Mohamed Adil didn’t plan on a career in the culinary arts. After completing his O’Levels and a stint in retail with his father, he applied to the Four Seasons Apprenticeship Programme in 2010. There he received training in all aspects of the kitchen in different outlets for a year before landing a job as a steward in Landaa Giraavaru.

Back in the kitchen at the high-end resort, he continued to participate in every training opportunity available, including charcuterie training by the Belgian master Benito Plasschaert and several sessions in Japanese cuisine by Toshikazu Kato. Having worked at all Four Seasons properties in the country, Adil credits the many talented chefs he has worked with for making him the man he is today.

Always eager to learn and inspired by colleagues who competed in culinary competitions and came back with many awards, he decided to try out in the Hotel Asia Culinary Challenge in 2014. “I only took part in two categories, but didn’t have much practice or knowledge,” he recalls.

In the second year, he won a couple of bronze medals. Wanting to do better, he then participated in all the categories that would qualify him for the Best Maldivian Chef in the Food & Hospitality Asia Maldives (FHAM) International Culinary Challenge 2016, but didn’t expect to win, disappointed with his performance in one category.

Much to his surprise, he was crowned Best Maldivian Chef.

“I would say that was my biggest achievement. It made me realise that I could achieve more than that,” Adil says.

Buoyed by the win, he participated in the Hotel Asia Culinary Challenge in 2018 and FHAM the following year, and won Best Maldivian Chef in both competitions. He also earned the opportunity to represent Maldives in culinary competitions across the globe; in Turkey, Abu Dhabi and China.

Working at Faarufushi Maldives, Adil was in Malé on leave for three days when the lockdown was announced. Stuck in the capital, he stayed busy doing training sessions online.

“I also wanted to do something in Malé so I collaborated with Maha [Naseer] to do a three-course meal,” he says. “Maldivians are used to eating one big meal, and I wanted to change that, and Maha is a talented and energetic pastry chef. And we did the meals for a few weeks.”

The new venture opened up more opportunities: “After tasting the three-course meal, Adhly from Islanders Education wanted to collaborate in doing a challenge called One Earth Challenge, to prepare a three-course meal using all locally-sourced ingredients. It’s part of a big project by One Earth Academy to promote sustainability. I collaborated with Maha again and it took 5 to 7 days, and we sourced some of the ingredients from islands and we pulled it off, and we sold the meals for a week.”

Impressed with his cooking, the owner of Salt Café & Restaurant invited Adil to work as a guest chef, create a new menu and conduct training sessions. He hosted private dinners and wowed local foodies with an impressive semi-buffet lunch and two multi-course dinners. The final dinner  dubbed Four Hands Dinner before he headed back to the resort was a collaboration with popular local pâtissier Aminath Hameed, with whom he had been talking about working together since they first met in 2018.

“She’s very creative, and it takes years of practice to come up to that level. And I’m someone who seeks finesse in everything I create, so it was the right decision,” he says.

“She also got to showcase her talent, and it was because of her that the menu was elevated. And we were really happy to have served this fine-dining experience to Maldivians.”

The dinners he hosted changed Adil’s perceptions about locals and their tastes.

“I used to think that the kind of food that we prepare at resorts will not be accepted in Malé, and that locals won’t be open to trying different flavours and ingredients,” he explains. “But I found that people are excited to try new things and they expect the same level of service they experience during their travels. There was high demand and the dinner was fully booked in less than 48 hours.”

Adil is now looking forward to hosting more dinners in the future. Serving people and receiving good feedback is his greatest source of satisfaction. “The best thing about my job is I get to feed people and express myself through the art of cooking,” he says.

But the intrepid life of a top chef is not without its challenges. For Adil, it’s having to choose between his passion and staying close to family.

“I’ve been married for two years, and whenever I’m on leave, I would be travelling for training or a competition. But being back in Malé during the lockdown made me realise what I was missing,” he says, contrasting the solitary resort life to coming home to a family. “It’s a different feeling when you get home from work and you’re with your loved ones.”

Adil loves to cook for his family and friends, too. His favourite cuisine is Maldivian and one thing he cannot resist is tuna fried rice, which he eats10 to15 times a month. His favourite cuisine to prepare is modern European with an Asian twist. He loves ingredients in Asian cuisine such as lemongrass and Asian spices. He could draw inspiration from new equipment or new ingredients, from the scenery or a painting. 

Adil’s advice to young people who want to pursue culinary arts is to decide what you want and work towards it: “You cannot lose focus. One important thing to keep in mind is that, you won’t earn a lot of money at the beginning of your career. You have to have patience and work hard. Even though you come from royals or a well-off family, people will you treat the same as everyone else. And you can’t quit because someone said something to upset you. You have to be strong and have the will to do it, and make the journey however way possible.”

It could take a few years before a chef could experiment and create new dishes, he warns. “Until then, you have to follow instructions and respect your superiors. Attitude is very important. You have to always treat people how you want to be treated, that is the golden rule of Four Seasons, and it’s still my motto.”

His wife and family are his motivation. “My family has been always supportive of what I do. My brother also works in the kitchen,” Adil says. “I have great colleagues, too, who are like my family. And my wife has been my greatest support since 2018. I think that’s when I started doing really well in my career as well. So that’s a great blessing for me.”

Of the many chefs whom he looks up to, Adil singles out his Executive Chef Bir Kumar Yadav.

“I met him at Four Seasons. He was the one who took my hand and guided me. He deserves to be credited for teaching me the basics,” he says. “It’s important to have good knowledge of the basic. I worked with him for 5 years, and in 2018, he came back from Tanzania and asked me to come and work with him. At that time. I had just been promoted to junior sous chef and I started working with him. I admire the way he works, and how he treats his staff.”

As for local chefs, Adil admires many but cited chef Fatheen as his biggest inspiration when he started out. He would like to see more locals in the culinary arts scene, he adds.

“At the moment we have less than 5 percent locals in most kitchens. So that needs to be improved. We need a hub to train locals, and once this happens, there won’t be a need to hire expats. When people graduate, they don’t know what to do,” he says.

“So career guidance and exposure is important. Some people say they want to work at resort or be a chef but they don’t know what it involves. And having the right attitude is  very important. We need to teach younger generations how important it is. When we work at resorts, there are people who say Maldivians are like this, and foreigners’ perception of Maldivians would change because of someone’s attitude. I’ve experience this. That’s the main reason that Maldivians don’t get hired. But I assure you that Maldivians work really hard and there are some very good local chefs as well.”

The right attitude and hard work has brought him to the post of Chef de Cuisine. Adil hopes to be Executive Chef one day. Another dream is opening his own restaurant, and to elevate Maldivian cuisine to the world stage. His biggest dream, however, is to reach the pinnacle; a Michelin Star.