Renowned Chef Mads Refslund Loves the Chaos of Egypt’s Food Culture

On Egypt’s North Coast, where the Mediterranean softens into a salt breeze and the desert exhales into design, Chef Mads Refslund is doing what he does best: starting from scratch. “Everywhere I go,” he says, “I’m trying to tell a story from the time and place I’m at.” That place, for now, is Ramla - Marakez’s sandy beachfront escape, built for the art of slow living, is now the refined stretch of shoreline hosting the opening act of WHEN WE EAT’s Signature Dinner Series - a month-long culinary project bringing global chefs to Sahel’s coast from July 15 to August 15.

First to arrive is Refslund, the Danish-born co-founder of Noma - one of the most influential restaurants in the world - and the chef behind Brooklyn’s genre-defying ILIS, named Best New Restaurant 2023 by Esquire and Most Important Restaurant Opening 2024 by La Liste. A pioneer of the New Nordic movement, Refslund is known for his fire-and-ice cooking philosophy, his obsession with fermentation, and a forager’s respect for the natural world.

His three-night residency - running July 16, 17, and 19 - reframes coastal Egyptian ingredients through his singular lens. Think seafood, fruit, salt, flame. But don’t expect a menu printed in advance. “Everyone wants a menu up front,” he says, “but I want to create it when I get here - when I can smell and taste everything.” That meant a 4 a.m. trip to Alexandria’s oldest fish market, where chaos and tradition mingle in a salt-stung air. “It felt like walking into something that’s been happening for 60 years. Very hectic. But I loved it.”

From those stalls to the seaside table, Refslund builds his menu in real time: hyper-local ingredients transformed through fire and intuition. “It’ll be a mix of the way we cook and all the ingredients from here,” he says. “It has to feel rooted.”

And though the flavours may be unexpected, his hope is human. “Hopefully a lot of these people will become friends,” he says. “Sharing a good meal is something that talks to the heart.”

Refslund is just the beginning. He’ll be followed by Kelvin Cheung of Jun’s in Dubai (ranked No. 7 on MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025), known for his vibrant takes on diasporic Indian-Chinese flavours, and Brando Moros of Michelin-starred 11 Woodfire (No. 28 on the list), whose food draws power from char, smoke, and the purity of a single flame-kissed ingredient. The season’s final supper takes place on August 15th, when Alex Atala - chef of D.O.M. in São Paulo (2 Michelin stars) - prepares a one-night-only multi-sensory dinner beside Ramla’s tidal pools.

For bookings head to: https://ramla.stitchrsvp.com/home