Rising Stars Take the Lead Course at 35 Flavors El Gouna

The path to Villa Coconut curved along a quiet stretch of El Gouna, the evening light catching on palms and low, white stone. It was a fitting setting for the Rising Stars Dinner — a culinary showcase within 35 Flavors of El Gouna, created in partnership with Atelier Norbert Niederkofler Temporary. The dinner highlights emerging chefs and beverage specialists whose work aligns with the clarity, focus, and sustainability-first logic that defines the wider Taste El Gouna platform.Inside the villa’s courtyard, the atmosphere settled into an easy rhythm. Guests moved in slowly, gathering around an open kitchen setup that allowed for direct conversation and uninterrupted observation. The structure of the night echoed the core values running through the entire platform: technique tied to resource-awareness, local ingredients treated as primary material, and sustainability understood as daily practice rather than theme.

The four rising chefs - Sara Aqel, Tamara Rigo, Ariel Hagen, and Turki Bin Hallabi - and beverage specialists Federico Balzarini, and Mattia Spedicato, approached the dinner with distinct interpretations of Egyptian ingredients, each grounding their dish in disciplined craft and mindful use of produce.Sara Aqel presented a dish built on fish and vine leaves, applying her Mediterranean-Levantine sensibility to the region’s seafood. The plate relied on clean flavour and careful trimming - a controlled approach that reduced excess and kept the dish structurally simple.Tamara Rigo, whose earlier masterclass in the programme centred on zero-waste pastry, continued that logic with a sticky date tart, spiced mansion toffee, and baladi citrus jam. Each component reflected a considered use of ingredients: citrus skins cooked down, trimmings repurposed, and date-based sweetness used strategically rather than abundantly.Ariel Hagen prepared a three-part progression — legume salad, Egyptian curry, and prawn — all built from foundational pantry ingredients that respond well to efficient handling. The legume base underscored the night’s practical sustainability logic: protein alternatives, slow-cooked pulses, and reduced discard.Turki Bin Hallabi closed the sequence with catch of the day served with tamarind and dogah, relying on locally sourced fish and regionally available flavourings. His dish aligned naturally with the Red Sea setting, emphasising direct procurement, minimal transport, and a straightforward preparation style.

Across the dinner, the chefs maintained a steady pace — each dish distinct, each linked by the shared framework of Egyptian ingredients, resource-aware cooking, and methodical sustainability, the same logic that underpins Taste El Gouna.

The open format reinforced this approach. The chefs stepped into the courtyard between courses, answering questions and describing how they manage waste, balance yield, and refine technique to reduce excess — situating ethical cuisine not as messaging, but as part of their working vocabulary.
What emerged across the night was a parallel to the larger structure of the platform: rising chefs working with clarity, applying their own backgrounds to a new landscape while maintaining responsible kitchen practice. The plates formed a collective reading of place through ingredients that had been carefully sourced, measured, and handled.

By the time the dinner concluded, Villa Coconut had taken on the same architectural logic present across the broader programme: Egyptian ingredients handled with precision, sustainability embedded in process, and a clear pathway between rising talent and the larger culinary culture being shaped in El Gouna. Guests remained in the courtyard long after plates were cleared, continuing conversations that extended the evening’s rhythm beyond the table.