🍛 Over the years, El Gouna Red Sea has become a year-round destination synonymous with culinary finesse, fusion cuisine, and seaside fine dining. It was only natural that the town would celebrate its 35th anniversary with a one-of-a-kind gastronomic festival that spotlights its ethos — ethical, local, and sustainable.

Lucky number 35: Marking the launch of Taste El Gouna — the town’s newly-minted gastronomy platform brought to life in partnership with Flavor Republic — El Gouna celebrated 35 years with 35 Flavors of El Gouna: a weekend spotlighting the intersection between storytelling, sustainability, and the culinary arts in partnership between El Gouna Red Sea and Atelier Norbert Niederkofler Temporary.

Featuring a roster of Michelin-starred chefs, spearheaded by Chef Norbert Niederkofler of 3-Michelin-starred and Green-starred Atelier Moessmer, the weekend unfolded across the town’s marinas, restaurants, and shores through a variety of dinners, brunches, and masterclasses that showcased locally sourced ingredients from El Gouna, the Red Sea, and Egypt as a whole — proving that being truly sustainable isn’t as hard as one might be inclined to believe.

The chefs: Joining Chef Niederkofler were Michellen-starred chefs Himanshu Saini from Dubai’s Tresind Studio, Daniel Hadida and Eric Robertson from Canada’s Pearl Morissette, and Fabrizio Mellino from Italy’s Quattro Passi. Joining the Michelin-starred culinary artists were rising stars Ariel Hagen from Tuscany’s Saporium, Atelier Moessmer’s Tamara Rigo, Sara Aqel from Jordan’s Dara Dining, and Turki Bin Hallabi from across the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. Not to forget the beverage alchemists — the weekend’s celebrations could not have been complete without Copenhagen’s Mattia Spedicato and Italy’s Federico Balzarin.

“The idea behind Cook the Mountain is essentially being very respectful to nature and the environment, and thinking for the future,” Chef Niederkofler told EnterpriseAM. While guests were in for a treat, the chefs were in for a challenge. The four-day showcase gave the culinary artists a blank canvas… with a caveat: all ingredients had to be locally sourced, seasonal, and ensure zero waste — an approach that followed in the footsteps of The Ethical Chef, Niederkofler’s, Cook the Mountain philosophy, adapted to the Red Sea. The result? Utterly fascinating.

It all started with a special dinner at the Abu Tig Marina, where an island rose to welcome scores of guests and chefs. The chefs were paired, each duo — and one trio — occupying one of the culinary stations dotted throughout the marina island. The seating arrangement saw high tables spread throughout, seemingly sending one message: move around, talk, and watch magic happen. The stations allowed guests to witness the chefs in action, from preparation to garnishing, all whilst conversation flowed. This would come to set the tone for what the rest of the weekend was all about — community, conversation, and storytelling through the culinary arts.

Conversations there were, seeing as we could not stop raving about the dishes. The dinner at Abu Tig saw a smorgasbord of innovative bites that hit all the marks and then some. Chefs Fabrizio Mellino and Sara Aqel presented a hummus and sujuk tart — a savory appetizer disguised in the form of dessert — Chefs Himanshu Saini and Ariel Hagan wowed the crowd with a ‘aish baladi and trout batarekh ceviche — an almost-alchemical combination one would hitherto never dare to dream of.

Chefs Niederkoflet and Turki Bin Hallabi presented some interesting protein choices in the form of camel shawarma and quail with dukkah, with the former — in our humble opinion — being the star of the evening. Chefs Robertson, Hadida, and Rigo sought inspiration from the seas, presenting a sea bass with dried pears, and a king mackerel with sour cream, prickly ash, and rhubarb.

Incredible as all the dishes were, it soon became clear that this was no ordinary dinner — it was a chance to share one’s love of food with other discerning gourmands. Guests lingered by the stations, sharing stories with chefs and one another, in a rare showcase of community that often goes unencountered in typical fine dining settings. The band played and guests swayed, and the night soon ended, leaving us to rest before our next excursion: Brunch at The Smokery Beach, where some of our favorite dishes of the weekend were served.

When one thinks of okra and cauliflower in Egypt, one might imagine tomato-sauce-laden stews — Chef Bin Hallabi, however, broke from the mold. The Saudi chef presented a palate-envigorating dish of grilled okra and cauliflower, diced atop a bed of tahini. Refreshingly fresh with an interesting crisp texture, the dish was one we didn’t just go back for seconds for, but for thirds.

As we moved along the stations lined across the shore, we tried Chef Hagen’s ‘areesh cheese pasta, aqel’s grilled prawns with Egyptian spices and lemon sauce, and ended our culinary excursion with Chef Rigo’s signature sweet treat: a burnt lemon meringue, served inside a half lemon laid atop a bed of Himalayan salt. Accompanying the dessert was a fresh waffle biscuit, which offset the acidity of the lemon.

Rigo’s dessert best encapsulated the theme of 35 Flavors of El Gouna, particularly when it came to zero waste cooking. The Italian chef utilized every aspect of the lemon; from its shell to its juice. The self-proclaimed Daughter of the Dolomites made her love for nature clear with her dessert: “Growing up surrounded by mountains and untouched nature impacted me profoundly, particularly in regards to how I feel about produce,” Rigo told us. “If you have a piece of fruit, there’s not much more you can add to it, it’s just naturally beautiful,” she added.

The brunch, we would argue, was perhaps one of the more prominent highlights of the weekend. In broad daylight, by the beach, 35 Flavors of El Gouna demonstrated Taste El Gouna’s great potential, and what we hope to see more of in the coming editions set to take place in the seaside town annually. Once more, it was a community-centric affair, with culinary excellence at both the forefront and the background. As the sun began to set, the night paved the way for the Flagship Dinner at Botanica, a newly-minted pioneering hydroponic restaurant where sustainability is core. There, the upcoming La Maison Bleue Residences (LMBR) were announced. The seated dinner saw the Michelin-starred chefs and the rising stars cater to every craving, doubling down on everything they had thus far presented.

A fitting finale: The final dinner of 35 Flavors of El Gouna took us all the way back to Abu Tig, where Villa Coconut opened its doors to a special showcase by the rising stars. Seafood was a prominent theme, interpreted differently by each of the chefs. Bin Hallabi’s catch of the day was enthroned in a shrine of tamarind and dukkah, Aqel’s fillet was shrouded in vine leaves — offering a taste at once familiar and foreign to Egyptian palates — and Hagen’s salad, filled with chickpeas, black eyed peas, prawn, and Egyptian curry, had guests standing in lines for second and third helpings. Rigo, once more, ended the evening with a sweet symphony in the form of a fresh date tart with spiced anise toffee and homegrown citrus jam.

Were we to review every dish, we would be here for hours, so we’ll just say this — and risk hyperbole: every single offering throughout the length of the weekend was culinary perfection actualized. 35 Flavors of El Gouna — the inaugural edition of Taste El Gouna — was a success, to say the least, having us (and most guests, we’re sure) counting down the minutes to the next edition.

Further supplementing the coastal town’s culinary scene, the platform, we believe, is set to transform the Red Sea destination into a globally-renowned culinary terminus, much like how El Gouna International Film Festival gently placed the town on the global cultural map. As Chef Rigo told us: “There’s so much more potential [in Egypt], because there’s so much to be done.”

While 35 Flavors of El Gouna has now concluded, we would urge you not to miss the second iteration of Taste El Gouna next year… and it’s never too early to start cleansing your palate.

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