Chef Reif Othman : redefining Japanese cuisine with a modern twist
- Innovative approach to Japanese cuisine
- Chefs’ Choice Award MENA 50 Best 2022
- 4 different concepts in Dubai, 1 in Cairo
More Arabic chefs. More casual chefs here.
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Reif Othman is a Dubai-based chef and restaurateur from Singapore whose clever twists on Japanese cuisine have garnered him many accolades including the Chefs’ Choice Award in the inaugural MENA 50 Best Restaurants 2022 line-up, and the only chef to make the Arabian Business Top 100 Power List 2023.
In August 2019, he opened his first home-grown restaurant, REIF Japanese Kushiyaki in Jumeirah’s Dar Wasl mall offering unconventional Japanese food. A licensed (with alcohol) outpost of REIF Japanese Kushiyaki followed at Time Out Market Dubai in Souk Al Bahar in April 2021 – as well as an extension to the Dar Wasl branch in September 2021 to accommodate increased demand in the neighbourhood. His latest openings (opened summer 2023) at Dubai Hills Business Park include a licensed REIF Japanese Kushiyaki, Hoe Lee Kow – Unconventional Korean BBQ, a brand-new concept for Reif, and TERO (The Experience by Reif Othman) which offers a unique private chef’s table experience.
Reif is one of the few chef patrons in the UAE whose business is entirely self-funded. His 15-year service and dedication to the country’s F&B industry with his unconventional approach has raised the profile of this cuisine category here. His acute business acumen thanks to his early experience as a stockbroker, and seasoned restaurateur expertise allow him to also lead the commercial operations and front-of-house.
Reif embraces Japanese sensibilities in his cooking, with a nod to Italian and French cuisine fundamentals. His cooking is renowned for quality, flavour, consistency, creativity and wit, with new dishes as regular features. He’s 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.
The first franchised REIF Japanese Kushiyaki restaurant in the world opened in December 2021, in Cairo at the 5A by The Waterway complex, with franchised partner and renowned Egyptian F&B operator, Baky Hospitality, seating 140 diners in a licensed space.
He also takes on consultant chef ventures and pop-up collaborations in the UAE and internationally.
Reif’s passion for food began at a young age in Singapore helping his mother in her Asian cafeteria and studying at Shatec Culinary School. In 2007, he joined the One Rochester Group in Singapore as group executive chef for some of the city’s top restaurants and hotels, before relocating to Dubai to work at Burj Al Arab.
In 2009, Reif was recruited for the Zuma Dubai team as executive chef, moving up the ladder to regional executive chef for Zuma in the Middle East and Turkey.
In 2015, he opened a locally developed restaurant concept in Dubai with R.A.W. Galadari Holdings & Absolute F&B Facilities Management as chief culinary officer – Play Restaurant & Lounge, followed by a chef’s table concept, The Experience by Reif Othman – both in the H Hotel.
In 2018, he took on a one-year contract as executive chef and business partner for Sumosan Twiga looking after the Dubai, Monaco and London kitchens.
Currently, as the founder of Hotaru Holdings, a dynamic and innovative F&B-focused holding company dedicated to bringing unconventional Asian flavors to life, he’s redefining the culinary landscape with brands like REIF Japanese Kushiyaki, TERO and Hoe Lee Kow.
