Dubai chef Greg Malouf, known as the 'Godfather of Middle Eastern cuisine', dies aged 64

Australian-Lebanese chef won awards throughout a career focused on Middle Eastern food

Chef Greg Malouf was known for his innovative takes on Middle Eastern cuisine. Antonie Robertson / The National

Celebrated Australian-Lebanese chef Greg Malouf has died aged 64. He had been living in Dubai since 2013 and opened two restaurants, Cle Dubai and Zahira.

Sources confirmed his death on Friday night, Caterer Middle East reported.

Before his move to the UAE, he was renowned for popularising Middle Eastern cuisine in Australia, where he grew up. Born in Melbourne to parents of Lebanese origin, he developed a passion for cooking from a young age, despite his parents' initial lack of support.

“As a child, I was surrounded by an army of Lebanese women who nurtured me, chided me, fed me and instilled in me a great love for the food from their memories,” Malouf told The National in 2015.

“My family initially disapproved of my involvement with food as it was considered a bit of an unskilled job with poor prospects. However, I was stubborn, and wasn’t about to let anything stand in the way of my love of food and my desire to reimagine the traditional dishes of my heritage.”

He eventually began his career in 1979 and worked in Europe and Hong Kong before returning to Melbourne in 1991 to become head chef at O'Connells Hotel, where he brought “modern Middle Eastern” cuisine to the gastro-pub and began to make a name for himself. After a decade there, he then helmed contemporary Middle Eastern restaurant MoMo in 2001.

It was during these years that his reputation for creating contemporary takes on Middle Eastern food was cemented, earning him the nickname of the "godfather of Middle Eastern cuisine” in Australia as the restaurant won several chef hat awards from The Age Good Food Guide between 1991 to 2010.

In 2012, Malouf became head chef at the Michelin-starred Petersham Nurseries Cafe in south-west London. Shortly after, he moved to Dubai, where he went on to open Cle in DIFC and later Zahira at The H Dubai.

Both restaurants have since closed and he turned his attention more towards consultancy work, regularly appearing at food festivals and during dinner collaborations.

"I feel I have done my share of working 12 hours a day for years in restaurants and I am looking for less stress in my life," he told The National in 2021.

"But my work continues in that I am consulting and training staff here in the UAE and abroad. There is still so much to go for Lebanese and Middle Eastern food to reach its potential and getting it to a place where it truly deserves to be.”

Malouf also wrote several cookbooks alongside his writing partner and ex-wife Lucy Malouf, including Saha: A Chef’s Journey through Lebanon and Syria, with the foreword later written by Anthony Bourdain, and Suqar: Desserts & Sweets from the Modern Middle East, which won the 2019 James Beard Foundation Award for Baking and Desserts.

Tributes on social media for Malouf

Tributes poured in for Malouf at the weekend. Mohamad Orfali of Dubai’s Orfali Bros – named as the top restaurant in Mena’s 50 Best – spoke on his Instagram stories about his shock over news of Malouf’s death while sharing photos of the two together.

Tom Arnel, founder of the hospitality group EATX, known for ventures such as cafe Sum of Us and the Asian restaurant Hawkerboi, shared his condolences through an Instagram post featuring photos of the two together. Arnel said he was "shocked and saddened" to hear the news and reminisced about how the two had formed a friendship over the years.

Anonymous food critic FoodSheikh said Malouf “leaves behind a legacy he can be proud of” while calling him a “champion of regional cuisine” who “lived with integrity, honesty and authenticity.”

Chef Rita Soueidan of Dubai's Maisan15 Cafe also took to her Instagram to share a photo of herself with Malouf. "Thank you for your friendship, thank you for your guidance, thank you for your encouragement, thank you for your honesty, thank you for the laughs, thank you for the fun times, thank you for the memories," she wrote.

"You are and will always be such an inspiration to me and to so many others. Goodbye my friend, you will be missed very very much. I know you’re smiling down at us while enjoying your pickled lamb tongue sandwiches with mustard. Rest in peace."

Lebanese-American chef Bethany Kehdy, who shared a series of photos including of herself in the kitchen at Zahira with Malouf, paid tribute in a post she shared on her Instagram. She wrote: "To say I’m heartbroken feels inadequate. The weight of this loss goes beyond words."

She added: What a tremendous loss this is – not just for your family, for everyone who knew you, but for everyone in the culinary world. To me, you were more than an inspiration, a mentor, a friend, a confidant, a father, a brother; you were family."

Australian chef Tom Sarafian called Malouf "one of the most influential chefs Australia has ever seen" and credited him for putting "the misunderstood and too often under-appreciated food of the Levant into the limelight like no one had ever seen before." He also praised Malouf's books as being a reason why he got into cooking himself.