Stephan Duhesme

Coming Up

“I just did it for summer money.” The first training ground was Marseille, but the work soon moved beyond one city. Duhesme’s early kitchen education was built through repetition across Paris, New York, Tokyo, and Manila, with each post adding another layer of service discipline and technical range. He worked as waiter at various small restaurants in Paris, then moved behind the scenes as prep chef at Purple Yam in New York. From there, he continued through kitchen staff roles at Matsunozushi in Tokyo, Gallery by Chele in Manila, and Arrozeria in Manila. By the time Stephan Duhesme became owner and chef at Tria Neo Bistro in Bogotá in 2015, the shape of his practice was already clear: international, hands-on, and made in long hours rather than theory.

Where They Are Now

Metiz in Makati, Metro Manila, the Philippines has been the main site of Duhesme’s work since 2019, when he became chef there. His move to Executive Chef and co-owner followed, and the title change marks a deeper level of responsibility for the restaurant’s direction, not just its pass. In 2024, he took on the role of Executive Chef/co-owner of Automat as well, extending his kitchen work to a second address while keeping Metiz at the center of his present practice. At Metiz, Stephan Duhesme is associated with neo-Filipino cuisine and modern Filipino flavors, but the food reads through process as much as category. Fermentation, seasonality, local ingredients, and close attention to Filipino tradition sit at the core of the kitchen’s language. The aim is not simple preservation or novelty, but a practical way of working with ingredients already embedded in the region, then setting them in a contemporary frame. He also draws attention to oft-looked local ingredients, giving them a more direct place on the plate, and fermentation remains a recurring tool in that approach. The result is cooking that stays grounded in local material while pushing against fixed expectations of what Filipino food can look like now.

In Their Words “I didn’t know I wanted to cook. I just did it for summer money.”

Honors

Stephan Duhesme's honors include Tatler Dining's Chef of the Year (2024).