Time Out Market Chicago Chef Stephen Gillanders Will Collaborate with Time Out Market Lisbon Chef, Susana Felicidade and Time Out Market Dubai Chef, Reif Othman To Create An Exclusive Fine-Dining Experience For One Night in Each City.
Time Out Market is a food and cultural market that brings a city’s best chefs together under one roof – the seven Markets around the world are home to over 140 outstanding chefs and concepts, which is a community of culinary talent like no other. Now, for the first time, Time Out Market will bring together chefs from different Markets across the globe as part of Chefs On Tour – a new collaborative chef’s table dinner, offering an exclusive one-off dining experience.
To launch Chefs On Tour, Chef Stephen Gillanders – who opened Valhalla, Time Out Market Chicago’s first-ever standalone fine dining restaurant last year – will travel to Lisbon and then to Dubai to create a unique fine dining experience for one night in each city, collaborating with local Time Out Market chefs: on March 16th with renowned Chef Susana Felicidade at Time Out Market Lisbon (reservations can be made here) and on March 19th with Chef Reif Othman – the chef behind some of Dubai’s most acclaimed restaurants – at his kitchen at Time Out Market Dubai (reservations can be made here).
Leading up to Chefs On Tour, Chef Susana Felicidade and Chef Reif Othman worked with Chef Stephen Gillanders to create bespoke menus that showcase their joint talents and fuse their creativity and signature cuisines. In each city, the menus will feature several courses with Valhalla signature dishes by Chef Stephen combined with the traditional yet modern dishes using local ingredients by Chef Susana in Lisbon and with new, never served before dishes by Chef Reif in Dubai.
Chef Stephen Gillanders commented: “We opened Valhalla as Time Out Market Chicago’s first stand-alone fine dining restaurant to offer an upscale experience in an unexpected place – it’s been exciting to wrap my arms around this location and capture the Market’s energy. The Time Out Market team is known to launch new, innovative concepts, such as Valhalla and now Chefs On Tour – I can’t wait to take the experience to the other Markets for one night in each city. I share the Market’s approach of never saying that we can’t do something because we’re in a food hall; on the contrary – we’re going to say we should do this because we’re in a food hall. I’m excited to be part of it all and to collaborate with two outstanding Time Out Market chefs in two amazing foodie cities – Chef Susana Felicidade in Lisbon and Chef Reif Othman in Dubai. Working with them has been hugely inspiring – we’re learning from each other as we combine our creativity and culinary history to create a one-of-a-kind experience for our guests. I’m looking forward to the incredible experience and the influence this might have on my cooking.”
The Valhalla menu items Gillanders will recreate in Dubai and Lisbon include crowd favourites such as Shaved Raw Hirame with Green Apple, Nam Pia & Pine Nuts; Roasted Wagyu Beef w/ Black Garlic, Horseradish & Crab Brandade; and Grilled Maitake Mushroom with Finger Chilli Vinegar, Chevre & Charred Avocado, to name a few. He describes his craveable, soulful Asian-inspired dishes as equal parts decadent, globe-trotting, and personal – a summary of his entire culinary career.
Chef Susana’s Algarve-based traditional cuisine focuses on the Vincentine Coast area and its most iconic products – she presents a cuisine of memories, with a touch of modernity. Alongside Chef Stephen’s dishes, she will prepare as part of their joint menu Oyster, medronho and lemon granita, crispy moray; and Creamy and spicy xerém, carabineiro, salicornia, fresh herbs.
Chef Susana Felicidade added: “I’m excited to work with Chef Stephen at Time Out Market Lisbon and for him to get to know our local culinary traditions and the amazing fresh produce we can work with here in Portugal. It’s arguably one of the most exciting and vibrant gastronomy scenes in the world. It’s been thrilling to work with him these past few weeks to come up with an incredible menu for our guests and introduce him to our cuisine.”
Chef Reif embraces Japanese sensibilities in his cooking, with a nod to Italian and French cuisine fundamentals; his cooking is renowned for quality, flavor, consistency, creativity and wit, with new dishes a daily fixture. As part of his culinary collaboration with Chef Stephen, Chef Reif will serve unconventional dishes including Tartar date maguro with shio goma sauce, and Codfish with Yuzu Togarashi cream.
Chef Reif Othman said: “I’m looking forward to welcoming Chef Stephen to Time Out Market Dubai and introducing him to this city which has an excellent and rapidly evolving food scene and where consumers are always up for a new experience. Over the past few weeks, we've been collaborating across thousands of miles to create our joint menu and I've come up with new dishes that complement his, bringing our ideas and cuisines together to offer a chefs' table like no other. It’s going to be a truly fun, fine dining experience.”
Sandy Hayek, Time Out Market Co-CEO (Operations) added: “Each Time Out Market is home to incredible culinary talents – I’m delighted that, for the first time, Chefs On Tour will bring chefs together from different Time Out Markets. Our guests get introduced to award-winning chefs from across the globe while our chefs get to collaborate with other like-minded chefs, which is an inspiring experience within a unique chef's community only Time Out Market can offer.
“It’s an honor to see Chef Stephen Gillanders from Time Out Market Chicago collaborate with Chef Susana Felicidade from Time Out Market Lisbon and with Chef Reif Othman from Time Out Market Dubai – all three are hugely respected and admired in their cities and beyond – to create a joint menu that reflects both their outstanding talent and unique creativity.”
