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DUBAI: For Carmen Landsberg, the kitchen has always felt like home — a place of creativity, comfort and connection. Born in the small South African town of Empangeni and raised in a family passionate about cooking, Landsberg found her love for the kitchen at an early age. 

“I enjoyed cooking from a really young age. It’s always kind of been in my family. I think I’m the only one that’s a professional chef, but we’ve always been surrounded by food — and obviously, being South African, it’s very much part of our culture,” she tells Arab News. “It’s a gathering. It’s about getting together.” 

She credits her uncle for sparking her interest: “I spent a lot of time on our family farm. I’d get tomatoes from the garden and maybe make some tomato soup from very few ingredients.” 

Now group executive chef at Brunch & Cake Global, she leads the brand’s expansion across the GCC and beyond, including the Kingdom. 

“What excites me most about ������Ƶ is the growing appetite for unique and global food experiences,” she says. “There’s an incredible energy. People are curious, open-minded, and eager to explore new flavors and concepts. It’s a vibrant, fast-evolving landscape, and I’m proud to be part of bringing Brunch & Cake into that.”  

When you started out, what was the most common mistake you made? 

Letting the pressure get to me and not utilizing the things around me to make my life easier. Like, using the wrong utensils and equipment — trying to take shortcuts. Specific tools are there to make everything easier for you. Like having a sharp knife, using a slotted spoon to pick up a poached egg instead of just quickly grabbing anything, or not using tongs to pick up pasta out of boiling water, or using a proper pasta basket, for example.  

What’s your top tip for amateur chefs?  

Investing in a good knife is key. Your knives are everything. They are your best friend. And, more generally, don’t overcomplicate things. Less is always best, I’d say.  

What one ingredient can instantly improve any dish?  

I think citrus is probably my top one. Anything with a little bit of acidity can lighten up something that’s very heavy. If you over-season or over-salt something, adding a little bit of lemon helps. Lemon would definitely be my go-to.  

When you go out to eat, do you find yourself critiquing the food?  

I do notice things, but I don’t actively go out looking for them. I think being a chef makes you more lenient, actually. I try to let people do what they’re good at and just enjoy the experience. Do I notice things? Of course. It’s in my nature. But I don’t want to be obnoxious. I’m happy to go to a burger place and just appreciate that I’m there for a burger and enjoy that. But if someone does ask, I’ll give feedback. That’s important. If someone asks me, “How was it?” and I genuinely feel that I didn’t enjoy a specific thing, or maybe we didn’t get proper service, I’ll say something like, “Everything was amazing, but it would’ve been helpful if someone came to check on our table a bit more.” I’d approach it like that.  

What’s the most common issue that you find in other restaurants?  

I often notice that, after you’ve eaten, there are a lot of times when you just get the bill — no one comes over to ask, “Did you have a good time? Did you enjoy it?” I would say that’s a common mistake not asking for feedback. But sometimes people would rather not ask because they don’t want to hear the answer.  

What’s your favorite cuisine or dish to eat?  

I hope you’re not going to hate me for this, but I don’t actually have a favorite dish. I genuinely love all food — I promise you, I really love food. I’m not the kind of person who says, “Oh, I only love Italian.” But I will say that I do love fusion items. I love experimenting, I love combining Asian with other cuisines, like, why not have an Asian-style burger? So I’d say fusion food is probably my favorite. But more than specific dishes, I think I love specific ingredients, like butter, cream or herbs.  

What’s your go-to dish if you have to cook something quickly at home?  

I think my go-to and my “cooking something quickly” are a bit different. My go-to… I love cheese. I love anything with cheese, so, like, crackers with cheese. Even if I start cooking something that’s meant to be quick, I tend to go off track, because I just get inspired and let the flavors flow — and before I know it, an hour’s gone by. So my quick, easy, go-to is probably a little harvest board — something where I can just avoid a cooking accident.  

What customer behavior most annoys you? 

I have two that are probably tied. Number one is people leaving without giving feedback. Or people saying everything is great, then leaving a bad review, or guests not giving you the chance to make things right. We take our negative reviews really seriously. And giving negative feedback isn’t always a horrible thing — you don’t have to do it in a horrible way; it can be very constructive. 

But also, it’s when guests want to change the dishes too much. You come to have an experience, and then you change the dishes so much that they’re not even recognizable. That happens a lot. Sometimes people come in and say, “Oh, can I have that instead of this?” or “I don’t like that, can I have this instead?” And you’re, like, “But we don’t actually have that on the menu.” And sometimes that even leads to a complaint.  

What’s your favorite dish to cook ? 

Anything around the fire really brings me back home because I’m South African. Having a barbecue is something that brings people together. It’s always about everyone bringing a dish. I do have a passion for anything cooked over fire. Nothing can beat a good steak on a fire — that crust you get, the fat that renders down… nothing compares. Even with vegetables, that smokiness, the char, it really adds something. It’s a little bit of home away from home. 

What’s the most difficult dish for you to get right?  

