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Jade George: So, first things first. What got you started on Swich?

Fadel Balmahdi: Well the real reason I wanted our venture to be a shawarma joint was because I couldnt find a decent shawarma shop in all of Dubai.

JG: Waitis that skewer made entirely of chicken breasts?

FB: For the most part, yeah. Its made entirely of baby chickens and doesnt have any fat.

JG: How is it not super dry?

FB: Everyone thinks that moisture for skewered meat can only be worked out by adding more fat to the equation. It turns out to be not true at all. You know, I think twice about what Im eating. But also, Im big on flavor. And Swichs menu design was pretty much based on that. Chef Izu Ani played around with every kind of ratio to ensure the best taste, moisture and quality possible were achieved. If it meant more breasts, then more breasts it was!

JG: He was the chef at the La Petite Maison right?

FB: La Petite Maison then La Serre, yes.

JG: Do you think thats what it took to make your concept work? A fine dining chef?

FB: This is my first waltz with the world of food and beverage. I wasnt going to involve myself in things that were completely outside of my scope. My business partner (Bader Al Kalooti) and I know what were great at. And we wanted to work with the best of the best and safely say that everyone was great at what they were doing. I didnt want to compromise, not on one single element of the business.

JG: Because its your baby

FB: Exactly. You understand that too. Its the same thing with The Carton I suppose. You dont print an issue unless its worthy of the paper its printed on. I didnt want to deliver a single wrap if it wasnt worthy of coming out of the kitchen.

JG: And the time you started your research was

Many people switch from marketing to advertising in their careers. Others make a move from accounting to business development. But fewer investment bankers become restaurateurs. But thats the switch Fadel Belmahdi made. The Paris-born, Qatar-raised, London-turned-Dubai resident partnered up with his pal Palestinian-Kuwaiti Bader Al Kalooti, also an investment banker turned entrepreneur. Together they created a gourmet shawarma joint in the Marina area of Dubai, aptly named Swich.

Jade George is the chairperson of the Middle East region at the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants Academy and the co-founder of Art And Then Some, the publishing operation and idea factory behind The Cartona magazine about food culture and the Middle East. She joins Fadel, a friend and colleague over a round of shawarmas at his shop.

SWICHS GOURMET WRAPS IN DUBAI

SHAWARMA NOUVEAUInterview by Jade George / Photographed by Rawan Gebran

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Can a wrap only be authenticated as

shawarma if its dirty in every sense of the word?

Every time I ate a shawarma 2 2 722

part of the experience?

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around the same time everyone in the UAE realized that there was room for a good shawarma concept.

FB: I think the biggest trigger for everyone was the success story of Just Falafel. They made a lot of mistakes, but they made room for a universal falafel. And there is definitely room for a universal shawarma. And it was not going to be achieved the way everyone was going about it.

JG: Well you cant possibly expect to reach different results when the core of what you do is pretty much where your predecessors got stuck. It takes more than funky branding to elevate an offering.

FB: And an elevated product is what we wanted to put forth. The only way to do that was to secure the best individual elements and make them work well together.

JG: How did you do that?

FB: Well for starters, we needed to dissect peoples perception of shawarma and try to have a logical definition ourselves. Can a wrap only be authenticated as shawarma if its dirty in every sense of the word? Every time I ate a shawarma I felt like shit! Is that really part of the experience? An aftermath of heartburns? And to be quite frank, no patron that knows great meat would accept crappy meat masked with a dollop of toom or tahini sauce if they had a choice.

JG: So how do you define shawarma?

FB: Shawarma means different things to different people. Dner kebab is shawarma to a Turkish person and so is gyro to Greeks. What we did is we standardized the cooking and marinating process. But choice has become an expectation today. You can see this from the 5,000 variations of shawarmas created on Swichs community page. Our job is to offer the better choice. If you want to be a growing concept you need to let people define what shawarma really means to them.

JG: Swich would do well abroad. Maybe even better?

FB: We built it leaving room for that in mind. People in the west dont care for things remaining static. Theyre less resistant to change and their consumption is based on the product itself. Whereas here, we face accusations of not being shawarma. Whos to decide that its not shawarma? Sushi isnt crabsticks, cucumbers and mayo either. If everyone of us thinks it through, wed take the trajectory of encouraging home-grown businesses that are offering good alternatives.

JG: If you think about it, nothing that has reached us was ever the way it was created. Would you even really want it to have been?

FB: Thats true. And the more we researched the more convinced I became that shawarma could actually be the next food fad. If packaged the right way in every sense of the term: product, branding It will succeed at doing that.

