Chef
Mohammad Orfali
Head Chef & Co-Founder, Orfali Bros
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Known for
- Head chef at Orfali Bros bistro in Dubai
- Innovative Middle Eastern bistronomy fusing Syrian roots with global influences
- Family-run restaurant with brothers Wassim (pastries) and Omar (pastry execution)
i. Biography
Formation
Formal training set the technical base before the public-facing work arrived. The Institute Hotelier of Aleppo (1997) gave Mohammad Orfali a method-led foundation; Le Nôtre Culinary School, Paris (2009) added a second register of precision to a practice already carrying Middle Eastern food memory and hospitality codes. Kitchen execution and food communication require different controls. Work as a tv cook in Middle East put Mohammad Orfali in the position of explaining food clearly to an audience; restaurant work across the region required pace, repetition, and judgment in service. The craft record sits between those demands: plain communication around ingredients, backed by kitchen discipline. Restaurant leadership now combines production and ownership. As Chef de Cuisine / Head Chef / co-owner of Orfali Bros Bistro (since 2021), Mohammad Orfali holds responsibility for the kitchen and for a dining project operating under a family name.
At Work Now
Sibling collaboration is the working structure at Orfali Bros Bistro. Opened with Wassim and Omar, the restaurant places three related but distinct roles inside one project. The family name functions less as a label than as a production system: shared history, divided labor, and common table culture moving through the same room. The cooking is described through unconventional dishes that capture avant-gardist Dubai while paying homage to Aleppian identity. The craft problem is clear: keep a Levantine root system active in a city defined by speed, international appetite, and reinvention. Mohammad Orfali’s work uses memory without making it static, and outside influence without cutting the line back to origin. Bistronomy, as the siblings describe it, blends gastronomic and bistro culture. In practice, the term allows ambition and ease to occupy the same service: technique without excess formality, pleasure without default repetition. The house phrase, "We speak food. Food is our language," states the operating method plainly: food as inheritance, exchange, experiment, and welcome. The current restaurant brings the earlier record into one room: Institute Hotelier of Aleppo (1997), Le Nôtre Culinary School, Paris (2009), work as a tv cook, regional restaurant service, and the present role of Chef de Cuisine / Head Chef / co-owner of Orfali Bros Bistro (since 2021). The accumulation is now applied in Dubai, with Aleppian identity kept in active use.
Signature
Signature dishes include Orfali Bayildi and Hummus with tatbila and awarma. The craft signal is the reframing: familiar references remain legible, then shift under deliberate adjustment. At Orfali Bros Bistro, Mohammad Orfali uses dishes like these to keep Aleppian identity and Levantine roots working at the table rather than fixed in preservation.
Recognition
Recognition has followed the restaurant’s clearly stated language: Orfali Bros ranked No. 4, Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants (2026), Orfali Bros ranked No. 37, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants (2025), and Bib Gourmand for Orfali Bros. The distinctions place Orfali Bros Bistro within Dubai dining as a restaurant with a defined point of view, shaped by Mohammad Orfali with Wassim and Omar, grounded in Aleppo and operating in contemporary service.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Mohammad
What does Mohammad Orfali do now?
Mohammad Orfali is Chef and Co-owner.
Where did Mohammad Orfali train or study?
Mohammad Orfali trained at Institute Hotelier of Aleppo and Le Nôtre Culinary School, Paris.
What recognition has Mohammad Orfali received?
Orfali Bros ranked No. 4, Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants (2026).
