An eclectic ball of energy is what describes her best. She’s passionate about food and about life to the extent that you start believing that they are one, which they actually are to her. Food brings people together; it’s a social event for everyone. Families gather around the table to eat, friends get together over a meal or even just coffee and snacks. The point, food makes the world go round. Adla Al Sharhan is a chef all the way down to the bone. Her love for food and her passion for life are overwhelming. Inspiration to her comes in many forms, be it through art, color, music, people, her son, a scent, and sometimes even in her sleep. Born into a family that has a passion for food, she was taught everything she knows by her grandmother.

By the age of seven, Adla had perfected how to butcher her very own meat and how to pick and grow her own vegetables and fruits. Double majoring in Eco-Psychology and Human Resources, she took her father’s advice to have a solid background before moving on to the culinary arts. Eco-Psychology being the study of noise, smells, colors, the weather, and the people around you and how all that shapes one’s personality and affects their appetite. “It makes it easier for me to read people,” Adla explains, “it makes it easier for me, now that I make restaurants, to read what the people want and like.” After that, she moved on to getting her Masters Degree in Management before starting to work in several restaurants around the States. “If you can cook classical French, you can cook anything,” adds Adla. That being the case, she went to London and took three years in Le Cordon Bleu to master the art of French cooking.

After working in London for a while, her friend and now partner, Sheikha pulled her back to Kuwait to start their own business and Umami was born. Umami basically develops restaurants for people in the business. Sheikha is in charge of the design concept of the place while Adla develops their menus and food selections. That’s not all though, Umami is also a culinary school in Kuwait. Adla teaches everyone from chef’s at restaurants, house cooks, to giving private lessons for anyone interested in learning the culinary arts. Working on concepts for restaurants and training the staff is all part of the Umami concept and they have spread that concept across the GCC. Opening their doors in 2006, they continue to cater to the masses, figuratively and literally as they also offer event catering.

Adla gets her inspiration from everything around her. Sights, sounds, travels, and trying new things, all give her ideas to create. “In Hong Kong I tried everything except for the boats,” she explains. If she tries something and doesn’t like it, she works on it and changes it around until she has made it her own. Food to her is important, it’s most important when it’s “temple food.” She cooks what she likes and enjoys, meaning that if it’s heavy it’s not likely to be made. “Temple food” as she calls it, is pretty much food for the soul. It should create an expression and spark an emotion. “Broths and beautiful natural things and flavors,” she adds, “that’s what food is, you basically eat it every day. It can make you sick, happy, content, and it’s constantly there and present with your family and friends.” She believes in living to eat, “God gave you the joy of taste. So stop, chew, and analyze,” she explains, “Food is not your enemy, food is your friend.”

bazaar questionnaire:

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Somewhere on the beach with really good food, really good friends, and basically being in the water; but to be absolutely happy is when I’m in the kitchen whether I’m preparing for friends, preparing for family, preparing for my son or anybody. Especially when I’m not tied down by an idea and none of the “no it has to taste like this,” I don’t like boundaries, I’m happiest when you tell me “I trust you, go crazy.” I love experimenting and coming up with ‘mad scientist’ ideas.

What is your greatest fear?

To never be able to taste anything, or to smell anything, or see anything, or feel anything. 

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

I’m a control freak in the kitchen, I can’t delegate; regardless of how much I train them in the back of my head I always think “If I want something done right, I must do it myself.”

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Being too demanding, not resilient, not thinking outside the box. I don’t like people who are set in their ways, they don’t give. It takes all kinds of people to make the world, and if you don’t give then you’re not going to go far in this life. I don’t like people who are rigid, people who are cold, people who are fake. I don’t care how good of a chef I am, if you don’t like it just say so. I don’t like compliments, compliments are my pet peeve, just tell me the truth.

Which living person do you most admire?

I have to say my dad. He has taught me how to persevere and how morals come before money, how people’s feelings come before anything else even your own, and by giving you receive more. That took me a long way in my life, and God knows he was patient with us and worked really hard to get us where we are. If not family then I would say, Sarah McLachlan. For some reason I just love that woman, she has nothing to do with cooking but whenever I listen to her music I get inspired. I also admire Heston Blumenthal whose the protégée of Ferran Adria.

What is your greatest extravagance?

Actually cooking tools, lots and lots of gadgets and lots and lots of expensive ingredients; also going to really expensive restaurants. I’m not into clothes or cars or anything, I’m into cooking gadgets and food as well as anything that has to do with the sea.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

“I can’t believe you did this!” I use that a lot, especially in the kitchen.

When were you happiest?

When I had my son, definitely.

Which talent would you most like to have?

Multi-tasking, I can’t multi-task while cooking. I’m in my own zone when I’m in the kitchen so I can’t focus on anything else. So I’d like to be able to concentrate on other things while cooking.

What would you consider your greatest achievement?

Finishing college on time (she laughs) and creating Umami. I consider Umami my greatest achievement apart from getting pregnant with my son and going through the nine months. I would have to say that persevering in a business that’s mainly male dominant is definitely my greatest achievement.

Where would you most like to live?

If it wasn’t Kuwait, then definitely the Caribbean, that’s my retirement plan. Take my son, have him be the waiter and handle the jet skies, and I’ll be in the kitchen in the shack cooking. Just have this exotic restaurant somewhere, the kind where you have to get into a plane to get to.