JG: The next hummus?

FB: Or the next burrito, but with an even bigger appeal. Shawarma has a bigger footprint than a burrito. It can even be the next hamburger if its well thought out.

JG: Pretty ambitious. Burritos, I get. But a hamburger is simple by definition.

FB: The idea is to give the task of shawarma building to the customers themselves. A burger ordering process now looks something like this: swiss or cheddar cheese? Aioli or barbeque sauce? Iceberg or romaine? Bacon? Onion rings? Fried egg on top? Avocado?... The list is endless. The idea is to have the basic ingredients be universally palatable.

JG: I suppose. Burritos should definitely watch out though.

FB: Right?

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JG: So back to the elements.

FB: Sourcing traceable meats. We secured hormone-free, grass-fed beef and grain-fed veal.

JG: Its interesting to see veal on a shawarma menu, let alone duck and mushrooms.

FB: The trick was really to achieve consistency of premium ingredients. Trying to source organically in the UAE is difficult but whenever its possible were happy to go the extra mile and that will continue to be our philosophy.

JG: Youre the best brand ambassador. [Orders lunch] Can I have the Edith, I Love You please?

FB: Whats that?

JG: Its a shawarma Ive created that our team keeps ordering when were in Dubai. Beef in whole-wheat saj bread, lettuce, parsley, spring onions, jalapenos, bell peppers, tahini and spicy honey. Boom!

FB: Damn. Why Edith? As in Piaff?

JG: You would think. Its a line from the song The Strain by Blockhead we keep reciting at the office.

FB: Havent heard that one.

JG: What are you ordering?

FB: My wrap. The Smoking Castro. Get it? Cause Im Fadel? And its

JG: No, Fadel.

FB: No? I thought it was cool name.

JG: Whats in it?

FB: Veal in whole-wheat saj with caramelized onions, lettuce, hot potato cubes, rocket leaves, truffle sauce and spicy green.

JG: Sounds like it would be good. Lets share.

FB: [Groans]

JG: Thank me later. The music here is good when its blasted.

FB: Swich needed a harmonious urban sound. We asked a young music aficionado who goes by the name Madradar to put the playlist together. Its good because shes a London-bred British-Iraqi and shes lived in Lebanon for a while then moved to Dubaiso she gets it. We love encouraging and supporting young local talent where we can.

JG: Anarchitects (the architecture agency that designed the space) being amongst them.

FB: Yes. Those guys are good at what they do.

JG: Theyve got good attention to detail.

FB: The interior architecture had to be representative of the product. Attention to detail is part of our brand. In upscaling gourmet, quite a bit needed to be standardized. And again, things had to align thoroughly across the board and reflect the pride in our product. So Anarchitects brought the kitchen out. They brought the heart out. And consequently the design of the shop had to be in line with the products ethos. Non-pretentious, confident, fun, smart.

JG: Was the cost justifiable?

FB: Some items cost more than others but at the end of the day, its that extra mile I was talking about that will take your brand the extra mile too. The reason other shawarma places failed to start a movement is because their concepts dont align and lack in essence.

JG: I think that the balance youve achieved in the space and with the food is whats to be highlighted here.

[Food is served]

FB: We try. Fast food really doesnt have to be bad

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for you. An emphasis on the freshness of the brand and the integrity of our products cant possibly make us less of a shawarma. Just because we bake our own breads, give extra options and make our own sauces, doesnt mean we arent still a shawarma. We still have the option of the classic combination of ingredients.

JG: If youve had to deal with that judgment, Im assuming youve had complaints about prices when compared to a shawarma at some hole in the wall.

FB: Yes, when truthfully our prices are pretty cheap. Competitors in our spherebasically when considering what else a customer would want at that moment in timeare more expensive especially when considering the value for money. Anyone that offers the same type of convenience either falls behind on taste or on quality.

Damn this is good by the way! I love you Edith?

JG: Edith, I love you. Youre welcome. What do you think is going to make Swich compete with burritos or burgers?

FB: Catering to todays universal customers needs. Their health needs, the right type of brand engagement, focusing greatly on our online operation and perfecting it. Its to create a global champion with a universal appeal.

JG: Having seen what it takes to open up a successful F&B business, would you do it again if you could go back in time?

FB: Depends on the day you ask me. Its an exciting industry when youre doing something you believe in, and you have a great product and a great team. Really, I mean it. But it takes a lot to keep your staff happy and to maintain quality and have time to think strategically. Every day is like opening a store for the first time.