Who Are Dubai's Gabriela Chamorro's Favourite Chefs?

Gabriela Chamorro arrived at Cairo Food Week 2026 from Dubai by way of Nicaragua, bringing the Central American cooking of Girl & the Goose Restaurante Centroamericano into Izakaya’s kitchen at Palm Central. But when Scene Eats turned the question around and asked the co-founder and executive chef which cooks she looks up to, her answer stretched from Spain to India - and included one pastry chef capable of overcoming her general indifference to dessert.

First is Spanish chef Patricia Roig, formerly of Dubai’s BOCA, whom Chamorro admires as much for what she represents outside the kitchen as what she does inside it. “When you think about female empowerment and support, that’s your woman,” she said.

Then comes Trèsind Studio’s Himanshu Saini. For Chamorro, his achievement lies in taking food she describes as “very humble” from India and placing it firmly on the global culinary map, with Trèsind Studio becoming the world’s first Indian restaurant to receive three Michelin stars.

Her third choice is more personal. Fadi Naim of Rosy Hospitality Group has been both “a friend and a mentor,” making his influence one measured not simply in food, but in the guidance that accompanies a career.

And then there is Spanish pastry chef Carmen Rueda, who presents something of an anomaly. Chamorro readily admits she isn’t much of a dessert person. Rueda, apparently, is the exception. “Whatever desserts she makes are absolutely stunning.”