i. Biography
Egyptian family cooking in Sydney sits behind Paul Farag’s work, but the craft record was built in kitchens where repetition, pressure, storage, butchery and service discipline matter. The line runs through The Four in Hand, Bentley Group, Fish Butchery, Nour and the 2022 launch of AALIA in Sydney as founding chef, where research, flavour and technique were brought into a Martin Place dining room without treating history as ornament. “Every job I have ever taken has made my life harder. I wanted to learn something new every time.” Paul has said.
The Trajectory
Training at TAFE and Powerhouse Museum (2022) provided the formal base for Paul Farag before the kitchen work became public-facing. The early trade work was direct: first as a kitchen worker at Thai restaurant, then as an opening team member at Fish Butchery, where fish storage, charcuterie and butchery became part of the working vocabulary behind later restaurant cooking. Restaurant authorship came after systems were learned at close range. In the move to founding chef and executive chef at AALIA in Sydney, Australia (2022–2026), Farag’s work shifted from operating within established structures to defining a restaurant’s language: research-led Middle Eastern and North African cooking, disciplined technique, and a clear relationship between cultural reference and plate execution.
Present Day
The 2022 founding-chef role in Sydney placed Paul Farag’s cooking inside Esca group at Martin Place. The restaurant’s work was built around deep research, bold flavour, history, instinct, and the idea that technique and culture can develop together. The past was handled as source material to be investigated and translated, not as decoration. Clean, visually ordered plates carried its style, but flavour remained the measure. The cooking associated with Farag in that period worked to pioneer Middle Eastern cooking while staying true to its roots, with a guest experience framed by refinement and cultural generosity. Polish did not require restraint from abundance, memory or spice. The dishes named in coverage made the method legible. Murray cod masgouf, tuna rishta, lamb nayyeh and khorasan bread appeared in coverage, while signature dishes included khorasan pita and dry aged duck fesenjan. The through-line was research put into service: history respected, examined and allowed to move through contemporary technique.
Peer Recognition
Paul Farag has received Good Food Guide / Oceania Cruises Chef of the Year (2025). Recognition of Paul Farag’s work is tied to defined roles and a clear cooking vocabulary: executive chef at Nour in 2020, founding chef at AALIA in 2022, and a body of dishes that linked Levantine history with modern technique. Fish Butchery also remains part of that record, with storage, charcuterie and butchery forming part of the practical foundation behind the later restaurant work. The AALIA period showed Middle Eastern cuisine as material for research, precision and cultural generosity rather than as a fixed repertoire. Its evidence is concrete: named dishes, a stated philosophy, and a Sydney chef using family culture, kitchen discipline and Martin Place service to make a contemporary restaurant language.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Paul
What is Paul Farag's current role?
Paul Farag is chef at AALIA.
Where did Paul Farag train or study?
Paul Farag trained at TAFE and Powerhouse Museum.
What is Paul Farag known for?
Fish storage, charcuterie and butchery.
