How Chef Fariyal Abdullahi Is Blazing Trails With Talent, Leadership And Drive

Chef Fariyal Abdullahi is firing on all cylinders. She is running Hav & Mar in Chelsea, which is quickly gaining the attention of many; she makes television appearances as a guest or judge; but more importantly, she is creating a community in her kitchen that best reflects our world and values today.

James Beard Semi-finalist. Forbes 2023 All Star Eatery. New York Times’s 12 Best. Observer Social Impact Nightlife & Dining Power List. It could easily feel like a dream and yet, Abdullahi has worked incredibly hard to garner the attention she is receiving these days. “My family and closest friends make it a point to remind me to pause and truly take in what’s happening. In those moments, it does feel like I’m dreaming. And, the accolades and attention are new, but it doesn’t feel foreign. I guess when its something you know you deserve, even if you weren’t expecting it, it doesn’t come as a surprise.”

All in all, she has a restaurant to run. But not just any restaurant. Hav & Mar is a 140-seat New York hotspot boasting a lot of firsts—that were a long-time coming—so people are watching. When beloved celebrity chef and owner Marcus Samuelsson handed Abdullahi the reigns, to a restaurant he envisioned would celebrate diversity in food and in business, he must have known that pass was an industry-altering move that would break a few ceilings along the way. And he certainly sensed that Abdullahi could not be a more perfect fit for the task, as she had already broken a few of her own before leaving home.

Like Samuelsson, who celebrates his Ethiopian and Swedish roots in each of his restaurants, Abdullahi left Ethiopia at 16 yet honors home on the menu at Hav & Mar everyday. In every move she makes she is bringing the past, present, and future together.

Once Upon a Time

Although she was on her way to getting a degree in Clinical Child Psychology, something gnawed at her insides—a fire in her belly, perhaps—so she stopped in her tracks and changed course. “Leaving my home country at 16 comes with the consciousness and pressure of using your one shot at the American dream to the best of your ability, because you know you got that opportunity over hundreds of thousands of people,” Abdullahi noted. Despite the many in her country who are applauded for following the path to becoming a doctor or lawyer, she decided to listen to the fire inside, the voice compelling her to do something different, and act. “I dared to give myself a shot at my true calling—food,” she said. “With the hopes of bringing prestige to other careers so kids could dare to have more than one dream too.”

So, in just choosing to become a chef, Abdullahi was stirring the pot. Then, after culinary school, she earned the job of a lifetime and worked at noma, the storied Scandinavian restaurant (closing this year), that many still consider the BEST in the world for its progressive vision and style.

Service with a Smile

Today, at Hav & Mar, Chef Abdullahi not only brings a high-level of experience and high-quality cooking to her team, she is transparent with her many fans on social media and shares the highs and lows of the daily grind. She enlightens people about running a restaurant business, which, of course, is so much more than serving delicious, pretty food. She shares that she is still met with challenges that rumble within the many tasks of the day. For example, “As a female chef,” she said, “I'm still having to deal with people who are shocked that I am the highest ranking person in the restaurant. And its getting old.”

Similarly, she often debunks and speaks openly about the inner workings of things like changing a menu and how it affects costs, or how to maintain a restaurant’s level of sustainability. These are the sides of the industry not many get to see, but crucial to the vitality of each restaurant. Abdullahi believes it is essential for people to understand the many dimensions of the business. From creating the dishes and diversifying her kitchen, to lessoning waste and addressing mental health, all of these issues weigh heavily on her shoulders.

“While I have to answer to a group of CEO, CFO and DO on a weekly basis about the profitability of my kitchen,” she said, “I also have to maintain the livelihoods of the people I employ and want to make sure they’re happy and satisfied too. This balance is what keeps me up most nights.”

Beyond the Plate

Chef Abdullahi still has Ethiopia on her mind. When she can, she lends her time to a cause near and dear to her heart that she founded with a group of friends. Take Care of Home is a foundation that builds schools in rural parts of Ethiopia. “We noticed the disparity in education in [these areas] because the government can only subsidize teacher salaries but not the actual building of schools. So my friends and I started the foundation to raise money to build [them]. In the seven years we've existed, we have built nine schools.” Abdullahi said they also noticed that while boys were attending school, most girls were out fetching water. “This entailed walking to rivers with buckets which would take a couple of hours just to get enough water for the family. So we started another initiative within TCOH to build water pipelines directly in their homes in order to free up girls to go to school.”

And, if that is not all, she continues to inspire women to take the reigns as leaders wherever they can. She has hosted various collaborative dinners, giving other women an opportunity to showcase their passion and causes. For example, celebrity chef Lorna Maseko presented a multi-course dinner at Hav & Mar last fall that highlighted special dishes from her native South Africa; and tonight, March 4, in honor of the upcoming International Women’s Day (March 8) and Women’s History Month, other women in the industry get to share their stories and connect at a three-course dinner Abdullahi is co-hosting with NYC private chef Lana Lagomarsini, for MAPP Impact. The organization brings women together to lead and empower other women through mentorship and advocacy.

Behind the electricity of her signature smile, Chef Fariyal Abdullahi is sparking others to follow their passion, speak their truth, raise alarm bells about the environment, and diversify their professional landscape. And to younger professionals who may find themselves at a crossroads for what career path to follow, she wants them to “go to bed knowing it's okay to color outside the lines.”