Definitely a souffle. A souffle is one of those things that can flop in the oven depending on your mood. You could do everything right, but if you’re in a bad mood, the souffle just doesn’t souffle. It’s just one of those things I honestly try to avoid. If anyone ever asked me, “Are you going to put a souffle on the menu?” I’d be like, “No.” Even if you have everything perfect — the oven, the temperature, the ingredients — it’s just one of those things that really picks up on your energy. 

As a head chef, what are you like? Are you laid back? Strict? 

I think my team would tell you I definitely love to keep good vibes in the kitchen. We spend a lot of time with the people we work with, and it’s already such a high-pressure industry, so I definitely don’t want people coming in and not being happy in the place they work. It’s important to always provide a safe space for people. You’re constantly teaching, so you don’t want to be unapproachable. But, at the same time, having boundaries is very important. I’m not like I was maybe 10 years ago — back then I was a bit more Gordon Ramsay-style crazy. But as you get older and reach certain levels in your career, you start to realize that hitting someone over the head with a pan is probably not the best way to get a positive reaction. You have to have a good balance. That’s something I always strive for. 

Chef Carmen’s egg carbonara  

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1 plain croissant 

40g grated parmesan 

40g sliced beef bacon 

3 eggs 

50g brown mushrooms, roughly chopped 

10g truffle paste 

100ml cream 

40g butter 

2ml truffle oil 

0.1g dried edible flowers 

3 sprigs of parsley  

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Slice the croissant lengthwise and toast until lightly golden. Set aside. 

In a heated pan, add the butter, chopped chopped mushrooms, and bacon slices. Sauté until the mushrooms are soft and the bacon is crispy. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until fluffy and then fold in the cream and truffle paste. 

Lower the heat and pour the egg mixture into the pan with bacon and mushrooms. Stir slowly and gently until all combined and creamy. Cook to preferred doneness. 

Once the eggs are almost at preferred doneness, season well and finish with a drizzle of truffle oil. 

Plating: 

On a plate, scatter the grated Parmesan in a wide circle, leaving the centre slightly bare. 

Place the toasted croissant in the centre of the plate and generously spoon the truffled egg mixture into the croissant, making it flow out onto the plate. 

Sprinkle with grated Parmesan, garnish with dried edible flowers, and finish with three small parsley sprigs on either side. 

SEOUL: Hundreds of South Korean workers were headed back to Seoul on Friday after their detention in a US immigration raid that Hyundai warned will delay completion of its battery factory.

South Korean workers accounted for most of the 475 people arrested last week at the Hyundai-LG battery plant under construction in Georgia, prompting tense negotiations between Seoul and Washington, staunch security allies.

A specially chartered Korean Air Boeing 747-8I carrying 316 South Koreans and 14 foreign employees departed Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Thursday, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

“Everything at Atlanta went smoothly,” a foreign ministry official said on Friday, ahead of the workers’ expected arrival at 2:00 p.m. (0500 GMT).

“The plane departed as scheduled with the planned number of passengers.”

The Georgia raid was the largest single-site operation conducted since US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping immigration crackdown, a top political priority since he returned to office in January.

Experts say most of the detained South Korean workers were likely on visas that do not permit hands-on construction work.

President Lee Jae Myung called the raid “bewildering” and noted it could have a chilling effect on future investment.

He added that Seoul was negotiating with Washington “to ensure that visa issuance for investment-related purposes operates normally”.

Asia’s fourth-largest economy maintains multiple plants in the United States, and has heeded Washington’s push to onshore manufacturing and boost investment in America.

At the Hyundai factory site, construction will now be set back due to labor shortages, Chief Executive Officer Jose Munoz said.

“This is going to give us minimum two to three months delay, because now all these people want to get back,” he said.

“Then you need to see how can you fill those positions. And, for the most part, those people are not in the US.”

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of the country’s largest umbrella union groups, called for an apology from Trump and for Seoul to halt US investment plans.

“The Trump administration’s excessive mass arrests and detentions were a clear violation of human rights,” it said in a statement sent to AFP.

“The KCTU stands in full solidarity with the workers returning today and strongly urges President Trump to issue an official apology and calls for (South Korea’s) suspension of investments in the US.”

Minimize impact

LG Energy Solution – which said 47 of its employees were arrested, along with about 250 people working for its contractor – thanked the Seoul government for its support.

Seoul sent a task force and flew in top officials to negotiate, with a focus on ensuring that workers would not suffer repercussions should they seek to re-enter the United States.

“We are especially grateful for their exceptional efforts... for their meticulous attention to addressing various concerns, including ensuring no disadvantages upon re-entry,” the firm said in a statement sent to AFP.

Images of the workers being chained and handcuffed during the raid caused widespread alarm in South Korea, and Seoul said the government had negotiated to make sure the workers were not handcuffed again as they were repatriated.

The raid came less than a month after Trump welcomed Lee to the White House.

The site of the raid is a $4.3 billion venture to build a battery cell manufacturing facility in Georgia.

Many South Korean companies bring their own workforce during project development periods, with industry sources telling AFP it is common practice to use visa workarounds to avoid project delays.

LG said it remained committed to its US projects, adding that it was also working to minimize “any business impact resulting from this incident”.