DIRIYAH: For Chef Saleh Aljabali, his culinary passion was fired as early as kindergarten. “The earliest memory would be when I was three, four years,” he tells Arab News. “At the kindergarten, we were taught to make French toast. And I got excited about it. That was the spark.”
From experimenting at home with family and friends to pursuing the craft alongside his engineering studies, he soon realized cooking was his calling. “This is my passion and this is what I prefer to do,” he says.
Today, that passion has found its home at Najdi Signature Restaurant in Bab Samhan Hotel, a Luxury Collection Property in Diriyah. “It’s the first Najdi cuisine restaurant in a five-star hotel in the region, if not in the world,” Saleh explains. “The idea is to serve authentic Najdi dishes, presented with a modern twist.”
When you started out, what was the most common mistake you made?
Not trusting the ingredients enough. I would over-season and overcomplicate, or try to impress with too many techniques in one dish. But I learned that restraint is a skill in itself, and sometimes the best thing you can do is to let the ingredients speak for themselves. Another mistake was rushing the process — especially with traditional dishes that require time and patience. Najdi cuisine, for example, is all about slow cooking. You cannot rush it and expect authenticity.
