With the Hotelier Middle East Awards at the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai fast approaching, it’s time to unveil the finalists of the Executive Chef of the Year award, which this year is sponsored by Néstle.
Due to be held in Dubai on October 30, a total of 90 hoteliers across 18 individual awards categories have been shortlisted for a Hotelier Middle East Award, along with five hotel teams for the coveted Team of the Year Award.
Click below to see our selection of some of the best executive chefs in the business:
| Advertisement |
Sascha Triemer, vice president culinary, Atlantis The Palm
ABOUT SACHA
Chef Sascha began his culinary journey working with several hotels in Europe including the Hilton Munich Park Hotel, Munich, The Palace Hotel in Meran, Italy and The Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane in London. From 2001-2006, Chef Sascha worked at the Burj Al Arab, Dubai, first as a sous chef before moving up to executive sous chef, where he was in charge of overseeing five restaurants and the main kitchen operation. He was also involved in coordinating culinary promotional events such as Easter, Christmas and New Year’s Eve Parties as well as all culinary competitions within the UAE and abroad. Between 2007 and 2008, Chef Sascha moved to become the executive sous chef for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he was responsible for running the day to day operations of 160 chefs, 6 restaurants and the main kitchen. He was also responsible for the banqueting operation which had a 2,000 person capacity as well as the training and development of staff in the culinary division. Chef Sascha then came back to Dubai in 2008 to become the executive chef for Atlantis The Palm’s preopening. After recently being promoted to vice president of culinary, chef Sascha is in charge of 480 chefs and 20 food and beverage outlets. He has also received several accolades and awards over the span of his career including several gold awards from the Emirates International Salon Culinary Dubai.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
Since the opening of Atlantis, The Pam Dubai, Sascha has overseen the implementation and opening of 6 new restaurants namely TBJ (The Burger Joint), Asia Republic, Asateer (the Ramadan Tent), the new Imperial Club Lounge, the new Food Court at Aquaventure Water park (which features 6 dining concepts) and Yuan, the ultra-modern Chinese Restaurant opening in October 2013. Chef Sascha has also implemented an additional Pizza kitchen in Nasimi Beach to boost revenue and to improve the outdoor guest experience. Another additional kitchen has also been set up in the lobby lounge and bar to create less distance between the kitchen and service area. By heading these developments, the service has been quicker and this has resulted in improved guest experience as visible in the ever improving JD Power scores. Recently Chef Sascha was assigned the task of overseeing the implementation of a new club lounge for Imperial Club VIP guests. In addition to having accomplished revenue targets, this new Imperial Club lounge is a direct tool that helps with guest satisfaction because of the reduction of waiting time for breakfast and snacks. Under his eye, four of the fine dining restaurants at Atlantis, The Palm participated in the Taste of Dubai in 2012 and 2013. All four restaurants were listed in the top 5 of the most visited restaurant booths at the event with TBJ (The Burger Joint) being number 1 on the list. Upon the implementation of big events at Atlantis, The Pam Dubai such as Sandance and Euro Cup with a capacity of 12,000 guests and above, Chef Sascha devoted his time and that of his team to provide catering for these events and ultimately increased covers from 3,000 to 5,000 meals. 34,000 meals were served this year during the month of Ramadan where Chef Sascha was involved in the setting up of the Ramadan kitchen, the manpower and ensuring that the food served was of the expected high quality. Even with the high volumes, his team ensured that they effectively served the large number of guests and ultimately increased the revenue by 20 % compared to last year.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“Sascha is like a Los Angeles-class submarine. Une force tranquille (a very strong tranquil force.)” Serge Zaalof, president and managing director at Atlantis, The Palm
WHAT DID HIS GUESTS SAY?
“Chef Sascha and I have worked together on numerous occasions. He has been responsible for making many of my milestone events a huge memorable success. Till today, people will often ask me to forward them a menu from some of these events. Sascha possesses the 3 most important qualities needed for an amazing Chef- innovativeness, professionalism in execution and a desire to please the client no matter what it takes. He puts in his heart and soul to ensure that every dinner party small or big is a success. His ability to delegate and respect each of his colleagues for their effort and expertise is also obvious and apparent. Sascha has turned routine menus and service upside down just to suit my needs. For my husband's 40th birthday, he served food on the tables of the lounge seating. It was done in 3 courses but with a family style sharing in mind. Other hotels and chefs refused to do this since it involves a lot of time, effort and precision in execution. When I had to launch my TV chat show, I again went to Sascha. He used every resource to come up with a dinner concept that involved stations of various cuisines, but of a calibre that has never been seen before. He even got Nobu to do a station for me. People still talk about the Tahini fountain and the black cod. For my son's baby shower, I only chose Atlantis because I knew that Sascha would make this event as amazing as all my others. He created a child's paradise with live pizza corner, cupcake decoration and they even did a whole Heston Blumenthal thing of having bubbling coloured foam in jars that were set on an ice table. All I can say is that Sascha and his team have truly spoilt me forever. There is absolutely nobody else that I know who can come up with such concepts and execute them to perfection. I would even go as far to say that I would follow Sascha to whichever establishment he went. Since I sincerely believe that ballrooms are the same everywhere, it's the Chef that makes or breaks the party. In Sascha's case, he has made every single one an astounding success! I don't think you could have a more deserving candidate for this award.” SimaVed – Vice Chairperson, Apparel Group.
Please click through to next page to find out who else has been shortlisted…
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
