The People · Page 16
The artisans of taste.
Chef Patron, Bonheur
Matt Abé
London, United Kingdom
Sydney-born chef Matt Abé trained in Australia before moving to London and spending 18 years in Gordon Ramsay's kitchens. He rose to Chef de Cuisine and then Chef Patron at…
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Chef
Matteo Metullio
Trieste, Italy
## The Climb Craft was formed early at the I.P.S.S.A.R. Hospitality institute in Falcade, where Matteo Metullio built the technical base that later carried into fine dining. That…
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Chef
Matthew Dion
Charleston, South Carolina, United States
## Career - **Executive Chef** — Lowland Charleston - **Head Chef** — Lowland Charleston ## FAQ Early in his career, Matthew Dion worked as Head Chef at Lowland Charleston,…
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Mickaël Tourteaux
Nice, France
## Coming Up Training at Lycée hôtelier Paul Augier gave Mickaël Tourteaux the standard hotel-school discipline: classic technique, repetition, and the pace expected of…
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Winemaker, Delaire Graff Estate
Morné Vrey
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Morné Vrey is the winemaker at Delaire Graff Estate in Stellenbosch's Banghoek Valley. His career began as an assistant winemaker in Stellenbosch and expanded through experience…
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Chef
Niclas Jönsson
Stockholm, Sweden
Niclas Jönsson’s profile is built around a single kitchen and the discipline it demands: Aloë in Stockholm. As Executive Chef, he works in creative modern European fine dining,…
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Chef
Niclas Nussbaumer
Schluchsee, Germany
Niclas Nussbaumer is head chef at The Dune in Frankfurt am Main, where the kitchen language is built on clarity, restraint and a controlled final plate. Before that, he led the…
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Chef
Nicola Portinari
Lonigo, Italy
Nicola Portinari, chef of La Peca in Lonigo, Italy, was born in Vicenza in 1964. The work reads as an accumulation of place and method: a kitchen built at home, tested through…
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Chef
Nils Flatmark
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## Coming Up Nils Flatmark trained at National Championships in Culinary Arts in 2022, a credential that signals not just technical discipline, but the kind of focused formation…
View →Founder and Creative Director, Kisawa Sanctuary
Nina Flohr
Benguerra Island, Mozambique
Nina Flohr is the founder and creative director of Kisawa Sanctuary on Benguerra Island, Mozambique. The property's current first-party account credits her with an extensively…
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Chef
Nishida Kazumine
Singapore, Singapore
Nishida Kazumine’s record is lean: Shoukouwa in Singapore, and a role built on control rather than display. That spareness suits sushi service, where the work is judged by…
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Chef
Oli Marlow
Valletta, Malta
Before Oli Marlow reached executive chef level at ION Harbour by Simon Rogan, the work was already being formed in kitchens that reward precision, pace and consistency.…
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Chef & Owner, Osteria Magona
Omar Barsacchi
Bolgheri, Italy
Omar Barsacchi is the chef and owner of Osteria Magona in Bolgheri, Tuscany, which he opened in 2004 in the historic center before relocating to the countryside of Vallone dei…
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Cellar-master at Château Lafleur
Omri Ram
Pomerol, France
Omri Ram is an Israeli winemaker and viticulturalist serving as cellar-master and vineyard manager at Château Lafleur in Pomerol, Bordeaux, and vineyard manager at Château Grand…
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Chef
Paco Méndez
Barcelona, Spain
Paco Méndez is the chef of COME by Paco Méndez in Barcelona, and the work there keeps Mexican cuisine legible in Spain without sanding off its source. The clearest expression of…
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Chef
Paolo Rota
De Mortel, Netherlands
## The Path Since winter 2019, Paolo Rota has been chef of Da Vittorio., a position that sits inside one of the name kitchens in his orbit and demands precision, pace, and…
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Chef
Park Kyung-Jae
Seoul, South Korea
Park Kyung-Jae works in Japanese Edomae omakase through Kojima in Seoul, South Korea, where the counter is part of the method rather than decoration. Born on Wooi-do Island in…
