Hakkasan Doha was among the select regional restaurants to host a special Executive Chef Dinner to celebrate the group achieving Michelin-star status for the first time in the Middle East.

Alongside its London eateries at Hanway Place and Mayfair, which have held the coveted stars for 20 and 12 years respectively, having both been awarded the accolade within a year of opening, 2022 saw Hakkasan Abu Dhabi and Hakkasan Dubai receiving one star each in the MICHELIN Guide’s debut in both markets.

Established in 2001 in London, Hakkasan now has multiple restaurants located around the world throughout the United States, Middle East, Asia and Europe. The menu is a modern interpretation of authentic Cantonese cuisine, using the finest ingredients and expert traditional techniques to create timeless yet innovative signature dishes such as the Grilled Chilean Seabass and Crispy Duck Salad. The atmosphere is vibrant, intriguing and inviting making these authentic Chinese restaurants firm favourites from Las Vegas to Bodrum and Mumbai.

To mark this special Middle Eastern achievement a first-ofits-kind dinner series featuring the top chefs from each of the Michelin-starred restaurants was held in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha – giving diners the chance to experience the best of the best from Hakkasan with signature dishes from each culinary master.

Oversight was provided by Executive Chef Andrew Yeo from Tao Group Hospitality’s London culinary team and pastry direction by Chef Romain Cornu, Global Corporate Pastry Chef, Tao Group Hospitality.

We caught up with the four chefs to learn more about their dishes and their inspirations.

Hakkasan is known for its ability to make the ordinary extraordinary, something that was instrumental in your restaurant winning the brand’s first Michelin star within a year of its opening. How do you go about turning staple dishes into superstars?
Hakkasan is known for having cinematic energy and when creating some of our dishes we include this excitement and visual storytelling.
We use our traditional Chinese cooking methods, combining fresh and seasonal ingredients to create our dishes. Then plate with innovation, presenting our creativity, giving our guests the wow factor across all senses.

Having been with Hakkasan Abu Dhabi since its launch in June 2010, you must be incredibly proud of this achievement. What do you believe makes this venue special and deserving of the Michelin star?
To begin with, I express my gratitude to the company that provided me with the chance to join the pre-opening team of Hakkasan Abu Dhabi. Receiving a Michelin star is the pinnacle of my career, and it would not have been possible without the support of my team, who have always backed my concepts and plans for developing new menus. I extend my gratitude and appreciation to all our guests who have consistently supported and trusted us over the years. We strive to progress further, with more originality and inventiveness, to guarantee our guests’ contentment.

You went from sous chef to Executive Chef of Hakkasan Dubai in the space of five years. Did you always have very high ambitions for your career and are you surprised by how much you have achieved so quickly?
Each individual has their own aspirations for their future career. In my case, my desire to become a chef was sparked by my mother’s cooking and the hawker food stalls in my hometown of Penang, where my parents took me for dinner. As I watched the chef cook with flames leaping high from the wok, I thought to myself, ‘Wow! That’s so cool. I want to be like him’.
I have been working for Tao Group Hospitality for nearly 12 years, and I believe that my accomplishments in this organisation are a result of my dedication, enthusiasm and trust in my employer and colleagues.

How do you incorporate a taste of London into your quintessentially Chinese dishes?
London is one of the most diverse cities in the world, it inspires me to infuse diversity into my culinary creations. I like to reflect such diversity into my dishes through combining flavours derived from the freshest ingredients, sourced locally and sustainably where possible, from the UK and Europe, while preserving the exquisite cooking techniques and styles of Cantonese cuisine.

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