Cuisines: Chef Sam Molyneux

Being adept at improvisation is a handy trait for a busy chef on one of the world’s most expensive charter yachts. 

“I always thought I’d be a musician,” says Sam Molyneux, head chef on the 400-foot (122-meter) Lürssen Kismet. “When I was young, I never considered cooking as a career.” 

Molyneux, 33, grew up in a small village not far from Bath in Wiltshire, U.K. By age 13, he was working as a dishwasher after school in a popular French bistro called La Flambé. “If my brother and I wanted pocket money,” Molyneux says, “our parents believed we should earn it.” 

As a result, he ended up with several years of restaurant experience in the back end of a kitchen. He did not consider the culinary arts a professional calling, but he did love to eat. 

“My mum is a fabulous cook and taught me how to make a proper roux when I was about 8 years old,” he says. “She is the one who always thought I’d make a great chef.” 

His dyslexia made high school a challenge, but he was passionate about music. He couldn’t read the notes on sheet music, but he could play the piano by age 6 and developed a talent for playing by ear—hearing a tune and figuring out what the notes were on his own. 

Those skills led him to the BIMM Music Institute in Brighton, U.K. To supplement his income, he worked in hotel and restaurant kitchens nearby. He also played piano and keyboard in a number of bands, none of which made him a rock star, so he ended up with a well-paying gig cooking at a high-end ski chalet in Val d’Isère, France.

“I really had no idea what I was getting into,” he says. “We had 19 guests, and I alone was responsible for breakfast and dinner for them.” 

While that might have been a daunting experience for most 21-year-olds, Molyneux pulled it off handily. From there, he caught wind of the potential for yacht work. He obtained his Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers in Cowes, U.K., and bought a one-way ticket to Nice, France. Superyachts were not even in his vocabulary, but his parents had a small motorboat the family used on vacations in the Solent, and he loved the water. 

He landed a sous chef job on the 205-foot (62-meter) Icon Baton Rouge in 2014. “The head chef, Sally Shawarby, was an amazing mentor,” he says.

After nearly two years on that yacht, he spent 20 weeks ashore earning a professional culinary arts diploma from Ashburton Chefs Academy in Devon, U.K., including internships at fine-dining and Michelin-star restaurants. In 2019, Molyneux returned to Baton Rouge, this time as head chef. However, the Covid pandemic curtailed Baton Rouge’s winter charter operations, so he joined the 312-foot (95-meter) Lürssen Kismet. He returned to Baton Rouge’s charter program when it restarted in summer 2021.

When Lürssen delivered the new Kismet in 2024, Molyneux was asked to be head chef. “I was ready for a new challenge and joined two days before the owners’ maiden voyage to Scotland,” he says.

Kismet went on to have a full Mediterranean season, including the Monaco Yacht Show and a stopover in London, before heading across the pond to the United States. Molyneux raves about Kismet being the most incredible yacht to work on. The galley is comparable to kitchens in the best Michelin-star restaurants, he says.  

“We have two big ovens, a charcoal/wood-fired oven with a smoker,” Molyneux says. “With the leftover charcoal, we can make smoked oils and smoked butters.”

Kismet also has outdoor cooking areas, such as a teppanyaki and gas barbecue on the pool deck. “We have entertained 100 people on that deck, and it still does not look crowded,” he says. “The top deck with a pizza oven is our pizzeria. There, we can be very interactive with a group—kids especially love it—and we can offer a million different toppings. We are so lucky to have such great equipment at hand.” 

With so many dining venues aboard Kismet, mealtime becomes tantamount to theater. The formal dining room has heated floors and 20-foot-high video walls. The winter garden is usable in cold and hot weather. “I love to make dining an experience,” he says. “You eat first with your eyes, so presentation is of paramount importance.” 

With myriad place settings on board, meals can follow themes. For instance, if Molyneux is serving a dish with a champagne beurre blanc, he asks the stewardesses to use plates that are made from champagne bottles. 

“We endeavor to make each meal as spectacular as possible,” he says. “A charter on Kismet is the highest form of hospitality in the world.” 

Kismet also offers a 24/7 room-service menu. “We might get orders for late-night nachos or sushi. One has to be prepared,” he says, adding that he works with
two other chefs, along with the yacht’s overall 34 crewmembers. 

Menus on board are all fully custom, based on preference sheets he receives prior to guests arriving. “I recognize that I have to fully understand and embody our clients’ tastes and cook for their palate and not my own,” Molyneux says. “You have to give up your ego, and you have to be flexible.”

In other words, you have to be good at improvisation, just like a musician.

Q&A with Chef Sam Molyneux

What ingredients do you always want on hand in your galley?

I always make sure we have Fernando Pensato Extra Virgin Olive Oil. He has amazing olive oils such as lemon or mandarin where he presses the flavors simultaneously with the olives. It is the best for low-temperature cooking and great to use to finish up things like risottos, or fruit and berry desserts.

You love music. What do you like to listen to in the galley? 

Well, it depends. Sometimes we need music to make us go faster, and we listen to electronic. If we want to be chilled, we listen to deep house music. Our Malaysian chef brings more international music to the galley. We take turns DJing.

What do you do on your days off? 

This might sound like a cliché, but I spend my spare time going to restaurants. I love to see what other chefs are doing. One of my favorite restaurants currently is Jeremy Chan’s Ikoyi in London.

Is there something about you that your fellow crewmembers don’t know and would never guess?

Well, I am pretty open, but here is a crazy anecdote: The interior designers of Kismet, Reymond Langton, have their studio in Bath, the area I am from. It’s nowhere near the ocean, and it turns out we share the same dentist. I do not know the Reymond Langton team personally. It’s just one of those things—kismet, I guess. 

Summer 2025