For two women about to open a new restaurant, mother and daughter duo Mireille and Yasmina Hayek are remarkably calm.
Sure, they tap away on their phones now and again but distracted they are definitely not as they prepare to unveil their 16th location, the Em Sherif Sea Cafe at the Rosewood Abu Dhabi on Al Maryah Island.
The cafe is currently in its soft launch phase and joins the growing number of Em Sherif outlets in nine locations worldwide, encompassing restaurants, delis and cafes.
Scroll through the gallery for images of Em Sherif Sea Cafe in Abu Dhabi
A taste of Lebanon
Known to her myriad fans around the globe as Em Sherif — or the Mother of Sherif — Mireille, 51, has become as renowned for her cooking skills and business acumen as she has for creating a home away from home for those craving traditional Lebanese food.
“I cook authentic food,” she says. “I work as if I were in my home, not in a place of business. I treat my restaurant like my house, supervising everything from A to Z, and people love it because they feel at home.”
Mireille’s daughter, Yasmina, an alumna of the prestigious Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France, and the Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan, Italy, is the perfect foil for her mother. “I’m a very competitive person, so I want to always be the best and I always push further. Every opening is a lesson,” Yasmina says. “I feel pride and I would like to inspire others.”
Turning passion into perseverance
“I started 11 years ago in Beirut,” says Mireille. “My passion was to cook at home for family and friends, and everybody would tell me: ‘You have to have a restaurant just for fun and passion.’”
“Perseverance, honestly,” Mireille says of the secret to her success. “I work every day like it's my first day, so for me, it’s never done. Every day is a challenge that I enjoy. I want the business to grow healthy and successful.”
After abandoning her plans to become a doctor, Yasmina embraced her destiny to step into the family business, bringing the skills she accumulated catering for the likes of McLaren and Carolina Herrera, as the former chef de partie at Copenhagen’s three Michelin-starred restaurant Geranium, and as a commis at Le Grand Restaurant and Restaurant Hexagone in Paris.
“We grew up with food at the centre of the family,” says Yasmina. “Mum was a great cook, so we were surrounded by amazing food. It’s the presence. We treat our staff and customers like family so everybody feels valued. The service is personalised and intimate.”
Family first
The Em Sherif brand has made its way across the Middle East, with outlets in the UAE, Oman, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan, as well as in Monaco and London. Despite this commendable expansion, though, Em Sherif remains first and foremost a family business.
Spearheaded by Mireille, the team also includes Yasmina, Mireille’s brother Dany Chaccour as chief executive and her son Nabil as business development manager at Em Sherif Lebanon.
“Our relationship evolved a lot,” says Yasmina of the work bond she shares with her mother. “After culinary school, I went to Lebanon with another vision — which was to go against the current, but it didn’t work out. I realised my mum knows the market, and I had to adapt myself to it and bring the best of both worlds to the same place.”
After discovering the truth behind the old adage of “mother knows best”, Yasmina, 26, became an integral part of the brand’s international expansion, a growth of which Mireille only half-jokingly notes: “I didn’t want to expand, honestly, but it happened. It’s my baby.”
“I’m a very lucky mum,” she says. “With Yasmina around, cooking is fun. Even the stress of work becomes less stressful. Of course, we disagree, but if I’m convinced by Yasmina, it’s always constructive.”
‘Playing around’ in Monaco
The brand opened at Monaco’s Hotel de Paris de Monte-Carlo in April; it was more than four years in the making. Em Sherif — The Deli, meanwhile, opened at Harrods, London, in January.
“We were supposed to open in Monaco before Covid, but obviously that was put on hold,” says Yasmina. “When we finally got the go ahead, the staff came to Beirut for two weeks to train and then I went to Monaco. We had one month to go there and source all the ingredients.”
Noting that the challenges came from adapting recipes to suit less spicy European palates, she admits to enjoying “getting out of the box and changing things up… being able to play around more than elsewhere”.
“The restaurant celebrates with delicacy a culture that you can taste, see, hear, and feel,” says Ivan Artolli, managing director at Hotel de Paris de Monte-Carlo, noting that “visitors from the GCC and the Levant represent our third largest clientele”.
He says the menu offers famed Em Sherif dishes with French produce, with a focus on seafood. "The signature dishes are created especially for Monaco and vary according to the menus," he says. "Living in the principality inspires chef Yasmina and she’s bringing this creativity to her dishes.”
