Stories & Reviews

Our Culinary Experts

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  Chef Pino Lavarra

  Pino Lavarra is a Michelin-starred, multi-award winning celebrity chef and cookbook author who has collaborated with some of the world’s most celebrated hotels and restaurants across Europe and Asia. At the opulent Al Messila Resort & Spa, Chef Lavarra oversees the operations of the culinary experiences with a specific focus on the signature restaurant Deli Kitchen. Throughout the property, Chef Lavarra ensures matchless sustainability and responsibility, while creating a new approach to international agricultural and healthy dining and discovery. Chef Lavarra is also the creator and promoter of Al Messila’s unique “Chef in a Villa” offering, where he personally designs menus and dining experiences for private gatherings and events in the resort’s luxury villas. 

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  Chef Claudio Trovato

  Claudio Trovato is the General Manager of Cucina at Marriott City Center Doha. Claudio's passion for Italian gastronomy was rooted from a very young age. Born in the family of restaurateurs and teaching in the cooking academy helped him move his first steps into the Culinary world. To refine, improve, and to learn Claudio traveled around the world including Brazil, Malta, Kenya, and Armenia to perfect his culinary talent. He has featured on many television channels and regularly called upon by Embassy and cooking institutions to promote Italian food and culture around the world. At Cucina, Claudio Trovato’s cooking is a celebration of goodness from the 21 regions of Italy. From curating dishes that aren’t on the menu to bringing the notion of La Famiglia (The Family) to life – It all happens at Cucina, the Italian Kitchen. 

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  Chef Mohammed Ali Abu Aisheh

  Born and raised in Amman, Jordan Chef Abu's passion for cooking began when he was a child spending time in the kitchen with his parents.

  It was the relentless drive of his father to persuade Chef Abu to follow the path of a culinary career. Now, 25 years later in this professional life as a chef, 

  Chef Abu is passionate about creating dishes for his guests with all the love and attention that he is dedicated when cooking for his family or guests he entertains. The Arabic hospitality plays a key role, as there is nothing more gratifying than creating a meal that people thoroughly enjoy.

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  Chef Hamdi Chaklabakji

  Fascinated by innovation and technique of oriental pastry, and seeking an environment that supported his vision, Hamdi moved to Qatar in 2009 and had the opportunity to work in the Amiri Palace as the Executive Chef for the palace for seven years.

  In 2019, he joined Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Convention Hotel as Oriental Pastry Chef- Sheraton Grand Doha. Hamdi returns to his Lebanese culinary roots and brings extensive skills to the task of working with an exceptionally talented team.  
  

  
  

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  Rachel Morris

  Rachel Morris is a media and strategic communication expert whose career has spanned 25 years and three countries. Over the course of her career Rachel worked as a newspaper reporter and editor as well as running her own boutique public relations consultancy. A resident of Qatar since 2007, she currently works in healthcare communications and has over this period developed extensive community and business ties. A member of QANZBA’s committee since 2012, Rachel is also a community representative for Australia for the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. Rachel also continues to write for a range of local and international websites and publications including Forbes Travel. In 2014 Rachel started her blog Life on the Wedge, which has become one of the essential sources of unbiased reviews and information about Qatar’s restaurant and dining scene.

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  Chef Oliver Weber

  Oliver Weber is the Executive Chef at Marriott Marquis City Center Doha, doing whatever it takes to satisfy any customer palate whilst not compromising service excellence and quality of cuisine. Oliver started his career as a hotel management trainee at a small family-run hotel. Soon realizing that cooking was his passion and decided to learn the art in a Michelin Star rated restaurant. At 25, Oliver sought opportunities to further develop his creativity and decided to discover the world in search of new ingredients, spices, and varieties of cuisine it has to offer.  With over 22 years of culinary experience around the globe including Scotland, Dubai, Shanghai, and Seoul, Oliver continues to refer to the past, breathe in the present and imagine the future to evolve, to always keep inspired to reach perfection and deliver the perfect dish. 

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  Chef Thomas Pendarovski

  Chef Thomas culinary skills brought him to travel all over the world; he travelled the Caribbean, the USA, Europe and the Middle East. Starting his career in Canada, Europe triggered his interest. Therefore, he travelled to Italy, where he did his apprenticeship. After that, he joined Marriott in 2003, in 2005 he got the great opportunity to work at the G7 summit in England. During his years with Marriott, his culinary talent was exposed during the 2006 - 2007 Miami Super Bowl. Moreover, in 2009, he was requested as a taskforce for an opening JW Marriott property in Canada. 
  

