Ham El-Waylly grew up in Doha, Qatar to Bolivian-Egyptian parents who were in the food business. He immigrated to New Jersey when he was 19, where he worked at Americorps as a program coordinator before enrolling at the Culinary Institute of America. He cooked at NYC institutions like WD-50 and Corton, and ink. in Los Angeles before taking his first CDC role at Empellon Cocina. He was promoted to Culinary Director at the burgeoning restaurant group overseeing three restaurants in 2014, before moving over to Everyday Hospitality in 2015 as Culinary Director to oversee their group, open two new oyster-focused concepts, and relaunch Sauce, an Italian neighborhood staple. In 2016, he left to open Hail Mary with his wife and business partner, Sohla El-Waylly, resulting in a Rising Star Chef award in 2017.

After shuttering Hail Mary , Ham ran R&D at Momofuku Ando before being brought on as Corporate Executive Chef at E2 Hospitality, overseeing a wide berth of different concepts ranging from the vegan ByChloe, to the seafood focused Wayfarer, to upscale steakhouse BLT Steak both locally and internationally. He currently is the Chef/Partner of Strange Delight, a critically acclaimed New Orleans oyster bar in Fort Greene.

He contributes to NYT Cooking, and he co-hosts Mystery Menu, a popular NYT Cooking YouTube show with over 3 million views, with his partner Sohla. They are also the hosts of Hot Dish, a podcast about the origins of popular dishes with the acclaimed Sporkful production team to be released in 2023. His work with the Housing Authority Program has been featured in the New York Times.