Chef
Richard Ekkebus
Culinary Director & Executive Chef, Amber, The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Venue
- Amber · Restaurant
Known for
- Three Michelin-starred restaurant Amber at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong[3]
- Sustainable fine dining transformation and plant-based culinary philosophy[4]
- French-influenced cuisine with global influences from Mauritius and Caribbean experiences[1]
- Ethical gastronomy initiatives including community engagement and workplace equality[4]
i. Biography
The Path
Professional kitchen formation is built through repetition, hierarchy, and pressure before it is visible as style. In Richard Ekkebus’s case, that formation included training at Hans Snijders and Robert Kranenborg and Pierre Gagnaire, Alain Passard and Guy Savoy — a line of kitchens and teachers associated with discipline, restraint, and exacting standards. The earlier working rhythm of Grandparents’ restaurant and hotel in Netherlands also matters: service timing, pass coordination, and the daily mechanics of a restaurant and hotel kitchen gave the craft its first practical frame. Ground-up kitchen work gives a chef a different understanding of standards because the unseen tasks are part of the operating system. At Neercanne in Maastricht, Netherlands, Ekkebus worked first as kitchen porter and then as chef. That sequence records more than promotion; it marks exposure to the whole load of kitchen labor, from maintenance and readiness to the responsibility of cooking, organization, and consistency through repeated services. Luxury hotel cooking adds another set of demands: consistency across international guests, polish without drift, and a kitchen able to hold identity inside destination hospitality. Executive Chef posts at Royal Palm Hotel in Mauritius and The Sandy Lane in Barbados placed Ekkebus in that register, where precision has to travel across context, staffing, and guest expectation without losing its line. Mentorship keeps technique in circulation beyond one kitchen. As mentor to South East Asia region finalist Jake Kellie at S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2018 (2018–2018), Ekkebus entered that exchange directly. Today, Richard is Culinary Director of Mandarin Oriental, The Landmark Hong Kong / Amber, a role that gathers the hotel discipline, European training, and international operating experience into one restaurant context.
Now
Contemporary fine dining at Amber is framed around clarity, with vegetable-focused dishes given significant space and the restaurant’s work tied to sustainability and dairy-free cooking. In Ekkebus’s kitchen, those choices function as constraints as much as values: less reliance on richness, more pressure on structure, texture, seasoning, and clean definition. The craft problem is depth without excess. A restaurant signature can become a fixed point for guests while the kitchen continues to move. The uni dish holds that place at Amber, and Ekkebus has described it plainly: "people always want to come and have the uni dish because that's such a defining dish. But I'm always much more excited about the dish we created today and that we want to put on the menu tomorrow." The useful tension is between recognition and development — the dish diners return for, and the next plate that tests whether the kitchen is still working forward. Dessert follows the same preference for concentration and counterpoint. The 85% chocolate soufflé with cacao sorbet uses a familiar form, but the named elements set the register: high-cacao intensity, aeration, cold cacao contrast, and a finish built on definition rather than weight.
Signature
The 85% chocolate soufflé with cacao sorbet is the named signature associated with Richard Ekkebus. Its craft is in contrast: warm soufflé against cold sorbet, aerated structure against concentrated cacao, familiar dessert architecture sharpened by the bitterness and focus implied by 85% chocolate.
Credentials
Recognition here spans early distinction, sustained restaurant performance, and current standing for Amber. Richard's honors include Three MICHELIN Stars for Amber (2025), Two MICHELIN Stars for Amber (2009), and Golden Chefs Hat for Young Chef of the Year. Read together, the awards mark a career measured not only by titles, but by a kitchen’s ability to maintain discipline, articulate a point of view, and keep earning notice across different moments.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Richard
Where did Richard Ekkebus train or study?
Richard Ekkebus trained at Hans Snijders and Robert Kranenborg and Pierre Gagnaire, Alain Passard and Guy Savoy.
What recognition has Richard Ekkebus received?
Three MICHELIN Stars for Amber (2025).
