Soneva Stars

A talented chef and restaurateur from New Zealand, Jane Alty opened The Begging Bowl in London over ten years ago. Her focus on using genuine Thai ingredients and techniques, paired with carefully sourced wines and unique cocktails, allowed her to introduce a true taste of Thai cuisine to a curious and dedicated public. Jane’s passion for Asian food led her to become the Executive Chef for Thai restaurant group Chaiyo Restaurants, where she currently oversees a collection of ambitious restaurants, each focusing on a specific region in Thailand. In June 2023, she will be opening a Northern Thai restaurant at the iconic Battersea Power Station in London, adding to the Chaiyo Restaurants collection and giving more people the opportunity to taste the incredible flavours of Thailand. Despite her formal training, Jane attributes many of the invaluable secrets she has learned to her time spent with Thai relatives on the outskirts of Bangkok. She is committed to sharing her passion for Thai cuisine and cooking with the wider world and is continuously looking for ways to help people understand the complexities and subtleties of the food she has fallen in love with. Jane has created a successful training ground for many incredible chefs, earning her a spot in the top 100 influential women in hospitality.

Former chef of Le Meurin, Mathieu Boutroy spent more than 12 years under two-Michelin-starred chef  Marc Meurin before opening Le Restaurant du Cerisier in Lille, France. Located in the heart of the old city, on the first floor of a contemporary building, the restaurant won its first Michelin star after only fifteen months of opening. Known for crafting perfectly executed dishes, including subtle sauces and jus, Mathieu defines his cuisine as coherent with frank tastes; readable and understandable by all from the first glance and the first bite; with only three different flavours per plate. each finished with a touch of acidity and power.

Born in the foothills of the Himalayas in north–western Pakistan, Chef Sylvestre Wahid is inspired by beautiful memories of his grandfather’s orchards, lined with mango, tamarind and guava trees, as well as his mother’s lentils cooked in yoghurt-based sauces, perfumed with cilantro and mint. Wahid’s culinary universe is the essence of French cuisine, using only the finest ingredients and centred on wellbeing, with no added fat, salt or sugar. At the start of his career, he was spotted by the celebrated chef Thierry Marx from the Mandarin Oriental, undertaking an apprenticeship alongside him, followed by another in the kitchens of the Cheval Blanc in Nîmes. He went on to work for Alain Solivérès, then crossed paths with Alain Ducasse, who took him under his wing at Le Plaza Athénée in Paris, before sending him to New York to support Didier Eléna. After becoming head chef at Oustau de Baumanière in Les Baux-de-Provence, he then led the kitchens at Strato in Courchevel – gaining two Michelin stars at both restaurants. In 2015, Wahid took over from Jean-François Piège at Brasserie Thoumieux in Paris, where he gained another two Michelin stars. After announcing his departure in December 2020, he flew to Courchevel to open an eponymous restaurant at the prestigious Hotel Les Grandes Alpes 1850. Sylvestre Wahid will be hosting a series of exclusive dinners at Soneva Kiri.

Chantelle Nicholson is a multi-award winning chef owner of Apricity, London. Formerly chef-owner of Tredwells (the recipient of a green Michelin star in 2021) and All’s Well, a ‘pandemic pop-up’. As one of the leading female voices in the UK’s hospitality industry, Chantelle is an advocate for seasonality and sustainability, championing veg-forward cooking and being committed to creating a more sustainable future across her operation and activities, whilst also being an independent board member for ReLondon and a Food Council member for City Harvest.

María is a Michelin-starred Spanish chef and restaurateur, renowned for her celebration of iconic Spanish ingredients, refreshingly authentic culinary style and exceptionally high standards. Her signature approach is founded on the low-key evolution of the natural flavours found in the best ingredients that Spain has to offer. Based in Alicante, she is the proprietor of Grupo Gourmet Alicante, a collection of six restaurants and an artisan bakery workshop that sets a new paradigm in Spanish gastronomy. With her Michelin-starred restaurant Monastrell, this high-energy, highly creative visionary has returned to her roots to explore natural foods and healthy approaches to world-class cuisine. Her menu pays homage to its Mediterranean location, showcasing a bounty of locally sourced ingredients from extra virgin olive oil, local rice varieties, seafood and saffron, to vegetables grown in her own “huerta”, and artisan breads created in her bakery workshop. She is a frequent speaker and instructor for various international events and forums around the world such as Madrid Fusión, the Culinary Institute of America in California, Food and Fun in Iceland, and the Congress of Gastronomy and Neuroscience at Valencia.