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Chef
Pascal Steffen
Basel, Switzerland
## The Climb At roots, Basel, Switzerland, Pascal Steffen has served as head chef since 2017 and partner since 2025. The roles sit on the same line as the cooking itself:…
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Wine luminary
Paul Hart
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
## The Climb Classical French technique sits under the sequencing of Paul Hart’s kitchens, from Cringletie House Hotel in Peebles to Head Chef at The Old Course Hotel in St…
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Chef
Phil Hickman
Bangkok, Thailand
## The Climb Le Normandie by Alain Roux in Bangkok became the setting for Phil Hickman’s rise in 2021, when he took on the Head Chef role and entered a dining room built on French…
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Chef
Philip Chronopoulos
Paris, France
Philip Chronopoulos cooks with a disciplined calm that reads as technique, but also as recall. The line he draws between French structure and Mediterranean brightness is visible…
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Chef
Philipp Ferber
Düsseldorf, Germany
In Düsseldorf, refined brasserie-style cooking is the working register: local reference, composed plates, and the service discipline required to make polish feel natural rather…
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Chef
Philippe Etchebest
Bordeaux, France
Philippe Etchebest’s work at Maison Nouvelle in Bordeaux is built on control: a modern cuisine shaped less by narrative than by the pressure of a long ascent and a kitchen…
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Chef
Philippe Léveillé
Concesio, Italy
Born in Nantes, France, in 1963, Philippe Léveillé’s work is marked by movement, discipline, and a fixed approach to cooking. Trained at hotel school in Saumur, he built from…
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Chef
Poul Andrias Ziska
Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
Poul Andrias Ziska is chef of PAZ in Tórshavn and former head chef at KOKS. Raised in Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, he is closely associated with Creative Faroese…
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Chef
Rafa De Bedoya
Barcelona, Spain
Rafa De Bedoya’s cooking at Aleia in Barcelona is built on a clear line between technique and product. Andalusian roots sit against Mediterranean and Catalan seasonality, and the…
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Chef
Ralf Berendsen
Neerharen, Belgium
At SUIS in Schin op Geul, Netherlands, the cooking is being carried forward by chef Ralf Berendsen with a register shaped in exacting rooms and disciplined service. Restaurant La…
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Chef
Ramón Freixa
Madrid, Spain
Ramón Freixa’s work is anchored in Madrid, Spain, where Ramón Freixa Atelier carries his name as a direct marker of authorship and control. ## Today At El Racó d’en Freixa in…
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Chef
Raymond Wong
Orlando, Florida, United States
Raymond Wong is chef of Sorekara in Orlando, United States, and a specialist in seafood and Cantonese cuisine. His work sits in the line where movement, memory, and repetition…
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James Beard Award winner
Rhoda Magbitang
Los Angeles, California, United States
## The Path Lineage in the kitchen can be built as much by sequence as by schooling. Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, California gave Rhoda Magbitang formal grounding, but the range…
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Chef
Robert Levels
Maastricht, Netherlands
In the garden at Château Neercanne, near Maastricht, ingredient selection starts before the stove: handpicked produce, seasonal timing and sustainable cultivation from the estate…
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Chef
Ronan Kervarrec
Saint-Grégoire, France
Ronan Kervarrec is chef de cuisine at Maison Ronan Kervarrec in Saint-Grégoire, France. The work is grounded in place and in control: a cuisine built from clear flavors, exact…
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Head Chef, Alois – Dallmayr Fine Dining
Rosina Ostler
Munich, Germany
## Coming Up Training at Hotel Traube Tonbach placed the fundamentals in a demanding German kitchen context, and Rosina Ostler’s subsequent work at Schwarzwaldstube in…
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Chef
Roy Eijkelkamp
