Taste of the Middle East

Issa showing the varieties of Middle Eastern hot dishes at Vasco’s in Hilton Kuala Lumpur. — Photos: CHAN TAK KONG/The Star

A BELLY dancer thrills an entire restaurant with her shimmies and twists.

While that is happening, chef Issa Esber Bashi from the seaside city of Tartus, Syria, who flew in from United Arab Emirates to be the guest chef at Vasco’s in Hilton Kuala Lumpur, jokes that his hometown is most famous for handsome boys like himself.