The Chef JKP Podcast

Send us Fan Mail A photo of a baby octopus got 400 likes. That's how Mr. Taster's journey into food blogging began. International food blogger and entrepreneur Mr. Taster joins Chef JKP to share how he went from computer engineering and running a marketing business to travelling the world and creating food videos watched by millions. He shares how he built his personal brand, collaborate...

Send us Fan Mail 🏆 THE CHEF JKP PODCAST IS A SIGNAL AWARDS FINALIST! The Chef JKP Podcast has been nominated for the Signal Listener’s Choice Award in Food & Drink. If you’ve enjoyed the conversations we’ve shared, we’d really appreciate your vote. Vote for the Chef JKP Podcast before 15 October. From leaving Scotland at 18 to becoming one of Dubai’s early personal styling entrepreneurs, Kell...

Send us Fan Mail 🏆 THE CHEF JKP PODCAST IS A SIGNAL AWARDS FINALIST! The Chef JKP Podcast has been nominated for the Signal Listener’s Choice Award in Food & Drink. If you’ve enjoyed the conversations we’ve shared, we’d really appreciate your vote. Vote for the Chef JKP Podcast before 15 October: https://bit.ly/3U1i020 From investigating fraud at IBM to building the Middle East’s first licens...

Send us Fan Mail 🏆 THE CHEF JKP PODCAST IS A SIGNAL AWARDS FINALIST! We’ve been nominated for the Signal Listener’s Choice Award in Food & Drink, and we need your vote. Vote for the Chef JKP Podcast before 15 October. Vote here - https://bit.ly/3U1i020 What happens when two completely different career paths lead to the same industry? Renata Messarra Abergel and Alexander Suski join Chef JKP t...

Send us Fan Mail How does an Italian American raised on Sunday spaghetti become a Farsi-speaking food blogger in Dubai? David Marino, known online as David Shekamoo, talks about his father’s Sunday lunches, volunteering with refugees in Greece, meeting his wife and learning Farsi. He also shares what working at Chick-fil-A and experiencing Persian hospitality taught him about welcoming people. Dav...

Send us Fan Mail How does one birthday cake turn into a career bringing food, fashion and Dubai’s chefs together? Lidija Abu Ghazaleh shares how her Serbian upbringing in Montreal shaped her love for cooking, why she chose a different path after modelling, and how hosting dinners in Dubai eventually led to a catering business. She takes Chef JKP through the early days of Lydia’s Kitchen, including...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to understand hospitality from every side of the business? Chef JKP sits down with Colin Hutton, CEO and Founder of Umami Comms and Magna Carta, to trace a career that began behind the bar and eventually led to building one of the region’s first hospitality-focused communications agencies. Colin shares how dropping out of university took him through bars, hotels...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to build a career when you keep choosing the harder path? Chef JKP sits down with Trisha Henault Singh, Executive Pastry Chef at FIVE LUXE JBR, to talk about her journey from aspiring fashion designer to leading pastry kitchens in Dubai. Trisha shares how she entered hospitality at 18 without ever having worked in a professional kitchen, trained through demanding...

Send us Fan Mail From Dubai to Park City, Chef JKP takes the podcast on the road for a special episode from the inaugural Chef’s Table Festival in Utah, bringing together 70 chefs across roughly 100 events. James goes behind the scenes of the festival, from live-fire cooking and pizza parties to the Chef’s Table family meal, alongside some of the world’s most influential chefs. The episode also fe...

Send us Fan Mail Chef JKP sits down with Rick Gonzalez, Executive Chef at The Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Wadi Desert, and Florian van Dillen, Head Chef at Farmhouse by Syrco, for two conversations about the experiences, kitchens, risks, and people that shape a chef’s career. Rick shares how growing up around his father’s Spanish restaurant in New York shaped his relationship with food and hos...

Send us Fan Mail Chef JKP sits down with Arva Ahmed, Co-Founder of Frying Pan Adventures, for a conversation about food, storytelling, entrepreneurship, and the cultures that have shaped Dubai’s food scene. Arva shares how her relationship with food evolved from childhood memories in the UAE to running a late-night food business from her university dorm in the US. After returning to Dubai, she beg...

Send us Fan Mail Chef JKP sits down with Greg Wright, Co-Founder of Food People and Project People, for a conversation about recruitment, entrepreneurship, the food industry, and building a business in the Middle East. Greg shares how he left the UK at 19 and arrived in Dubai with no job, went from struggling to afford a meal to selling millions in real estate, and eventually found his way into ex...