Overveen, Netherlands
Born in Vorden, Roy Eijkelkamp’s path reads as kitchen discipline accumulated over time: fundamentals learned early, then tested through service, section work, and leadership.…
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Chef
Rui Silvestre
Lisbon, Portugal
## The Path Rui Silvestre brings to Lisbon a kitchen language built on discipline, calm, and a tight control of detail. Portuguese by nationality, he is now chef at 50 Seconds…
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Head Chef, INDDEE Bangkok
Sachin Poojary
Bangkok, Thailand
Sachin Poojary is the Head Chef of INDDEE, a Michelin-starred Indian fine dining restaurant in Bangkok that opened in June 2023. He brings expertise in both Japanese and Indian…
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Chef
Sebastian Obendorfer
Neunburg vorm Wald, Germany
Creative contemporary cooking at Obendorfers Eisvogel is built from regional ingredients, French structure and Asian points of contrast. In Sebastian Obendorfer’s hands, that…
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Chef
Sébastien Vauxion
Courchevel, France
Chef of Le SarKara in Courchevel, France, Sébastien Vauxion works from a pastry base applied to creative cuisine. As Executive Pastry Chef for K2 Collections and chef of Le…
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Chef
Shin Chang-ho
New York City, New York, United States
## Coming Up In 2023, the executive chef role at Joo Ok in Seoul gave Shin Chang-ho a platform to shape the kitchen’s direction with clarity. The appointment mattered less as a…
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Chef
Shingo Sakamoto
Tokyo, Japan
In Aoyama, Japanese cuisine is built from what the season supplies and what the kitchen chooses not to disturb. At Hakuun in Tokyo, Shingo Sakamoto works with natural ingredients…
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Chef
Shinichi Sato
Paris, France
Born in Hokkaido, Japan, Shinichi Sato built his cooking around discipline and place, then tested that discipline in Paris. The work that followed was defined less by flourish…
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Chef
Shintaro Matsuo
Osaka, Japan
Shintaro Matsuo runs Koryu in Osaka, Japan, where the cooking is built around a disciplined reading of Modern Naniwa cuisine. The work stays tied to place, but it is composed with…
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Chef
Shinya Takamasu
Kyoto, Japan
At La Table des Amis in Bonnieux, chef Shinya Takamasu works from a formation that is traceable to Kodaiji Jugyuan in Kyoto, where he is Head Chef. MICHELIN Guide coverage places…
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Chef
Shunichi Matsushita
Tokyo, Japan
Shunichi Matsushita has been Head Chef of Kioicho Fukudaya in Tokyo since 2016. The work draws on an upbringing in Southern Nagano, where mountain villages and close contact with…
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Chef
Silio Del Fabro
Saarbrücken, Germany
Silio Del Fabro is Chef de Cuisine and culinary director at Esplanade in Saarbrücken, Germany, where modern classicism is the working method. French, Mediterranean, and Japanese…
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Chef
Silvio Germann
Freidorf, Switzerland
## The Path Silvio Germann’s route through the trade is marked by responsibility taken on in sequence: Lucerne-born cook, Head Chef at IGNIV in Bad Ragaz, then Head Chef at…
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Chef
Stefan Gschwendtner
Stuttgart, Germany
Stefan Gschwendtner has been head chef of Speisemeisterei in Stuttgart, Germany since 2016. The role asks for more than command: it is daily control of pace, precision and taste,…
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Winemaker
Stefano Frascolla
Suvereto, Italy
## Coming Up At Tua Rita Winery in Suvereto, Italy, the work sits with Stefano Frascolla in two places at once: the vineyard and the cellar. Yield reduction is treated there as…
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Chef, Le Skiff Club
Stéphane Carrade
Pyla-sur-Mer, France
Stéphane Carrade is the chef of Le Skiff Club at Hôtel Haaïtza in Pyla-sur-Mer, where he earned the first Michelin star in 2017 and the second in 2020, making it the only two-star…
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Chef-Owner, Mosu Seoul
Sung Anh
Seoul, South Korea
Sung Anh, also known as Anh Sung-jae, is the chef-owner of Mosu in Seoul, South Korea, which earned three Michelin stars in 2023 and 2024, making it the only restaurant in South…
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Chef
