Michelin-inspired cuisine is no longer something reserved for the quaint French countryside or the rooftops of Tokyo - it can be found here in Cairo; it can even be found in your home.

In the case of Scene Eats, fine dining came to us at our downtown office in the shape of BLAK by O.
BLAK and BLAK by O are sister companies offering elevated, restaurant-quality catering experiences for venues across Egypt. “We wanted to replicate a Michelin-star experience for Egyptians,” CEO and co-founder Indji Ghattas tells Scene Eats, “but in a way that feels personal and experiential.” Since their founding, they have catered a host of high-profile, luxury events across Cairo, including Cairo Design Week, the launch of the Porsche Macan at the G.E.M., and Egypt Fashion Week.

Founded just two years ago, BLAK by O is the result of a tightly knit partnership between four founders whose roles are as distinct as they are interdependent. Alongside Ghattas, who leads operations and marketing, is Omar Semary, the head chef and creative force behind the brand, whose career spans Canada, Japan, London, and Spain. “Omar is the pivot we all circulate around,” Ghattas explains.
When BLAK by O arrived at our office – in what was described as a few small canopies and desserts – they arrived with a mini portable fridge. What we witnessed next was nothing short of magical. A team of three took over a small table and swiftly began to work; assembling mushroom tartlets, pieces of tuna sashimi atop a tapioca base, cured duck breast, and a ‘Caesar salad in a cup’. In their containers were a melange of ingredients, both recognisable and completely foreign to us – one jar even included pieces of edible gold flakes. This, we learned, was the magic of BLAK and BLAK by O, and there was far more to it than met our many eyes that day.

Behind the scenes, in the kitchen, Semary is joined by Hanna El Gohary, whose background in molecular gastronomy allows the team to experiment boldly with texture, presentation, and sensory design, while Yomna Farahat operates the internal structuring of the company itself.

“We're a very bonded group of people,” Ghattas shares, “every one of us knows our role, and we don't overstep.”
The personal connection to each other and to the food they imagine is, in turn, applied to their clients. “I'm a very personal person,” says Ghattas, “I like to welcome people.” It is also the reason BLAK by O chose catering. “We thought catering was way more personal than a restaurant. When catering, you walk into people’s homes. The food is made specially for you. Rather than a restaurant, where you walk in and you eat whatever is given to you,” says Ghattas.

BLAK and BLAK by O offer two distinct experiences. BLAK by O - BLAK by Omar Semary - is a “very niche, high-end, Michelin experience tasting menu.” BLAK by O is mysterious. Curated. Suspenseful. When deciding on a menu, the team only asks clients a few questions - where they have travelled, details of the occasion - and based on their response, Semary then “develops a menu based on the seasonality and freshness of the items, and how crazy he is at that point in time,” Ghattas laughs. The experience BLAK by O seeks to offer is specific and personalised, and is usually limited to a group of no larger than thirty people.

BLAK, on the other hand, can cater to over a thousand. “BLAK is less sophisticated, but we still use very refined ingredients,” says Ghattas. This flexibility allows for a large range of events, from seated dinners to buffet menus. Ghattas uses the metaphor of a designer bag to differentiate the experiences offered: “It’s like if you’re buying a Chanel bag. BLAK is still Chanel, but O - he’s the limited edition.”
Semary moves fast, “he’s very swift in the kitchen,” his partner Ghattas says. After training and working at various Michelin-level restaurants across Canada, Spain, and London, he moved to Japan. “It was here that really affected him and his skills,” says Ghattas. With this range of experience, “he has all the classical French cooking techniques backed up with a very strong Asian influence.” With each move, Semary absorbed culinary technique and skill. Today, he continues to embody traditional Japanese methods of cutting fish, down to the specific method and tools.

This experience, paired with El Gohary’s education in molecular gastronomy, results in some “super amusing ideas,” Ghattas says excitedly. What they seek to offer clients with BLAK by O is more of an experience than simply a meal. In a typical menu, guests will receive “one word for every course, we don’t really describe anything,” says Ghattan. “This creates a mystery,” she continues, “when you don’t know exactly what it is you’re eating, it adds a certain thrill.”

In fact, in one pop-up held by BLAK by O, they blindfolded all their guests. “We wanted to create a theme that forces you to use all five of your senses; every course tackled one of them, whether it’s smell or eyesight,” Ghattas explains. Blindfolded, the guests “actually got to taste the food without seeing it. It was something very experimental and very sensory.”
At Cairo Design Week at a site in Maadi, BLAK took inspiration from the exhibition itself. Glass, marble, and wood - materials on display were translated into edible forms. “We replicated all the materials in our food - glass, stone, velvet, silk - and everything was fully natural and edible.” Here, the chefs operate as both artists, innovators, and culinary technicians, transforming visual and tactile experiences into something that can be tasted.

At another event, this time for Okhtein, the same meticulous attention to theme carried through every detail. The event's theme was horseback riding, “so everything we made followed that,” Ghattas explains. From the hand-whipped butter moulded to the shape of a horse, to the handmade pasta braided like the threading on a horse's saddle, even the smallest components were thoughtfully designed, creating a cohesive narrative that extended from concept to plate.

Yet beyond the spectacle and artistry, BLAK by O is driven by a deeper ambition: to expand people’s palates and challenge culinary expectations. “Egyptians can be a little bit shy in exploring when it comes to food,” Ghattas admits. Through their mysterious, ever-evolving menus, BLAK offers diners the opportunity to encounter unfamiliar textures, flavours, and ingredients - often for the first time.
A large part of this mission is their now-signature complimentary raw platters at weddings. Drawing from Semary’s Japanese culinary background, these platters feature bluefin tuna, octopus, shrimp, Wagyu beef, whitefish, and salmon - all served raw. “Usually people are very afraid of that,” Ghattas explains. “They refuse it - they say, no, we don’t want the raw station.”

In response, the team made a deliberate decision to include it without a price, “giving people the option to experience it. The client doesn’t pay for it - we’re just doing it as a complimentary addition to your menu.” The result has been striking. “This is the number one thing people finish before anything else.” By removing the barrier of choice - and cost - BLAK gently pushes guests beyond their comfort zones.

At the heart of BLAK and BLAK by O’s philosophy lies a careful balance between international Michelin-dining standards and local taste. “When you travel abroad, and you eat in very fine dining or Michelin-star restaurants, it’s usually about technique, presentation, and letting the ingredient speak for itself,” Ghattas explains. “The more a chef can highlight the natural taste without adding spices, the better.”
In Egypt, however, taste buds yearn for more spice. “We have a very strong, spiced palate here. We’re not used to that rawness of ingredients,” Ghattas says. This is where Semary’s background becomes essential. Having grown up in Egypt and spent years working abroad, he understands how to bridge the gap. He selects fine and fresh ingredients, prepares them with technical precision, and subtly enhances them with just enough flavour to resonate locally. The result is a hybrid approach - one that respects the integrity of fine dining while accommodating Egyptian tastes.

After BLAK left our office, we asked everyone to describe what they had just consumed in one word. With smiling faces and full bellies, we heard things like, “Layered. Scrumptious. Decadent. Euphoric. All-consuming.” We even got one “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

However, what BLAK left us with was not just good food, but a tale of experience. As the whole office swooned over the chefs at work – watching them assemble dishes both beautiful and mysterious – they worked with a natural sense of intent and ease. What we saw were artists in their element, painting with fine tweezers and small syringes.

As Ghattas puts it, what they seek to offer isn’t “just beautiful food - it’s an experience as well.” This experience is made possible by the love between the team and the respect they have for their work. We at Scene Eats were lucky enough to see it in action.