Meet The Women Leading Dubai's MICHELIN Restaurants
From first-time chef-owners to renowned icons with years of experience, these women are all doing something outstanding for Dubai's hospitality industry
It’s often said that Dubai is an international melting pot of cultures — nowhere is this more obvious than in its gastronomic scene.
The first-ever MICHELIN Dubai Guide edition revealed a canon of restaurants celebrating the very best international cuisine — from Europe and Asia to the Middle East and Africa. And of the 69 listed restaurants, a handful are led by women. These venerated restaurateurs, owners and culinary stars represent just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to women in the culinary arts blazing their own trail in Dubai, the Middle East, and beyond.
In Fi’lia, 26-year-old Sara Aqel has felt the struggle to be taken seriously — until now. “I’m not just a female chef in a kitchen. I’m a 26-year-old, Palestinian-Jordanian female chef, and that’s always been challenging but I’ve never been afraid of hard work,” explains Aqel. “Now, I’m blessed to work at Fi’lia, where the team sees these traits as a strength.”
Meanwhile, it’s a feminine touch from Palestinian-Jordanian Salam Dakkak that’s the beating heart of Bait Maryam. Her home-cooked Levantine specialties range from the labour-intensive yalanji (vine leaves stuffed with rice, pomegranate molasses and onions), to crock pots of freekeh, baked chicken and roasted pine nuts, all "made with a mother’s love”.
And while many of these women are helping to shatter glass ceilings across the industry, some are quick to downplay their gender as a factor for success.
“While I’ve often been the only woman in the kitchen, I have never felt like I needed to act in a certain way,” says Kate Christou, who leads the charge to inform the community of the importance of sustainability at MICHELIN Green-starred LOWE. Similarly, being in a male-dominated space is something Avli by tashas’ owner Natasha Sideris has never given a second thought to: “People always ask me if it has been challenging as a woman in this industry,” she explains. “I guess I don’t think of it that way. It is a challenging business no matter who you are.”
MICHELIN Bib Gourmand and winner of The Welcome and Service Award
MICHELIN Guide Dubai 2022
For Palestinian-Jordanian chef-owner Salam Dakkak, creating a homely environment for Arab expats in Dubai is what first propelled her to open a restaurant, and what’s kept her there. For five years, the popular TV personality has run the kitchen – and floor – at Bait Maryam, making it her mission to be a "mother to everyone who walks through the doors”. Aside from a charming ambience, Bait Maryam takes regional flavours, and plates off the family table, and brings them into a restaurant setting as part of her personal homage to Middle Eastern cuisine. Her efforts have been rewarded as the city’s first recipient of the MICHELIN Guide Welcome and Service Award and a Bib Gourmand.
Salam’s favourite dish: “Fatet Musakhan – two famous Palestinian dishes combined. This was originally created using leftover Musakhan, which is bread with chicken, onion and sumac and then topped with garlic yoghurt and fried bread. My mother would always recreate delicious new dishes from leftovers and we wouldn’t even know. Now it’s fast becoming Bait Maryam’s best seller.”
Australian journalist-turned-chef and restaurateur, Kate Christou has become one of Dubai’s key standard-bearers for sustainability. At her recently awarded MICHELIN Green Star bistro LOWE, which she opened in 2017 with her chef husband Jesse Blake, the emphasis is on nose-to-tail dining and quality seasonal produce cooked naturally by fire. Technique-driven recipes are developed from waste products such as burnt sourdough ice cream, lemon pith curd and onion skin powder. Her team also hosts eight-course Waste Not dinners, using “the whole of everything – from stalks, stems and skins of fruits and vegetables to the bones and meat of animals,” while also running popular Waste Not community cooking classes.
Kate’s favourite dish: “It’s almost impossible for me to pick a favourite dish, it’s like picking your favourite child. But I think everyone needs to start their meal at LOWE with wood-fired sesame bread and one of our dips, such as the burnt aubergine with seaweed za’atar or romesco with crab, burnt butter and almonds.”
Unlike many of the women featured on this list, Neha Mishra’s culinary back catalogue is lean, and yet she is renowned within the UAE’s restaurant industry. In 2017, Neha created A Story Of Food, sharing her passion for cooking comforting Japanese cuisine at monthly supper clubs in her own home. In 2021, after gaining a legion of ramen fans, she left her corporate role and opened Kinoya – a casual and authentic Izakaya located within an unassuming residential building. On most days, Neha can be seen behind the stove, tinkering with broths and handing out simmering bowls of ramen to guests over the counter. Beyond ramen, Kinoya celebrates yakitori specialties from grilled wagyu tsukune scorched from binchotan, to charred scallops lathered in an earthy brown butter.
Neha’s success story proves that Dubai is moving away from resting on the laurels of internationally prominent chefs and giving homegrown talent a time to shine.
Neha’s favourite dish: “I love so many things on our menu. Obviously the shio ramen is a must, but then I also love the koji chicken wings, the homemade tofu and the kisu fish.”
Twenty-six-year-old Palestinian-Jordanian Sara Aqel already has the culinary resume of someone twice her age. She kicked off her career in Hong Kong, before moving back to Jordan to work at Four Seasons Hotel Amman’s La Capitale. A “now or never” move to Dubai saw her land coveted positions at the recently awarded one-MICHELIN-star restaurants, Al Muntaha in Burj Al Arab and Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura. Since 2021, she has been heading the all-women team in the kitchen at “her little baby”, Fi’lia, serving Italian cuisine that celebrates the recipes of the women she’s come to know: nonnas, mammas and figlias.
Sara’s favourite dish: “Jerusalem artichoke pizza. It’s my signature pizza. We use the whole artichoke to make it, flesh to skin, and it has a mix of ingredients that work in harmony together. There are Jerusalem artichoke, pickled onion, spinach, gorgonzola and Parmigiano, on 72-hour fermented pizza dough. I love the smell, taste and look. It’s so earthy and close to my heart.”
South African-born of Greek Cypriot heritage, Natasha Sideris grew up in the culinary world. Her father was a successful restaurateur and her mother, a zealous home cook. Despite studying psychology – and missing the energy of the hospitality business – she was drawn back into the kitchens of South Africa where she began to build her empire. In 2014, an investor encouraged her to open tashas cafe, her first restaurant in Dubai. Over the next few years, her portfolio grew to include Avli by tashas, a fine-dining concept inspired by her Greek heritage and passion for combining tastes and beautiful environments. As the conductor to her ever-growing orchestra of brands, Tasha spends much of her time darting between kitchen tasting sessions, design consultations, and team meetings, to ensure that her trademark blend of good food and great ambience triumphs.
Natasha’s favourite dish: “Youvetsi. It’s a very traditional, rustic Greek dish and I think the way we have elevated it to make it more “fine dining” is really great. It still has all the authentic flavours with a more modern and refined presentation.”
This post is brought to you in partnership with Dubai Tourism Board
Written by
Laura Lai Coughlin
Laura Coughlin is a food, leisure and travel writer based in Dubai. When not eating – or writing about eating – you can find her attempting to burn calories in the gym, or teaching her desert dog, Roofus, some much-needed manners.
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