The Kingdom of Bahrain’s “Meeting of Seas” pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka was an attraction for visitors from around the world, as it combined Bahrain’s ancient heritage with the spirit of innovation and concepts of sustainability. The café in the heart of the pavilion was an important stop in the sensory experience offered by the pavilion, as Bahraini chef Tala Bashmi, winner of several international awards, supervised the café’s seasonal menu, which blended authentic Bahraini flavors with rich Japanese ingredients.
Chef Tala Bashmi is known for her approach to redefining Gulf cuisine to the world by blending regional flavors with modern and international techniques. Her early passion for cooking led her to obtain a master’s degree from the Academy of Culinary Arts in Switzerland, and she honed her skills at Hotel Les Trois Rois and Restaurant Prisma. In 2020, she took over the leadership of Fusions by Thala, an upscale restaurant located in one of the luxury hotels in the Kingdom of Bahrain, where she led it to achieve advanced positions on the list of the 50 best restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa region, ranking third in 2023, ninth in 2024, and sixth in 2025, before leaving the restaurant in late 2024.
Bashmi was one of the finalists for the “Top Chef Middle East” program in 2019, and won the “Best Female Chef in the Middle East and North Africa” award from the “50 Best Restaurants in the Region” list for the year 2022. She also won the Rising Star Award at The Best Chef Awards 2023, and the “Three Knives” award in the 2024 edition of the same ceremony, in addition to… To the Estrella Damm NA Chefs’ Choice Award for 2025. In 2024, she was appointed as a Culinary Ambassador by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, in recognition of her role in promoting Bahraini food heritage globally.
With her management of the Bahrain Pavilion Café at Expo Osaka, Talah received a new opportunity to transfer the identity of Bahraini cuisine to a global platform, through dishes that carry within them stories of local culture and memory, and in this dialogue, Chef Bashmi reveals many details about this participation.
Q: At the Bahrain Pavilion Café at Expo 2025 Osaka, the menu blends Bahraini flavors with Japanese ingredients, inspired by the common bond between the two countries. How did you want visitors to experience Bahrain through food? How did this idea arise, and what challenges or surprises did you encounter in bringing these two cultures together?
I started by working on the Bahraini flavors and ingredients that I grew up with and that make me feel like I belong to the country, such as “mahyawa” and black lemon, which I often use in my dishes, and then I sought to find new ways to express them. The theme of the Bahrain Pavilion, “Meeting of the Seas,” was a natural connection between two countries, Bahrain and Japan, whose history, culture and cuisine have been shaped by the sea since ancient times. My goal at Al Jnah Café was not to present Bahraini cuisine as it is, but rather I wanted to reflect the food traditions and culture of both cultures. Each dish contains a familiar element from the homeland, but I have reimagined it using Japanese ingredients, so that the visitor leaves not only with a feeling of satisfaction, but also with curiosity and a desire to learn more about Bahrain, visit us, and connect with us beyond just trying the dish.
Q: In your opinion, how can food serve as a cultural ambassador? Did you feel that visitors in Osaka discovered Bahrain in a new way through your dishes?
Food is one of the truest ways to tell the story of where we belong. You can talk about history or show pictures, but when someone tastes a dish, they are having an experience: the spices, the textures, the way the ingredients are put together, that is the essence of the culture in a tangible way. In Osaka, I could see people discovering Bahrain through those flavours. They may not have known what “mahyawa” was or how to use black lemon, but once they tasted it alongside familiar Japanese ingredients, it became easy and fun, and a new door to learning about Bahrain opened for them. Here lies the role of food as a cultural ambassador: creating bridges without the need for translation.
Q: Your journey from Manama to Osaka is full of transitions. What personal experiences did you bring with you to this particular project?
I visited Japan many years ago on a solo trip, where I toured the country to delve deeper into its culture and learn new cooking skills. It was one of the most life-changing experiences in my culinary career. In Osaka today, I saw visitors discover Bahrain in a way they had never known before. They may not have been familiar with flavors like hibiscus, cardamom and tamarind, or how we use spices with meat and fish, but they recognized them when they were presented to them in a familiar way. I wanted to arouse their curiosity, open the door to dialogue, and make them leave with a desire to explore our culture beyond the confines of these dishes.
Q: What does it mean to you to represent Bahrain in a global event like the Expo? How do you interpret the classification of the Bahrain Pavilion among the list of the top ten pavilions that must be visited?
Being the culinary director of the Bahrain Pavilion Café at Expo 2025 is a great honor. It was an opportunity to represent my country on this global platform in order to showcase the richness of our cuisine and ingredients to the world. It’s more than food, this is a way to bring Bahrain’s stories, flavors and spirit to a place where millions of visitors can experience them first hand. For me, food is a way to express ourselves: our history, our deep connection to the sea and the land, our warmth, in a form that people can taste and remember. Hearing that the Bahrain Pavilion was ranked among the top ten pavilions to visit makes me proud, not only as a chef, but as a Bahraini. This achievement is the result of the efforts of everyone who worked to bring a piece of Bahrain to Osaka and share it with the world.
Q: How do you envision the future of Bahraini cuisine on the world stage after this experience?
I see Bahraini cuisine moving towards a space where its depth, history and creativity can be recognized, not only around the Gulf region, but internationally. This experience proved to me that when we present our flavors honestly and confidently, people are excited to get to know us more. I hope this post will inspire more Bahraini chefs to showcase our cuisine in their own way, so that it becomes part of this global conversation.
Q: What message would you like young chefs to learn from your participation in Expo 2025?
To remain true to their origins, but without fear of development and progress. To learn from other cultures, to travel, to taste, to experience challenges, but to always carry their own story in their dishes. This is what makes their style of cooking unique. The world does not need another version of what already exists; Rather, it needs their own voice represented on their plates.
Q: Which dish on the menu do you think is more special than others, and why?
It’s hard to choose just one dish. Each dish at Al Jnah Café represented the Kingdom of Bahrain in its own way. Some highlighted our connection to the sea, others highlighted spices or traditional cooking methods. I did not want to limit the experience to one dish, because Bahrain is not one flavor or one story. I wanted to show that the simple everyday dishes we eat are what make Bahraini cuisine unique.
Q: When a visitor left the Bahrain Pavilion Café after tasting your dishes, what impression or feeling did you want him to leave with him?
I wanted him to leave with curiosity inside him, the feeling that drives him to learn more about Bahrain, its people and its cuisine. I hope he feels like he has tasted food that is honest, authentic, and yet full of surprises. I wanted him to leave and say, “I have to visit Bahrain.” Then I will have accomplished my mission.
