Speakers

Winner of the Michelin Guide Young Chef of The Year Award 2022 and Gault & Millau Future Great 2022, Chef Solemann Haddad started making waves a mere six months into opening the doors to Moonrise. Defying cultural norms and risking it all, Chef Haddad dropped out of his degree in International Relations mere weeks before graduating to pursue a culinary education in London and Tokyo. While he eventually completed his studies, the culinary world had already stolen his heart. Born and raised in Deira to a French mother and Syrian father, ‘home’ to Solemann means Dubai. The symbiotic relationship he shares with Dubai is one he speaks of with palpable love and fondness. “Dubai and I have grown together, side by side. We’ve witnessed each other’s evolution and progress”, he says. Haddad draws inspiration from the Middle Eastern yet multicultural influences and flavours that defined his passion for food. He candidly recalls taking to the kitchen at a very young age, making scrambled eggs and chocolate chip cookies to satisfy his young but rapidly evolving palate. The textbook definition of a third-culture kid, Chef Haddad views the food influences of his childhood simply as “Dubai cuisine”, an “Amalgamation of all the cuisines he grew up eating in Dubai”, particularly Middle Eastern, Japanese and French. He lives to constantly discover new flavours that are nothing short of an awakening and passes that feeling onto his diners. “Food is like music. The perfect dish is like the perfect song, with layers of perfect composition”, says Chef Haddad. Aspiring to change the stereotypical professional kitchen culture, he strives to create a positive kitchen environment and put Dubai on the global culinary map.