Sung-Il Kim
Seoul, South Korea
## Coming Up At La Yeon in Seoul, Sung-Il Kim’s cooking is built around high-end traditional Korean food, with restraint doing more work than ornament. The style reads as…
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Chef
Sylvestre Wahid
Paris, France
## Coming Up Sylvestre Wahid’s path was built through kitchens where control, repetition, and discipline mattered more than display. The early apprenticeship/chef role with…
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Chef
Szabina Szulló
Budapest, Hungary
Chef de Cuisine at Stand in Budapest, Szabina Szulló is visible through a compact record that still reads as current practice rather than retrospective summary. The work is…
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Chef & Proprietor, Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi
Takashi Ono
Lexington, Texas, United States
Takashi Ono is a Japanese sushi chef and the younger son of legendary sushi master Jiro Ono. He independently opened his own Michelin-starred sushi restaurant in Roppongi in 2003,…
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Chef
Tamás Széll
Budapest, Hungary
Tamás Széll’s cooking is built on Traditional Hungarian cuisine and on the habits formed in demanding kitchens. At Stand25 Bisztró in Budapest, that means a style that favors…
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Michelin-starred chef
Thijs Vervloet
Tongerlo, Belgium
Thijs Vervloet cooks at Maison Colette in Westerlo, Belgium, and the work there is built on French-inspired gastronomy. At Maison Colette, his cooking reads as disciplined rather…
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Chef
Thomas Prod'homme
Courchevel, France
## Where It Started The cooking is built on revision: looking again, tightening the line, and testing what a dish can still become. At Thomas Prod’homme’s pass, that means less…
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Chef
Timothy Flores
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Timothy Flores is the chef of Kasama in Chicago, where the work has been built from memory and discipline in equal measure. The cooking reads with the control of someone who…
View →Owner and Chef-Patron, Upstairs by Tom Shepherd
Tom Shepherd
Lichfield, United Kingdom
Tom Shepherd is the owner and chef-patron of Upstairs by Tom Shepherd in Lichfield. He opened the 40-cover restaurant in a former jeweller's workshop in 2021 and earned…
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Chef
Tomofumi Saito
Tokyo, Japan
Tomofumi Saito is the executive chef of PRISMA in Tokyo, where Italian cuisine is handled with a discipline that reads as almost architectural. At PRISMA, the plate is only part…
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Chef & Proprietor, Restaurant Jante
Tony Hohlfeld
Hanover, Germany
Tony Hohlfeld is a German chef born August 24, 1989, in Grimma who co-founded and operates Restaurant Jante in Hannover with sommelier partner Mona Schrader. He became Germany's…
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Executive Chef, T'ang Court at The Langham, Shanghai, Xintiandi
Tony Su
Shanghai, China
Tony Su is the Executive Chef of T'ang Court at The Langham, Shanghai, Xintiandi, leading the restaurant to a one-star Michelin rating in the 2025 MICHELIN Guide Shanghai. Under…
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Chef
Toshitaka Omiya
Paris, France
## The Climb Toshitaka Omiya’s path runs through Paris kitchens that demand control over display. At George V in Paris, France (2005–2006), the work of a chef de partie meant…
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Chef
Tristan Brandt
Miami, Florida, United States
Tristan Brandt’s work sits between kitchen leadership and hospitality operations, with the craft defined as much by control of the room as by control of the pass. At Tambourine…
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Chef
Valentin Loison
Langres, France
## Coming Up At Bulle d'Osier (Clos Vauban) (since 2025), Valentin Loison holds a role that asks for precision, clarity, and pace in equal measure. The work reads as controlled…
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Chef
Valentino Marcattilii
Pizzo Calabro, Italy
## At a Glance Chef is the only role assigned to Valentino Marcattilii in the material provided, and the record stays narrow by design. The former venue listed is San Domenico; no…
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Chef
Valeria Piccini
Montemerano, Italy
