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Casablanca-native Hassan M’souli likes doing things his way. When he decided to make it abroad he thought of acting but his professional journey took a different turn when he discovered his cooking skills.
The Moroccan national is now one of the leading executive Chefs in Australia. He immigrated in 1985 to Sydney, where he currently lives with his wife and children.
«I came to Australia because it is the farthest country from Morocco. It was a way of challenging myself and a journey of self-discovery», Chef Hassan told Yabildi.
But before starting his culinary journey in Australia, Hassan M’souli had a different dream. «I wanted to be an actor and decided to study acting in Australia but things went differently as I was there».
The first Moroccan restaurant in Australia
Indeed, after spending a couple of years in France working for bakeries, Hassan impressed Australian Chefs who advised him to focus on improving his cooking skills. «Chefs realized that I was a good cook and I decided to keep working in the hospitality field», he recalled.
Hassan debuted his cooking career at a French restaurant in Sydney but one year later he took the risk of establishing Australia’s first Moroccan restaurant. «An Australian guy, who was my age, suggested that we open a restaurant and wanted me to be his partner», said the Moroccan Chef.
«I couldn’t say no, but I wanted the restaurant to serve Moroccan food. I did not want to be a follower, I have always been a driver who hated to do what others do».
Hassan’s determination led to the opening of «The Mosquito Bar», the first Moroccan restaurant in Sydney. «The restaurant was established in 1986-87, it does not exist anymore but we had a second one called 'Casablanca' which was located in a more touristic area», he proudly recalled.
«Casablanca», opened in 1990, was more of a Moroccan-oriented restaurant where, Hassan made sure to highlight the country’s culture. His third restaurant «Out of Africa», however, was a platform for him to showcase his skills as a Chef, bringing new and creative varieties of the Moroccan cuisine.
«Out of Africa was more of a Moroccan modern restaurant as most of the dishes were creative», explained M’souli, adding that he made sure to «keep the classic Moroccan dishes such as Harira soup, pastilla and Tajine all while adding his creations to the menu».
An award winning Chef
In his three restaurants, Hassan was determined to be different and serve his clients differently. «I did not want to copy other Chefs but I wanted the new ones to follow what I was doing».
Besides cooking, Hassan M’souli focused on a second project, which was writing. In 2004, the self-taught Chef wrote his first cooking book «Moroccan Modern», and four years later he published his second bestselling one entitled «Make it Moroccan».
«My two books have been published in 16 countries around the world», he told Yabiladi. Indeed, Hassan M’souli received the award for «Best in the World-African-Cuisine Category» at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Paris in March 2010 for his book «Make it Moroccan».
One month later, he received a letter of congratulation from King Mohammed VI for being an excellent ambassador for the country.
In addition to his cooking classes, Hassan M’souli now is working on a new project that is related to Moroccan cuisine. After selling his restaurant, the Chef is on the hunt for a producer to film a documentary on the origins of the Moroccan cuisine.
«The project will concentrate on research and documenting and its objective has to do with the history of food», explained M’souli. «We still need to know a lot more about our cuisine and I want to travel along Morocco, Africa and the Middle East to answer some of the questions I have about several dishes», he added.
Meanwhile, Hassan M’souli is invited to Sharjah, UAE, to attend the international book fair.
«They want me to do some demonstrations about Moroccan food in the book fair», he said, indicating that he «first demonstration will be on the 31st of October».