    However, even if he has been working with some of the most notorious chef’s, Chef Thomas’ heroes and inspiration remain his parents, as they showed him how to respect and understand food. Respecting and understanding, are two words that Chef Thomas’ embraces daily when cooking. He believes that you should take something simple and elevate it from being good to great.  For Chef Thomas, foods speaks for itself and that no more than 5 ingredients should be used when creating a dish. The ingredients he will always work with are butter and garlic, simple but powerful. 

  French Cuisine has influenced Chef Thomas’ creations in a lot of manners, he admits that French Cuisine and French techniques are the fundamentals of his repertoire, where he wants to bring in a sense of passion, understanding, respect and seasonality into the kitchen. He would like to create Mediterranean cuisine with an Arabic twist as he thinks it is really important to embrace the culture you live in. 

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  Chef Moreno Miotto

  He began his cooking life in Beverly Hills, at Il Ristorante di Giorgio Baldi (star-studded with guests like Tom Cruise, Rhianna, Steven Spielberg and on and on). Then, he rambled back to his hometown Prince George and opened two restaurants. In 2003, he moved to Vancouver and opened Bis Moreno to critical acclaim but the industry, as any restaurateur knows, can be vicious and it closed after a couple of years.

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  Chef Chaiwat Kawikitpraphat

  From 2005 to 2008, he pursued his career by focusing where he worked as a sous chef in different properties in the Middle East. Here, he managed to develop his career, improve his skills and knowledge. His dynamic approach contributed in creating innovative culinary experiences throughout the years.  Chef Chaiwat joined The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa in 2017 and played a crucial role in creating Sabai Thai new positioning, perception in the local market and re-inventing its menus. 

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  Chef Esteban Perez

  During his professional career, he worked in reputable culinary establishments located in iconic 5-star properties around the world. He found the opportunity to experience different brands and standards of delivering top notch service which led him to broaden his vision while developing new menus and concepts.

  Before joining The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa in 2019, he worked at a high-end catering company in Doha as Head Chef. Under his supervision, the team has delivered exceptional and personalized catering services to their esteemed clients where the menu and concepts have been implemented and executed by himself.

  As a passionate chef, Esteban is eager to launch new trends in the kitchen while keeping the traditional foundation.
  

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  Chef Eko Zulfikar

  Chef Eko’s approach to cookery stems from the traditional cooking and lifestyles of his mother in Indonesia, and these are his major food influences. 
  

  His passion is for cooking, Chef Eko specializes in Chinese, Thai and Japanese cuisines. He has over 20 years of experience making delicious Asian inspired food. His creative food ethos is to use fresh and ethically sourced ingredients to create modern dishes with Asian heritage, fusing tradition and innovation. Chef Eko strives to bridge cultural understanding through food, making Asian cooking accessible, healthy and nutritious, appealing to both the East and West. 

    Chef Eko has received many awards and recognition for his cooking and success in the restaurant industry. In addition, Chef has a knowledge of the Asian culture and has anecdotal explanations and stories that tie into his food.  Chef has also performed many entrepreneurial activities in the food industry, which included provided consulting services to the luxury food industry. Chef Eko is a notable food connoisseur that takes pride in providing perfection within the food industry.

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  Chef Neha Kool

  Her early culinary education started at home, in a family of mixed heritage, where she was exposed to different cooking styles of the Indian classics. These early culinary experiences lead her to pursue a career in the culinary world. Very soon in her career she had the opportunity to work at some of the finest Indian hotels and restaurants including Novotel by Accor in Pune, The Leela Resorts and Taj Hotels. During her time in India, Chef Neha also got the opportunity to be part of the opening of the award-winning Michelin Star restaurant ‘Le Cirque Signature’ in Mumbai, overlooking the pastry operations. 

  Her love and passion for pastry and desserts brought her to Doha, Qatar in 2018 at Kaafe Chocolatier, the first handmade chocolate brand in Qatar. Her exceptional talent in pastry opened her doors to Al Messila Resort & Spa Doha, where she got the opportunity to work under the guidance of the Michelin-Starred chef Pino Lavarra. With her passion of going out of the box and reaching new heights of creativity, Chef Neha aims at curating unique and memorable experiences for the guests at Al Messila Resort & Spa.