## The Path Since 1987, Da Caino has carried Valeria Piccini’s hand through a long, continuous run of service; the point is not novelty but control, and the kind of authority that…
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Chef
Vítor Matos
Porto, Portugal
Originally from Jorjais, Vila Real, Vítor Matos has built a career defined less by breadth than by control: the kitchen at Antiqvvm in Porto, Portugal leads with measured…
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Chef
Vitus Winkler
Sankt Veit im Pongau, Austria
Vitus Winkler is the chef of **Kräuterreich by Vitus Winkler** in **Sankt Veit im Pongau, Austria**. His current work also includes **Sonnhof**, where he has been owner and chef…
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Founder, Hanky Panky
Walter Meyenberg
Mexico City, Mexico
Meyenberg’s name is tied to two fixed points in the room: Hanky Panky in Mexico City, which he founded, and Tintorera in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, where he has served as…
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Chef
William Candelon
Lacave, France
## Coming Up Le Puits Saint Jacques is where William Candelon built his base of work, first as chef de cuisine and then as Head Chef from 2009–2019. That kind of long tenure…
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Chef
Xosé T. Cannas
Raxó, Spain
Xosé T. Cannas works in Contemporary Galician cuisine at Pepe Vieira, where the brief is not to quote a region but to build from it. The cooking reads as rooted and current at…
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Chef
Xosé Torres Cannas
Raxó, Spain
## Coming Up Traditional Galician cooking sits at the center of Xosé Torres Cannas’s work at Pepe Vieira in Raxó, Spain. The kitchen reads as exacting rather than embellished:…
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Chef
Yannick Noack
Koblenz, Germany
## The Path Training kitchens establish more than repertoire; they set the working grammar for how a cook thinks under pressure. In Yannick Noack’s case, that formation is…
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Chef
Yesoon Lee
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
## Coming Up At Mandu in Washington, D.C., Yesoon Lee built a working model of Korean comfort food shaped by classical precision. The restaurant she opened with her son Danny Lee…
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Chef
Yohei Matsuo
Taipei, Taiwan
## Coming Up The Robuchon line demands control, repetition, and speed without collapse of standard. Yohei Matsuo moved through that system in sequence: first as chef at Joël…
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Chef
Yoshifumi Mori
Osaka, Japan
## The Climb Since 1971, Kahala in Osaka, Japan has been the fixed point in Yoshifumi Mori’s practice. That kind of continuity matters in kaiseki, where restraint, seasonality,…
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Chef
Yoshikazu Ono
Osaka, Japan
Yoshikazu Ono works across two of Japan’s most closely watched dining rooms with a style built on precision rather than display. Since 2023, he has been head chef at Sukiyabashi…
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Chef
Yoshimi Tanigawa
Kyoto, Japan
## The Climb Kyokaiseki Kichisen in Kyoto is the house Yoshimi Tanigawa has tied to ownership and kitchen leadership, and it is the restaurant that earned three Michelin stars in…
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Owner-Chef, Gion Maruyama
Yoshio Maruyama
Kyoto, Japan
Yoshio Maruyama, born in 1949 in central Kyoto to a fishmonger family, apprenticed in 1967 at Kodaiji Doi under Sadae Doi and Soushaku Nishiwaki. In 1976, he helped open Roan…
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Owner-Chef, VELROSIER
Yuji Iwasaki
Kraków, Poland
Yuji Iwasaki is the owner-chef of VELROSIER in Kyoto, Japan, where he fuses Chinese and French culinary techniques, earning promotion to Two MICHELIN Stars in the 2023 Kyoto Osaka…
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Chef
Yukihiko Tsuchisaka
Osaka, Japan
In Osaka, tempura is judged by feel as much as by measure: batter thickness, oil temperature, frying time, and ingredient all sit under the hand rather than the thermometer. That…
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Chef
Bent Stiansen
Oslo, Norway
Born in Arendal on 18 June 1963, Bent Stiansen comes from the hotel-apprenticeship line of Norwegian cooking: station work, repetition, service discipline, and the technical…
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Co-founder
Agung Prabowo
