BENJAMIN WAN

Born in Liverpool, UK and moved to London at age 12. Benjamin grew up in a kitchen environment; his father was a chef who owned 2 restaurants. It was Marco Pierre White’s book White Heat which really pushed him into pursuing the culinary arts as a career and led to his move into a catering college. He was very fortunate and his second job was to work for Marco Pierre White at The Restaurant. His first job was at the L’Odeon, the 1990s renowned French casual restaurant for rustic French food from the southwest of France by Bruno Loubet. From there he went on to work with Marco Pierre White at The Restaurant and The Oak Room. Benjamin continued through fine dining cooking, working for Philip Howard at The Square as well as working for Richard Neat and Gary Rhodes. France, London, Dubai and Hong Kong were his next destinations. After six months of training in Coya London, Benjamin assumed the role of head chef for Coya in Dubai before taking the role of Middle East Executive Chef with the opening of Coya Abu Dhabi and pop ups in the Middle East. His philosophy is all about using the best quality of ingredients and then keeping it simple with letting the ingredients speak for itself.