Send us Fan Mail Chef JKP sits down with Karin Drane, founder of Curveball Events & Talents, one of the region's leading event and talent management companies. Karin shares how she went from studying law in Sweden to building a business in Dubai, why she dropped out of university twice, and how networking, resilience, and taking calculated risks helped shape her career. They talk about en...

Send us Fan Mail Chef JKP sits down with Paul Clifford, a journalist and editor who has spent more than a decade covering the Middle East's hospitality industry. Paul shares how he left banking to become a reporter, moved from crime journalism into food and hospitality, and built his career in Dubai. They talk about restaurant reviews, food influencers, responsible criticism, career change, a...

Send us Fan Mail Chef JKP sits down with Nicolas Lambert, Senior Executive Pastry Chef at Four Seasons Dubai and one of the most respected names in modern pastry. From growing up in his parents’ bakery in France to leading teams across Hong Kong, Russia, and Dubai, Nicolas shares the risks, mentors, and decisions that shaped his career. They discuss apprenticeship, leadership, competitions, learni...

Send us Fan Mail Season 13 of The Chef JKP Podcast is built around one idea: influence. Across 15 episodes, chefs, founders, journalists, operators, and industry leaders share how they have shaped food, hospitality, business, and culture. In this opening solo episode, Chef JKP introduces the season, reflects on the current state of hospitality, shares updates from behind the scenes, and answers li...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is different. Joining him is the person who knows him better than anyone else, his wife, Maria Knight-Paccheco. What begins as a fun conversation quickly becomes one of the most personal episodes of the podcast. They talk about marriage, life behind professional kitchens, the sacrifices hospitality demands, why chefs think differently, the reality of building somethin...

Send us Fan Mail Chef JKP sits down with Ariana Bundy, chef, author, television presenter, and founder of Ariana's Persian Kitchen at Atlantis The Royal Dubai. Ariana shares her journey through Iran, Switzerland, New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, and Dubai. From childhood food memories with her grandmother, to studying at Le Cordon Bleu, running pastry kitchens in Hollywood, writing cookb...

Send us Fan Mail Chef JKP sits down with Glen Ballis, chef, restaurateur, and one of the most influential figures in modern hospitality. Glen shares his journey from a Greek family in Melbourne to leading kitchens across Thailand, Indonesia, China, Russia, and Dubai. He reflects on the chefs who shaped him, the lessons that came from failure, and how different cultures transformed the way he cooks...

Send us Fan Mail Chef JKP sits down with Ben Kouider, Founder of Champavin. Ben shares how he went from engineering and oil and gas to building a business around champagne in the UAE. They talk about Normandy, family food memories, global travel, leaving corporate life, grower champagne, and the biggest mistakes people make when drinking champagne. This is a story about food, reinvention, and unde...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to build a Korean street food brand from a used food truck into a global restaurant business? Chef JKP sits down with Dok Kwon, President & COO of CUPBOP, and Junghun Song, Co-Founder & CEO of CUPBOP. They talk about the early food truck days, Junghun’s journey from dance to hospitality, Dok’s move from Citadel to restaurants, their Shark Tank pitch, why...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when the conversation about water goes far beyond what we drink? Chef JKP sits down with Angie Pająk, CEO of Greentech by Aquacell, for a different kind of episode. From childhood food memories in Poland to studying across four universities, Angie’s story moves through hospitality, sustainability, wellness, water technology, plastics, and the challenge of turning big...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to turn pressure into purpose before the age of 26? Chef JKP sits down with Shehab Medhat, Chef of Savryn Restaurant in Dubai, whose journey began at 15 with a kitchen job he took just to buy football shoes. From steward to self-taught chef, 35 restaurants in Egypt, Bocuse d’Or Africa, San Pellegrino Young Chef, and winning Top Chef Middle East, his story is buil...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when someone who once worked underground in engineering tunnels ends up shaping some of hospitality’s most iconic guest experiences? Chef JKP sits down with Samuel Graham, founder and CEO of The LightUp Group, hospitality consultant, nightlife operator, and host of the Tasty Humans podcast. From bartending in London’s booming theme restaurant era to managing legendary...

Send us Fan Mail What changes when a three Michelin star restaurant becomes a book? In this episode, Chef JKP sits down with Himanshu Saini and Liam Collens for the launch of The Rise of Indian Food: Recipes Reimagined by Trèsind Studio. This episode goes inside the making of the book. How a three Michelin star restaurant was translated onto the page. How recipes were selected, tested, written, ed...