Meet Chef Izu Ani: The mastermind behind Dubai's iconic restaurants

Renowned chef Izu Ani has left an indelible mark on the global culinary scene with his incredible talent and passion for cooking. Ani, originally from Nigeria, has established himself as one of Dubai’s most influential chefs, and his success is a testament to his hard work and dedication.

Ani, who at the age of 16, concluded his secondary institution, claimed that he originally joined the ‘Home Economics’ class at 14 for the rich company of girls. A class he never knew would play a defining role in his culinary future.

Chef Ani, who completed his secondary education at the age of 16; initially joined the ‘Home Economics’ class at 14, primarily motivated by the opportunity to interact with girls. Little did he know that this seemingly casual choice would shape his future in the culinary world.

“Home economics is predominantly female class. When I saw it was a class full of females at the time, I said “I want to be there,” because I kind of liked being with the females. So I chose the class because it was all girls in the class,” he said.

The acclaimed Chef stated that he had left school at the age of 16, but carried on cooking. He also revealed that he attended college for three months.

His culinary journey began when he came across a job advertisement for a training program at a bakery,“ I saw this job advert ‘Training scheme for white NVG’ in Greg’s bakery. So it was a bakery,” he said “You get trained to be one of the managers,” he said.

Ani expressed his excitement at the thought of becoming a manager. But the enthusiastic Chef soon found himself out of place in an environment that required the mastery of mathematics to succeed. Math was not his strong suit at the time. Despite this limitation, Ani’s dogged will to work never wavered.

After receiving assurance that upon improving his mathematical skills, he would be welcomed back into the bakery’s management program, Ani enrolled in college for two months to study math. However, upon his return, he failed a test administered to determine his qualifications for the role, leading to his second rejection from the bakery.

Undeterred at the young age of 16, he persisted in his search for employment, driven by personal ambition and the need to support his mother, who worked multiple jobs and served as the sole provider for their family.

“We did not have much, financially, and my mother was working three to four jobs. So she did not have time to exchange with me to try and try and advise me” he said “We did not have a father, so my mother was my father and mother and breadwinner and everything at the same time. So I had to do a lot of things alone,” he said.

He was then directed by a job courier to David Loid’s Club, a Tennis Club. There, he was interviewed by the presiding Chef, Ian Crowe. Ian had revealed that there were two of them to choose from, Ani and another aspirant. But the presiding Chef had conditions to be met before determining his choice. Ian, the chef, announced that they would work a gruelling number of hours a week, with days off included to prove their qualification.

“He said two days we would do 16hrs a day and then have a day off, and then after, we would do another two days of 16hrs each before another day off,” Ani said.

The condition which was set to test their dedication and perseverance was not an easy one. Ani stated that while the condition posed a challenge at first due to his lack of experience, he stayed the course. His partner on the other hand was a different story, as he dropped out at the end of the week without seeing the conditions through.

This in turn impressed Ian to the point where the accomplished chef decided to take Ani under his wings. Ani said that “he took me under his wings, showed me how to make the fancy salads a bit better. He put the parsley, the little tree on top to make it beautiful,” he revealed fondly “And from there I studied and I did my white year scheme.” An accomplishment he was grateful for as he acknowledged Crowe as his first mentor who did not make things easy for him for the sake of his growth.

Ian then provided a route to further expand Ani’s growth by recommending him for a job in a five-star hotel, Sheraton Belgravia, a big break! There he met with another accomplished chef who accepted and taught him new things. He said, “I did breakfasts, cooking fried eggs, cooking omelettes.”

From there he was given a choice to excel in another culinary field, pastry making. Upon his confession to his love of pastries, Ani revealed that Sheraton Hotel sponsored his pastry training. He stated that John Huber, the famous chef, was who he worked with.

“So Sheraton sponsored my pastry training and I did it with John Huber. He was one of the famous pastry chefs. I was in awe of him. He is French as well,” Ani said.

Ani disclosed that his time with Huber was rewarding as he never had it easy, but was taught most befittingly.