With a concept that requires changing its chef (and cuisine) every three months, Palazzo Versace’s new restaurant, Enigma, is bringing something very special to Dubai. Esquire Middle East picks the brains of the first chef unto the breach: the multi-Michelin starred Spaniard, Quique Dacosta
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On Enigma…
Enigma is a fantastic project. To have a restaurant that changes its chef and entire concept every three months is something unique and a great challenge for me. To build a successful restaurant takes years, but all of a sudden here comes an opportunity to try and create all that for just a three-month period. It is a very good challenge.
On Dubai’s culinary scene…
I’m not big on adapting. I could easily put together a traditional Arabic dish and add a modern twist to it, but that would be dishonest. I’m here to be myself and I’ll leave the Arabic cuisine to the masters. I believe it’s a chef’s responsibility to prepare dishes stemming from their own culinary roots. If someone comes to try my food, then I want them to see what I have to offer rather than me adapting something that isn’t mine.
On local ingredients…
In my restaurant in Spain all the produce is sourced from within a 30km radius, so it’s virtually impossible to replicate that here at Enigma. But I guarantee that I could make a superb Valencian paella without Spanish products and it’d taste just as good! Because 95 percent of products in the UAE are imported, we’re trying to work out how we use local produce to our advantage.
On childhood dreams…
There’s a moment in every kid’s life where they look at jobs based on uniforms. I liked certain uniforms, such as the firemen and policemen ones, but I would’ve loved to have become a pro footballer. Unfortunately I lacked talent. Bullfighting would’ve also been nice but I lacked guts. Out of all those uniforms I never imagined I’d be wearing this one. I ended up becoming the person I never dreamed of becoming.
On becoming a chef…
Hunger is what drove me to become a chef. Literally. I first set foot in a restaurant because I needed the money! It could have been a bar or a shop, but this was fate. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the idea of gastronomy. It became part of who I am, and now I cannot live without it.
“How would I define success? I’m too busy to do that”
On cooking influences…
I never received any academic training or even had a mentor. The only chefs that I’ve learned from are the ones I’ve been lucky enough to work alongside. Over my career I have studied many books and try to draw as much inspiration as possible from them. Perhaps the most helpful ones were written by Michel Guérard and Georges Blanc. French cooking was, and still is, the main reference point in the culinary universe.
On still learning…
I once went to a traditional-meets-avant-garde restaurant in Japan. Using only a knife, the chef prepared food that prioritised texture above flavour and quality ingredients. It was mesmerising. He didn’t cook any of it, and transformed the products purely using his knife skills. It made me rethink how chefs can seduce customers in so many ways, yet make it look so easy. It’s like when a footballer scores a goal. On TV, it’s easy to think “I could do that!” but try it and you end up falling over.
Charcoal (dry meringue and squid ink) with pericana sauce
On legacy…
There are several dishes I have created that have become significant to me over the years, but rather than being remembered for a single dish, I’d prefer to be remembered for my attitude — always seeking evolution.
On style…
I enjoy looking after myself and dressing well, but it’s not something that I plan in advance. While it’s nice to be referred to as being a stylish man, it’s not what people look for in a chef. Let’s be honest, if I wasn’t any good at cooking, nobody would care about how I looked!
On success…
I don’t really think about success. When I enter the kitchen, I tend to completely forget the reputation of my restaurant and just focus on what needs to be done.
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Quique Dacosta will be cooking at Enigma until April 12. To book visit enigmadxb.com