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02 / Portfolio
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03 / Discovering
On beginnings

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From the table

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Portrait of Miguel Huelamo
00 / The Chef

Miguel Huelamo

Executive Chef · Culinary Director
International Luxury Hotels

Executive Chef with 18+ years of international leadership across luxury hotels and award-winning restaurant groups in the UAE, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, the UK and the US. Builds and leads large multi-venue culinary operations end to end: pre-opening and concept development, kitchen design, menu engineering and daily execution at scale, currently across 16 outlets with a brigade of 300 chefs and USD 30M+ in annual food revenue. A career forged in the most demanding Japanese and pan-Asian kitchens on classical European foundations, trusted to deliver bespoke, discreet dining for royalty, heads of state and UHNW guests.

18+
Years of international leadership
300
Chefs led across a single property
16
Restaurants, lounges & bars
30M+
USD annual food revenue
01 / Current appointment

Executive Chef

Oct 2021 – Present
JW Marriott Marquis · Dubai, UAE

Culinary lead for one of the world's largest luxury hotels: 16 restaurants, lounges and bars and a brigade of 300 chefs, serving a clientele that spans royalty, diplomats and global UHNW travellers.

  • —Full P&L accountability for a USD 30M+ annual food operation, delivering budgeted food cost and GOP through menu engineering, disciplined procurement and structured cost control.
  • —A consistent luxury experience across sixteen concepts, spanning banqueting, stewarding and food safety, with full HACCP and brand-standard compliance.
  • —End-to-end concept development, including six new concepts opening across 2026 and 2027: kitchen planning, menu design, OS&E, SOPs and staffing.
  • —Bespoke private events extending the hotel's standard to Dubai's most exclusive settings, from Meydan Racecourse to confidential palace dinners for the UAE Royal Family and visiting heads of state.
  • —Leading the team's drive toward Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star standard, with Gault&Millau UAE Sustainable Kitchen of the Year (2025 & 2026) and Excellence in F&B at the Hotelier Middle East GM Awards 2026.
02 / Earlier experience

Executive Chef · Japanese Concepts

May 2019 – Oct 2020
Honjo & TMK · Pirata Group · Hong Kong

Created the culinary identity and menu of Honjo (112 seats), leading 16 chefs to an opening praised by SCMP, Tatler Asia and Prestige. Scaled TMK, a casual temaki concept, from one site to three high-performing locations across the city.

Executive Chef

Oct 2016 – Jun 2019
Morimoto Dubai · Renaissance Downtown Hotel

Led a 46-chef brigade for the iconic Morimoto brand alongside the Morimoto corporate culinary team. Directed pre-opening and daily operations to Newcomer of the Year and Best Fine Dining recognition, personally nominated Best Japanese Specialty Chef and endorsed publicly by Chef Masaharu Morimoto.

Group Executive Chef

Jun 2014 – Aug 2016
Out2Dine · Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Multi-concept oversight across European fine dining, Italian, Japanese izakaya and German venues; built a central production kitchen and standardised quality across outlets.

Executive Sous Chef

Mar 2011 – Nov 2013
Zuma · Hong Kong, London & Miami

Supported executive leadership at a globally recognised premium Japanese brand, ensuring consistency and high-volume execution across three continents.

Executive Chef

Apr 2008 – Mar 2011
Les Suites Orient · Shanghai, PRC

Culinary lead for a 168-room luxury boutique hotel, managing a 26-chef team across in-room dining, meetings and the Bund Café.

Head Chef

Jun 2006 – Apr 2008
Cosi o Cosi · Taipei, Taiwan

First head-chef role and first international posting; introduced a Spanish tapas counter and cultivated a loyal base of hospitality-industry regulars.

03 / Recognition
Sustainable Kitchen of the Year
2025 & 2026 · Gault&Millau UAE
Excellence in F&B
2026 · GM Awards, Hotelier Middle East
Executive Chef Power List, Top 50
2023 · Hotelier Middle East
Best Steakhouse in Dubai
2023, 2024 & 2026 · Prime68 · Time Out Dubai
#6 Hotel Worldwide · #1 Middle East
2023 · Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice
04 / Core strengths
Multi-outlet leadership
up to 16 concepts, 300 chefs
Pre-openings & concept design
kitchen planning, OS&E, SOPs
Financial ownership
P&L, food cost, procurement
Private & VIP dining
bespoke menus, discretion, protocol
Japanese & pan-Asian cuisine
on classical European foundations
05 / Languages
EnglishFluent · IELTS 7.5
SpanishNative
MandarinConversational · A2
06 / Education
Professional Chef · Classic European Cuisine
Luis Irizar Culinary School, San Sebastián · 2004–2006

Founded by the grandfather of Spanish New Cuisine.

07 / Media & Press
Full press archive ↗

A selection of features, interviews and awards across a career spanning Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai.

08 / Contact
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01 /

Walking Around

The knife shops in Kappabashi are a pilgrimage. I went for one thing and left with three, wrapped like relics. A blade there is not a tool you buy, it is a relationship you begin.

Image · portrait
Kappabashi · the knife maker
Image · portrait
A single perfect tamago
02 /

Eating & Drinking

I landed with a list and abandoned it by the second morning. Tokyo does not reward the itinerary; it rewards the detour. The best meal of the trip was a counter I found by following a queue of construction workers at seven in the morning, a bowl of rice, grilled fish, miso and pickles that cost less than a coffee and taught me more than a tasting menu.

What strikes a chef here is the reverence for a single thing done completely. One man, one product, one lifetime. It is the opposite of the multi-outlet operation I run, and it recalibrates you.

Image · Tsukiji morning, wide
Toyosu market, before the city wakes

The city taught me that mastery is mostly restraint. Do less, but refuse to do it badly.

Video · a walk through Omoide Yokocho
Smoke, yakitori and neon after dark
03 /

Outside Tokyo

Hakone

From Kamakura to Hakone, train then bus, just the three of us. Mount Fuji came and went through the clouds, more suggestion than sight, which somehow made it better. We stayed a couple of days in an old ryokan, yukatas on, eating home-cooked meals we didn't have to think about. Time enough to visit a few temples, circle the lake, and let the trip slow down before Tokyo picked the pace back up.

Dinner at the ryokan
At the temple
At the temple

I flew home heavier in the luggage and lighter in the head. A few knives, a lot of notes, and a reminder that the point of travelling for a cook is not to collect recipes. It is to be humbled by someone else's discipline and to carry a little of it back to your own pass.

Until the next coordinate lights up.
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an odyssey lived through night markets, busy kitchens, wrong turns worth taking and the long way home
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1 / Books

Books

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3 / Sports

Sports

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Miguel Huelamo
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