Over the years, Time Out Market has continued to push boundaries and create hospitality innovations to offer guests unique experiences, positioning the brand on the cutting edge of global fine dining and making it accessible within a casual environment. Chefs on Tour offers a fine dining experience – complete with specially-curated wine pairings – set within the relaxed yet energetic environment that Time Out Markets worldwide are known for. Guests will be seated around a large communal table in front of the open kitchen, where the chefs will cook and present their menu. Guests will experience the buzzing energy and creativity firsthand, making these intimate and personal dinners.
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Notes to editors
For further information, please contact: pr@timeoutmarket.com
About Time Out Market
Time Out Market is the world’s first editorially curated food and cultural market, bringing the city’s best chefs, restaurateurs and unique cultural experiences together under one roof. From cooking classes with top chefs to installations from local artists and live entertainment, Time Out Market captures and celebrates the best of the city.
Currently, there are seven Time Out Markets globally, featuring over 140 chefs and restaurateurs from James Beard award winners and Michelin-starred chefs to much-loved local gems. The first Time Out Market opened in 2014 in a historic market hall in Lisbon, quickly turning into one of the most popular destinations in the city. The success of Lisbon brought further expansion, with Time Out Market opening in 2019 in five cities in North America, and in 2021 in Dubai. More Time Out Market locations are in the pipeline to open around the world.
Time Out Market is part of Time Out Group PLC (AIM: TMO), the global media and hospitality business that curates and creates the best of the world’s greatest cities.
ABOUT THE CHEFS
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Chef Stephen Gillanders began his formal culinary training at 15. He acquired his Associate and Bachelor of Science degrees in Culinary Arts Management. With over 20 years of experience, Gillanders started his career working for esteemed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. After years of traveling the world, honing his craft, and climbing the ranks, he accepted a role as a corporate chef with Jean-Georges Management Corporation in New York. During this role, he oversaw all nine Manhattan-based restaurants and led the opening teams for twelve other domestic and international projects, including The Pump Room in Chicago and Jean-Georges Tokyo. In 2018, he opened his first solo restaurant, S.K.Y., in Chicago, then in the spring of 2021, Stephen opened his second restaurant, Apolonia. Both restaurants quickly garnered attention and received critical acclaim both locally and beyond. In 2022, Gillanders partnered with Time Out Market Chicago to open Valhalla, a new and radical fine-dining concept: the first stand-alone, full-service restaurant in the Market’s history. Channeling his Jean Georges upbringing, he highlighted a multi-course tasting menu, complete with tiered beverage pairings and unparalleled service. Valhalla is an approachable concept that offers an upscale experience in an energetic atmosphere on the second floor of Time Out Market Chicago in the West Loop neighborhood of the city.
A lawyer by training, Chef Susana Felicidade started cooking within sight of the beach at Praia da Arrifana in the Algarve, south of Portugal. Most recently, she opened a series of successful petisqueiras in Lisbon that earned her a ticket into the Time Out Market with her outlet Cozinha da Felicidade. In 2011, Susana opened a restaurant – Pharmacia – located in the Pharmacy Museum in Lisboa. There she honed her craft of creating delectable Portuguese cuisine, regional and local, with many snacks and dishes from the south of the country with an emphasis on desserts. Last year she opened “Cal” on Praia de Arrifana. She also made her debut at Time Out Market Lisbon with her namesake concession Susana Felicidade, joining a group of renowned chefs at the chefs’ wing. At the Market, she presents signature cuisine based on the Algarve's most regional and traditional dishes, focusing on the Vicentine Coast area and its most iconic products, such as fish and shellfish, sweet potato, peanuts, cornmeal, pork from the Iberian black pig, carob, figs, and dried tuna. Felicidade brings classic traditional renditions of dishes that local families used to make, but with a touch of modernity, as elevated cuisine demands.
Chef Reif Othman is a Dubai-based chef and restaurateur from Singapore whose clever twists on Japanese and broader Far-Eastern cuisine have garnered him many accolades. Internationally, Reif and his restaurants have scooped a Michelin Bib Gourmand 2022, the Chefs’ Choice Award in the inaugural MENA 50 Best Restaurants 2022 line-up, a no 11 restaurant ranking in the MENA 50 Best Restaurants 2023, and a Gault & Millau UAE 2022 listing. Locally, he is the only chef to make the Arabian Business Top 100 Power List 2023. At the Time Out Dubai Restaurant Awards 2022, he won awards for Outstanding Achievement and Highly Commended Best Japanese Restaurant. Reif is one of the few chefs-cum-restaurateurs in the UAE whose business is entirely self-funded. Recognized as an innovator in the space, Reif is always the first to introduce a new dish, sparking a country-wide trend – whether it’s the ‘toilet roll’ yuzu and lemon cake that went viral over the pandemic, his Instagram-famous Wagyu sando, or his kushi skewers. In 2019, Reif opened his first homegrown restaurant-baby, Reif Japanese Kushiyaki in Jumeirah’s Dar Wasl Mall offering unconventional Japanese food. In 2021, a licensed (with alcohol) outpost of Reif Japanese Kushiyaki followed at Time Out Market Dubai in Souk Al Bahar – as well as another branch in Dar Wasl Mall to accommodate increased demand in the neighborhood.