Kristaps Silis

Coming Up

At JOHN Chef's Hall in Riga, Latvia, the Head Chef role puts Kristaps Silis in charge of the room’s pace and the kitchen’s daily discipline. The position carries the standard burdens of the trade—team leadership, menu direction, consistency under service—but it also gives Silis room to shape an identifiable point of view. Here, the work is not just to execute; it is to turn intent into plates that land with a guest and hold after the meal is over.

Where They Are Now

Creative control is central to the way Kristaps Silis describes the job at JOHN Chef's Hall. “Here, I have the freedom to create and share what I truly believe in, offering my guests a dining experience that reflects who I am.” That is a direct read on the role: the kitchen becomes a place where authorship sits inside service, and where a chef’s convictions are carried through timing, composition, and the overall shape of the dining experience. The emphasis is on identity as much as execution. At JOHN Chef's Hall, the cook’s work is framed as a series of choices—how a dish is built, how an evening is paced, how a room feels when the food is in motion. For Silis, that freedom makes the kitchen more than a workstation; it becomes a setting where personal taste can be translated into a coherent guest experience.

In Their Words “I try to create something new guided by myself, my impressions, tastes and experiences, so that the food reflects my personal nature and character.” Silis is speaking here in the language of authorship, but without separating it from the craft. “Something new” implies movement and revision, while the list of impressions, tastes and experiences points to a private reservoir rather than a borrowed style. The aim is not novelty for its own sake, but food that comes from a recognisable inner register. That makes the work at JOHN Chef's Hall legible as character made practical. The cooking is described as personal without becoming sentimental, and intentional without being abstract. In trade terms, it is a way of using the kitchen to make a point of view readable on the plate.