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## Coming Up Hotel bar discipline is built on timing, restraint, and the ability to read a room before the order is spoken. At Mandarin Oriental Jakarta, Indonesia (until 2005),…
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Chef
Andreu Genestra
Llucmajor, Spain
Mallorcan contemporary cooking often works under a double obligation: to keep soil, sea and local memory legible while using the tools of modern gastronomy without making…
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Chef
Chele Gonzalez
Manilla, Philippines
His name is associated with Gomtang Lab in Seoul and with Cantabria by Chele Gonzalez in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila. ## The Path Training at Andra culinary school gave Chele…
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Chef
Christopher Haatuft
Bergen, Norway
## The Climb Christopher Haatuft's early kitchen work moved through the kind of posts that build timing, pressure tolerance, and basic service discipline before any stylistic…
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James Beard Award winner
Chutatip Suntaranon
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Chutatip Suntaranon is the owner and chef of Kalaya in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Southern Thai cooking is handled with clarity, heat, and restraint. The work there is…
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Winemaker, Pierre Gimonnet & Fils
Didier Gimonnet
Cuis, France
## The Path In Champagne, the useful distinction is often not between cellar and vineyard but between theory and practice. At Pierre Gimonnet & Fils in Cuis, France, Didier…
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Chef
Joris Rousseau
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## Coming Up CEFAA de Villepinte gave Joris Rousseau a technical base built on discipline rather than flourish: measured execution, exacting standards, and a way of working that…
View →Chef
Julie Hyde
Toronto, Canada
## Coming Up At Restaurant 20 Victoria in Toronto, Canada (2021–2025), Julie Hyde’s work was defined by local produce, seafood, and sauce work used for structure rather than…
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Chef
Kanji Kobayashi
Iwade, Japan
## In Their Words **“We must not stand still, we must not be afraid, and we must keep changing.”** **“We don't need meat or fish in our cooking these days.”** ## The Recognition…
View →Business Director, Pierre Gimonnet & Fils
Olivier Gimonnet
Cuis, France
Olivier Gimonnet leads the business side of Pierre Gimonnet & Fils with his brother Didier, who oversees winemaking and viticulture.
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Chef
Rob Rubba
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
Food & Wine named American chef Rob Rubba one of its Best New Chefs in 2022, following a career that moved through pastry, fine dining, and ownership before settling into a clear…
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Chef
Rudolf Štefan
Sibenik, Croatia
In Šibenik, Croatia, the cooking at Pelegrini is built around place: contemporary cuisine with local flavors, shaped by a rhythm that keeps memory and movement in the same frame.…
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Chef
Vasco Coelho Santos
Porto, Portugal
## The Path A 2018 appointment as chef and founder of Semea by Euskalduna in Porto sits at the center of Vasco Coelho Santos’s practice. It marks the point where long kitchen time…
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Chef
Christophe Hardiquest
Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Belgium
Christophe Hardiquest is a Belgian chef whose work is built on restraint, clarity, and a tight finish. Born in 1975, he has summed up his standard in one line: "What matters to me…
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Winemaker
Eduardo Boido
Montevideo, Uruguay
## The Climb At Bodega Bouza, the enólogo’s work sits at the point where vineyard decision, cellar discipline, and house style meet. In Eduardo Boido’s case, that means guiding…
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Chef
Endo Kazutoshi
London, United Kingdom
## The Path Omakase, in Endo Kazutoshi’s hands, is treated as an active exchange rather than a fixed run of courses. Born in Yokohama, Japan, he builds the meal from the room, the…
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Chef
Jorge Muñoz Castro
Lima, Peru
## The Path Formal training at Le Cordon Bleu gave Jorge Muñoz Castro the base for a route that moved through Barcelona service before returning to Lima. That sequence matters in…
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