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  Chef Som Thappa

  The delicious and intriguing dishes made by his mother, gave birth to his love for food and different cuisines. This love for food and discovering new flavors lead him to pursue a career in culinary, for which he travelled to India for better opportunities and a chance to grow. Very early on in his career, Chef Som had the opportunity to work at some of the most prestigious hotels and world-renowned brands in India including the JW Marriott Bengaluru and the Renaissance Mumbai. 

  Chef Som's passion for creativity and learning hand skills inspired him to learn Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisines, the finest of Asian flavors. As Chef Som likes to say, the thrill of challenging cuisines has been his motivation throughout his culinary journey embracing new skills and exploring new culinary techniques, with an aim of mastering the art of creativity. 

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  Irankunda Honore

  Starting a path in drama and theater that did not work for him, his passion of connecting with people and being able to leave an impact on their lives lead him to be a mixologist.  As Honore likes to say, mixology is science, it's chemistry and it's good to live in an environment where you feel like scientist and sociologist, the art of mixology has helped him find drive in life. His passion to always experiment new things that can leave an impact on his audiences has taken him to the hospitality industry, where he can meet new people and astonish them with his creations.  Honore’s desire to learn new things and grow as a professional brought him to Doha, where as he likes to say “magic happens!”. The fast-growing hospitality industry, bigger opportunities and a chance to meet people from different cultures add creativity to his mixology style. With his forte of frozen sips, Honore has been able to create some of the most amazing mixes offered at Al Messila Resort & Spa. 

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  Chef Matthias Stuber

  A student of Hotel & Restaurant Administration from the Bergius School in Frankfurt, Matthias began his career alongside pursing his Diploma at Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel & Conference Center in 2004 until 2007 as an Apprentice. From here, he moved on to work at the popular 2 Michelin-starred restaurant Johanna Maier in Austria until 2008 as a Chef de Partie and from 2008 to 2009 he worked at another 3 Michelin-starred Gourmet Restaurant Ueberfahrt in Germany. Post this, Chef Matthias chose to return to hotels and assumed the role of Sous Chef at Kempinski Airport Hotel in Munich from 2009 to 2012 and later went on to become Executive Sous Chef from 2013 to 2016 at Kempinski Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich. 

  His last assignment as Executive Chef at Roomers Hotel, Munich from 2016 to 2019 was as part of the pre-opening team of this trendy 281 rooms property, where Chef Matthias was responsible for a large culinary portfolio and team. 

  A dynamic personality in and outside the kitchen, Matthias has a great flair for guest interactions as well as driving the best results out of his team of Chefs. He believes in 'hands-on' training and encouraging educative experiences on food concepts and trends through interactive brainstorming sessions with his team on a regular basis. 
  

  Best loved for his passionate take on his 'home recipes' which he ardently posts for his followers on Instagram, Matthias brings with him a fresh and enthusiastic energy to re-imagine dining experiences. 

  A certified health expert, Chef Matthias places due importance on maintaining a balance and gladly adds healthy recipes on his crafted menus for the variety of guests that visit the restaurant. 
  

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  Minh Thi

  Native from Hô-Chi-Minh-Ville, Vietnam, MinhThi started her career with CHILL SKY BAR & DINING. She found herself especially drawn to what was going on behind the bar, and over the next few years,  continued to learn and challenge herself, working as bartender. At STK Doha, Minh Thi was part of the opening team helping the restaurant achieve national acclaim.  

  Minh Thi is renowned at Sel & Miel for her mixology skills. The outlet, which is deeply rooted in hospitality and ignites the desire to make people smile, is what drives her—and reflects in her beverage creations.

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  Leo Salman

  At an early age, Leo was fond of mixology, the art of making cocktails. At 19, he passed his bartender diploma, ventured some of the world’s most iconic bar brands, and finally in 2011 entered the family of Buddha Bar, where he enhanced his skill set of perfecting mixology. Leo demonstrated and proved that the art of mixology is relevant for Mocktails too. The ones at B-Lounge are the great example.

  He is currently working on few unique concoctions for his guests, such as Oud & Rose, Bag in a Box and many more which are soon to be released for the teetotalers.

  60ml customer preference, 15 ml technique, 15 ml Accuracy, 10 ml innocent smile is his perfect recipe for 100% popularity in Doha scene. 

  Meet him at B-Lounge, Doha every evening. He is always there!