30 years of professional cooking.
An academy born from experience.
There are chefs who learned to cook from books. And then there are those who learned it in the kitchens of London, Glasgow, Paris, Casablanca and Riyadh, under the pressure of service, in establishments where error does not exist.
Chef Ahmed is one of them.
It all starts after middle school. No clear direction. A friend suggests joining hospitality school. Ahmed thinks, not for long. The idea of cooking as a passport to travel and work anywhere in the world speaks to him immediately. Memories of his mother's kitchen do the rest.
Getting into that school is hard. Two exams — written and oral. He is accepted.
His cooking teacher is Denis Badetz, Meilleur Ouvrier de France. Patient, demanding, attentive. Ahmed earns the CAP Cuisine, BEP Hôtellerie and Restauration in apprenticeship. He decides to go further: a year of pastry with Mr. Giraudeau, also Meilleur Ouvrier de France. In apprenticeship, he works alongside the former pastry chef of the Crillon, one of the most prestigious hotels in Paris, who teaches him sugar pulling and blowing — a rare technique normally reserved for the great houses.
"Trained alongside great professionals of the trade, Chef Ahmed built solid foundations in cooking and pastry, which allowed him to evolve toward positions of responsibility and excellence."
Thirty years of cooking around the world.
Northampton
His first job abroad. Alone in the kitchen, with one dishwasher, in a half-gastronomic restaurant. No room — a mattress in the middle of the dining room after closing. His English was catastrophic. One evening, an order arrives: sweetbread. He searches the fridges, eliminates what cannot be, takes a guess. The customer leaves the restaurant. Ahmed cannot blame himself. He was doing more than his best.
Swallow Hotel & fine dining
The Swallow Hotel on Cromwell Road. In charge of the buffet. A brigade from all over Europe. He cooks for the Chelsea football team — in 1999, a year after France won the World Cup, the world champions parade through his kitchen. Then a gastronomic restaurant near Fulham Stadium, under chef Leigh Diggins, chasing a Michelin star. That is where his mindset shifts — from gastronomy to Michelin-level cooking. He rises from chef de partie to sous-chef. He then works with chef Gallagher, Michelin-starred, at The House Restaurant, with the equipment of an old brasserie.
" Even with the most modest equipment, you can produce high-quality dishes. "
— Chef Ahmed, London
Glasgow
An agency offers him a job with the former sous-chef of Gordon Ramsay. The Scottish lochs, a 12-course tasting menu worthy of a Michelin-starred restaurant. In Glasgow, an entrepreneur gives him carte blanche to create a European restaurant. Ahmed designs a Franco-Scottish fusion menu: local scallops, foie gras and maple-syrup jelly, langoustine ravioli and bisque, monkfish and cherry-tomato tagine, lemon tart and lavender ice cream. Everything homemade and local, from pasta to ice cream. The Scotsman Newspaper comes. They describe an exceptional cuisine. He proves to himself that he can create a gastronomic menu from scratch.
Return and entrepreneurship
Back to Paris. Bistros, brasseries, and an American restaurant where he masters the Josper oven. Then a radical decision: open his own business. Homy's, selling tiramisu B2B. He sets a rule — every morning, he does not go home until he has landed an order. The business grows: a lab, a refrigerated truck, staff.
Returning home
A childhood dream fulfilled. He had always told his parents he would return home one day. They did not believe him. Arriving in Casablanca, he feels at home. He runs a restaurant, does the shopping himself in the great local souk, the equivalent of Rungis in Paris. He reconnects with his family, travels to discover the country and its crafts. His wife, born in Casablanca, thrives. So do his children. Three years of happiness.
The revelation of teaching
A new market, a new adaptation. Riyadh, everything is outsized. Ahmed studies the market, understands local tastes. In Khobar, a Franco-Italian restaurant. And an unexpected revelation. The General Manager entrusts him with a cooking-classes project. Ahmed builds the teaching island, writes the recipes, organizes the classes every weekend. First session, he is nervous. Then something happens. He feels at ease. He loves teaching. The classes are a success.
" I felt at ease. I even loved the idea of passing on my knowledge, of sharing my experience. It was a success. "
One last mission: opening the largest food production unit in the region. From the first stone to the first dish out of that plant. Multi-million equipment. 65 chefs to coordinate.
Ahmed succeeds at everything: organization, system setup, team coordination. But a toxic manager takes all the credit and applies unbearable pressure. Ahmed waits. He negotiates a clean departure. And in that difficult moment, he sees clearly what he must do.
Thirty years of cooking in prestigious establishments. Meilleurs Ouvriers de France as masters.
And now, one mission: to transmit. To give serious home cooks the method that professionals guard — the one that turns a recipe-follower into a cook who understands.
OuiChef Academy is the school Ahmed would have liked to find when he started: rigorous, progressive, demanding — and accessible from your own kitchen.
From in-person workshops to online training — the same standard, the same passion.
Chef Ahmed is an excellent chef and teacher, with a remarkable wealth of culinary experience. Pastry can be intimidating for many beginners, but he creates a welcoming environment that puts everyone at ease. I was struggling to make good-quality macarons, but after his class, all my questions and doubts were cleared up. His explanations and attention to detail helped me understand the process much better than before.
We took part in the chocolate experience with Chef Ahmed. Making chocolate bonbons was a wonderful experience, for us and our children. Chef Ahmed is very patient and a great teacher; it was a pleasure to work with him. The children loved every moment, and receiving personalised certificates at the end crowned their day.
I would like to thank you for this excellent class. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and learned a great deal. Your explanations were clear, professional and inspiring. I look forward to recreating these recipes soon.
What I found most valuable were the many practical tips and tricks shared by the chef. It is often these small technical details that let you progress quickly — especially in pastry — and that make all the difference in getting recipes right.
From start to finish, the Chef was present and supported each of us. The way everything was explained meant anyone, even with no cooking experience at all, could follow easily. What I appreciated most was the warm atmosphere; every class was taught with sincerity and kindness. I highly recommend Chef Ahmed's classes.