‘My favourite dish to make is everything’
Speaking about the family business's latest launch in Abu Dhabi, Mireille says: “Em Sherif Sea Cafe is my love letter to Lebanon’s Mediterranean side, with fresh bright flavours and welcoming interiors filled with natural light and beautiful sea-inspired designs."
The Sea Cafe opening in Abu Dhabi follows the model’s launch in Bahrain, and there’s an opening planned in Riyadh later this year.
“We try to innovate while staying true to ourselves and staying authentic,” says Yasmina. “At Em Sherif, there are no constraints, no boundaries. We always push further, to be more creative, to come up with new ideas while preserving tradition and authenticity.”
While their latest Abu Dhabi outlet promises to serve the likes of raw red sea bream, shrimp provencal and samak ras asfour amid a Mediterranean and Portuguese-inspired decor, for Mireille, the simplest of dishes can still inspire the most creativity.
“My favourite dish to make is everything,” she says. “I like old cuisine, anything cooked well in a nice way. I love my manoush, which is a very simple dish but one that I always keep working on. The recipe has to be perfect, and with a little bit of your soul in it.”
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Medicus AI
Started: 2016
Founder(s): Dr Baher Al Hakim, Dr Nadine Nehme and Makram Saleh
Based: Vienna, Austria; started in Dubai
Sector: Health Tech
Staff: 119
Funding: €7.7 million (Dh31m)
Read more about the coronavirus
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The biog
DOB: March 13, 1987
Place of birth: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia but lived in Virginia in the US and raised in Lebanon
School: ACS in Lebanon
University: BSA in Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut
MSA in Design Entrepreneurship at the School of Visual Arts in New York City
Nationality: Lebanese
Status: Single
Favourite thing to do: I really enjoy cycling, I was a participant in Cycling for Gaza for the second time this year
More on animal trafficking
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
More coverage from the Future Forum
More on animal trafficking
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Ten10 Cricket League
Venue and schedule Sharjah Cricket Stadium, December 14 to 17
Teams
Maratha Arabians Leading player: Virender Sehwag; Top picks: Mohammed Amir, Imad Wasim; UAE players: Shaiman Anwar, Zahoor Khan
Bengal Lions Leading player: Sarfraz Ahmed; Top picks: Sunil Narine, Mustafizur Rahman; UAE players: Mohammed Naveed, Rameez Shahzad
Kerala Kings Leading player: Eoin Morgan; Top picks: Kieron Pollard, Sohail Tanvir; UAE players: Rohan Mustafa, Imran Haider
Pakhtoons Leading player: Shahid Afridi; Top picks: Fakhar Zaman, Tamim Iqbal; UAE players: Amjad Javed, Saqlain Haider
Punjabi Legends Leading player: Shoaib Malik; Top picks: Hasan Ali, Chris Jordan; UAE players: Ghulam Shabber, Shareef Asadullah
Team Sri Lanka Cricket Will be made up of Colombo players who won island’s domestic limited-overs competition
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Fifa%20World%20Cup%20Qatar%202022%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFirst%20match%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENovember%2020%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFinal%2016%20round%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDecember%203%20to%206%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EQuarter-finals%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDecember%209%20and%2010%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESemi-finals%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDecember%2013%20and%2014%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFinal%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDecember%2018%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PRO BASH
Thursday’s fixtures
6pm: Hyderabad Nawabs v Pakhtoon Warriors
10pm: Lahore Sikandars v Pakhtoon Blasters
Teams
Chennai Knights, Lahore Sikandars, Pakhtoon Blasters, Abu Dhabi Stars, Abu Dhabi Dragons, Pakhtoon Warriors and Hyderabad Nawabs.
Squad rules
All teams consist of 15-player squads that include those contracted in the diamond (3), platinum (2) and gold (2) categories, plus eight free to sign team members.
Tournament rules
The matches are of 25 over-a-side with an 8-over power play in which only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Teams play in a single round robin league followed by the semi-finals and final. The league toppers will feature in the semi-final eliminator.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Who: UAE v USA
What: first T20 international
When: Friday, 2pm
Where: ICC Academy in Dubai
Three ways to boost your credit score
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
1. Make sure you make your payments on time;
2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;
3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Rest
(Because Music)
