Sydney. It's very far. Very, very beautiful trip in Sydney. And I'm very sad.
I'm going to leave at 6 o'clock in the morning. So what I see here, I travel a lot. I meet a lot of Lebanese, diaspora everywhere. But here in Australia, you have your Lebanon here. It's very different.
You are not a diaspora. You bring Lebanon with you here in this country. And we said, like Paris, it's the center of the world. It's the center of the world.
And I'm very happy to be here. Thank you for this guy. This guy, they called me in June, tell me I'll come to you in Sydney. It's very far. Very, very beautiful trip in Sydney.
And I'm very sad. I'm going to leave at 6 o'clock in the morning. So what I see here, I travel a lot.
I meet a lot of Lebanese, diaspora everywhere. But here in Australia, you have your Lebanon here. It's very different. You are not a diaspora. You bring Lebanon with you here in this country.
And we said, like Paris, it's the center of the world. I think Australia is the center of the world. Because people come from all over the world and live here and bring them cultures, their kitchen, a of things.
So a lot of hospitality, a lot of warmth. Very clean. And a very good product. Very good, fantastic product.
And I just come 30 minutes later today for this visit. And I'm very happy to be here. Thank you for this guy. This guy, they call me in June, tell me I'll come to you in Sydney.
It's very far. I make all this meal. So we have a couple of plate of Lebanese traditional food, a little bit visited, a lot of touch. And just have good bon appetit. And if you come to Paris, I'm very welcome to you in Paris between my restaurant Michelin star or my bistro called Kasti. Kasti is my story.
I serve Lebanese traditional food. Thank you for your welcome and bon appetit. Welcome everyone. And I hope you will enjoy the amazing food prepared by Alain, my dear friend.
We met in the kitchen. He's a chef. He's a chef. He's a chef. He's a chef.
He's a chef. He's a chef. He's a chef. He's a chef.
He's a chef. He's a chef. He's a chef. Welcome Alain, my dear friend.
We met in 2018 when he had his first start. Very shy on camera. Not much of a TV person. And we became friends.
Been to Paris quite a few dozen times since 2018. Helped and supported the opening of the Lebanese gathering or the Lebanese village. We call it the Lebanese village in Arabic, the Lebanese neighborhood. So in one place you can eat a Manoucheh, you can eat a Knefeh, you can definitely have a Lebanese and at the end, one of Paris' favorite shawarma.
Definitely, he is the first Lebanese chef with a Michelin star in Paris. And the fine dining approach is not a Lebanese approach. It's a fine dining restaurant.
It's a fine dining French cuisine with a touch of Lebanon. To prove again and again that Lebanese, in my humble opinion, with respect to all of you, has the food in the world. And it's not only about hummus and shawarma. It's not only about street food.
It has been perceived as the place for good shawarma, manakish, knafeh, and everything in between. And baklava, and the long plate, long table of lots of plates, hummus, and so on. Tabbouleh, but imagine a good Lebanese cuisine. It has all the ingredients. It can be elevated. It can be high-end.
It can be fine dining and refined. We have amazing spices to add to it. We can fine tune around it.
And if you close your eyes and imagine all the cuisines of the world, they are in Lebanon. Because we probably do not call them Lebanese cuisine because we're known and used to what says. So Lebanese cuisine is more than 200 plates on one table, called the meze table. More than 200 different cuisines or plates prepared at home, which you do not eat in the and restaurant food is not enjoyed at home. And then all of things you might be seeing today are refined, different, free.
shrimp, lobster, and everything we have from the sea and from the mountains. So this is what he does. Thank you for coming. I've been touring the world for the last 12 years and trying to reconnect Lebanese around the world uniting Arab culture and trying to reconnect Lebanese with their roots and trying to show Lebanon not seen on the news, unfortunately, with all the bad things and what you hear about our beautiful is only bad things. I'm on that mission, left dentistry and ongoing to leave a certain memory for our kids and a legacy making people proud of that little humble land called Lebanon and hoping to reach my goals within years to come.
Thank you again and hope you enjoyed that gathering and good food with a big smile and thank you having us. We spent a memorable morning. So, well done. Thanks again. So, well done. Thanks again.
I just want to add one thing. I was talking to a man in the kitchen and I said, how is everything going? And he said to me, which something that really true chefs, he said, I really enjoy it when I'm cooking. Yes.
I really enjoy it. One in five years enjoying every day. When I wake up in the morning, I want to just go have pleasure and share our pleasure and passion you. Fantastic.
We are... Let's go. You know, I got tired before noon, and I worked, and I've been on my feet since 7 a.m. So that I don't stand in line. I was supposed to go
straight to the kitchen. I eat the food while it's hot, so I can sleep from the pot directly. Frikeh. My favorite Frikeh. I take it to another place. It's not specific to the Frikeh of Lebanon. I mean, of the village. But it's still a Lebanese Frikeh.
It has special spices, small chopped carrots. Wow, a different taste, for real. I'll take you on a trip. What are these? The meat. It's super well done. Chicken.
Kawouk. It's well cooked, juicy, and the spices of the famous Kawouk. And this salad, which is made a bit Greek, a bit Fatouche, a bit Mediterranean. It's amazing.
With Lebanese pomegranate molasses. You know, there are many people in the world, and half of the people are not Lebanese. They eat pomegranate molasses and say, wow, what is this? Something new, sour, acidic, sweet, everything in between.
I'll eat a bite, and sit with the guests, talk, and laugh, and tell each other stories. And thank you for enjoying this video, and I hope we were able to deliver the message we wanted, I hope the guests enjoyed it, and the company people enjoyed it, and we all enjoyed it, and I did too.
2023-11-08 14:55
