Elias Samaan is a culinary‑driven chef de cuisine, shaping guest experiences and restaurant identity across luxury resort environments in Dubai. Operating at the intersection of menu creation, kitchen leadership and brand storytelling, he blends Lebanese roots, fine dining techniques and modern hospitality thinking to deliver food that is both emotionally resonant and commercially successful.


Current role and culinary scope

Elias currently serves as Chef De Cuisine at Jumeirah Group / Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts, leading the culinary direction of Al Nafoorah and related concepts within the Jumeirah Al Qasr luxury resort in Dubai. In this role, he oversees menu engineering, kitchen brigade management and day‑to‑day operations, ensuring that each service reflects both the heritage of Levantine cuisine and the high standards of Dubai’s luxury hospitality scene.


His remit spans the full culinary lifecycle—from concept development and pre‑opening work through recipe creation, costing, execution and guest feedback loops—anchored in deep familiarity with both Lebanese flavors and international fine dining expectations. By aligning food quality, consistency and storytelling with guest experience, Elias supports leadership in positioning Al Nafoorah and Jumeirah’s restaurants as destinations of choice for both residents and global travelers.


Culinary leadership, concept development and guest experience

Across his recent activity, Elias showcases a strong focus on signature experiences, from curated dinner journeys inspired by the origins of participating chefs to high‑profile brunches like The Big Gourmet Brunch at Jumeirah Al Qasr. He actively collaborates with food and beverage leadership—often featured alongside hospitality figures such as Adam Beck—to bring multi‑chef narratives, Ramadan traditions and special occasion menus to life in ways that feel personal, celebratory and culturally grounded.


Career path, cuisines and operational foundations

Elias’s operational grounding has been built over more than a decade with Jumeirah, progressing from Chef de Partie and junior sous roles into multiple sous chef positions and, ultimately, chef de cuisine. His journey has taken him through main kitchen operations, French Riviera concepts and the pre‑opening of Al Nafoorah, giving him hands‑on exposure to French cuisine, Lebanese fine dining and large‑scale resort production.


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