Yasmina Hayek

The Climb

Technique, discipline and formal training sit at the base of Yasmina Hayek’s work. Institut Lyfe (formerly Institut Paul Bocuse) and Milan gave her the framework; the kitchen then became the place where that training could be put under pressure and made useful. The result is a style that reads as controlled but not rigid, shaped as much by memory and feeling as by method. As Executive Chef of Em Sherif Group and Executive Chef of Em Sherif Sea Café, Hayek works in a register where heritage is not treated as reference material alone, but as something to be handled, adjusted and carried forward.

Today

At Em Sherif Sea Café (Abu Dhabi), Yasmina Hayek’s cooking is presented directly to guests, with Lebanese taste held in a contemporary frame. The point is not to restage tradition as-is, but to keep it active: refined, legible and current without losing its line back to the table it came from. Her training and design-informed sensibility meet there, alongside a culinary memory that shapes how flavour and presentation are set down. At Em Sherif Group, her role as Executive Head Chef extends that approach across a wider kitchen structure. The title suggests reach, but the work still reads through continuity: traditional Lebanese flavours preserved without being fixed in place, and moved into the present without being stripped of character. There is also a practical warmth to the way Hayek describes kitchen work. “The kitchen is definitely a happier lab to be in.” The line lands because it keeps experimentation tied to use. In her hands, precision and imagination are not opposing forces; they are part of the same job, with the result measured in food that feeds, gathers and holds memory.

Signature

Yasmina's signature dishes include OKASHI. It functions as a clear marker of her range: a dish that sits inside a wider approach to flavour built on restraint, attention and a personal line to tradition.

In Their Words “I want to be the future grandma who preserves these ancient recipes that our own grandmas used to cook.”

Recognition

Yasmina's honors include MICHELIN Young Chef Award and MENA's Best Female Chef (2025).