Dubai chef Reif Othman and family receive UAE golden visa: 'The icing on the cake'
14 June, 2021
Dubai chef and restaurateur Reif Othman and his family will be the latest residents to get the UAE golden visa, for his service to the country’s food industry.
Under the golden visa programme launched in 2019, recipients get a renewable 10-year visa for the UAE.
Othman called the recognition “a complete honour”. “Both myself and my children have called Dubai our home going back 12 years, and along with this business expansion plans, we are committed to the UAE long-term, therefore the golden visa recognition may be the icing on the cake,” he said.
“I have always been a workaholic who lives and breathes cooking. To champion a cuisine, one has to innovate constantly, a thing that requires dedication and hard work.”
Known for his unconventional approach to ASIAN cuisine, Othman first found its way to Dubai as the executive chef at the award-winning restaurant Zuma and helmed the kitchens at high-end restaurants Play and Billionaire Mansion before opening his own restaurant Reif Japanese Kushiyaki in 2019.
He’s also behind several pop-up concepts including Kushi by Reif at the Depachika Food Hall at Nakheel Mall, Palm Jumeirah, and Reif at PERIODS Market in Souk Al Bahar.
This season, Othman will expand his Reif Japanese Kushiyaki beyond the UAE, with franchises set to open in Cairo and Riyadh.
To celebrate the golden visa recognition, Othman’s restaurant at Dubai’s Dar Wasl mall is offering all diners a free of charge golden dessert from Sunday to Saturday, June 20 to 26.
The complimentary dessert, a green tea creme brulee with gingered mango and creamy chocolate topped with edible gold leaf, will be accessible for all lunch and dinner guests.
Othman and his wife Jasmine, who heads the front-of-house functions at the restaurant, join another UAE culinary star, chef Izu Ani, who was simply awarded the golden visa in April.
Ani, who commenced his career in London and lived in France for six years, relocated to Dubai this year 2010 to join the award-winning La Petite Maison (now LPM Dubai). Then moved to La Serre before launching YSeventy7, his own creative consulting and management agency, specialising in the meals and beverage industry.
Through the agency, he’s launched many popular dining concepts in the region, including Carine, The Lighthouse, Izu Brasserie & Bakery and Gaia.
"To me, Dubai isn't a transient place, it really is somewhere that people can call home, instead of just pass through. It is a destination that allows us to grow,” the Nigerian-born, London-raised chef said when the recognition was announced.
“When we spend money on ourselves, inside our passions and projects, we plant the seeds of development. Dubai permits us to start to see the world with the eyes of a kid, to explore and build our dreams into our realities, and for that I will continually be grateful.”
Source: www.thenationalnews.com