The Chef JKP Podcast

Send us Fan Mail This podcast is bought to you by Gulfood - https://www.gulfood.com And Meelz - https://meelz.me A very warm welcome to Series 3 of the Chef JKP Podcast, can you believe it! Old friends and new, thank you for coming along to this inspirational audio adventure, we have got some of the very best people from in and around the hospitality industry, not only that, we have also partnered...

Send us Fan Mail This podcast is a two part  Ramadan special, bought to you by Gulfood - https://www.gulfood.com and Meelz - https://meelz.me For the second part, I talk to one of the most exciting and prominent Chef’s of the region! Tim Newton started cooking at at an early age, cooking for his mum. He was raised in Southern California, first working in a pizzeria, he then stepped into a professi...

Send us Fan Mail This podcast is a two part  Ramadan special, bought to you by our partners, Gulfood - https://www.gulfood.com ,  and Meelz - https://meelz.me For the first part, I talk to one of the most exciting and prominent Chef’s of the region! Mohamad Chabchoul started cooking at the tender age of 15. With Lebaneese origins, having spent most of his adolescence in Syria, it’s not difficult t...

Send us Fan Mail FoodSheikh was launched in 2015 as an impartial restaurant review website for Dubai’s growing F&B landscape built on trust and credibility from years of experience in the industry and a sense of fun. FoodSheikh’s aim is to grow from just producing reviews to creating fun, engaging and original content for the larger F&B market in Dubai. https://foodsheikh.com The fact that...

Send us Fan Mail Let's just say that food and hospitality has always been around for Maria Stevens. Originally from Spain, we all know that the Spanish not only know about great food and service, but they have given us the likes of Ferran Adria, Serrano ham, and notably a world class football league. Maria started her professional marketing journey by the way of being a restaurant manager, al...

Send us Fan Mail Craig Best is the Head Chef of the famed Hell's Kitchen restaurant, housed in Caesar's  Palace, Dubai. https://www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com/gordon-ramsay-hells-kitchen-dubai At the tender age of 16 straight from high school, he went to work as a chef in a small pub in his local town located in England, making sandwiches. None of the fine dining food was on the horizon...

Send us Fan Mail Joe Bartlett knew that he wanted to become a chef at a young age. Fast forward a few years, his dream became a reality, however the road was not going to be  easy. He started working in a local hotel on  the weekends getting his backside kicked, in the weekdays he was studying at catering college. This was in his local town, located in the South West of England. 2 years later afte...

Send us Fan Mail Sunjeh Rana is the CEO of the award winning International Centre for Culinary Arts (ICCA), based in Dubai, UAE. He describes himself, as always being an entrepreneur, however destiny had chosen him to go down the route of how to bring culinary education to the next generation. It was a holiday to Dubai, that led him to be within the business. The ICCA is now in its 15th year and s...

Send us Fan Mail Chef Giovanni said, that as soon as he born, he was in the kitchen. Born and raised in Las Vegas, USA, his parents had a restaurant, one of his earliest memories was seeing the cooks, the flames, the shouting, he knew this was his calling. His very first job was in the infamous Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas https://www.caesars.com/caesars-palace Working with 2 big names, Chef...

Send us Fan Mail You could say that being a chef runs in the family, however Luke Garnsworthy has changed the game and is now the CEO of his very own restaurant group. How did this happen?  It all started by him growing up in his dads restaurant, in the city of Exeter located in the South West of England, the name of the eatery was known as Crockers, which subsequently is the name he uses for his...

Send us Fan Mail Chef Troy Payne has been in kitchens since the start of his teenage years, so you could say he's been around the kitchen block! Originally from Melbourne, Australia, who some people call the culinary capital down under, this was the place that would light up and inspire this chef. As soon as he saw the flames, the heat, the tempers, he knew that the kitchen was the place to b...

Send us Fan Mail Carl Greenslade is not just a professional personal trainer, but is also one of the best nutrition coaches on the planet! His journey to the top didn't start out this way.  Carl knew from a young age that an academic education wasn't his cup of tea, however his love of food and sports began by simply being in the playground at his high school, plus by talking to a guy wh...

Send us Fan Mail Chef Robert Stevens, was only a couple of months old when he first arrived in Dubai, born in Finland, there was always going to be a draw towards fermentation, produce and incredible flavours. Robert was 22 years old when he decided to become a chef, this was the time he took to go back to Scandinavia to learn the trade, once graduating from culinary school, he then decided to go...

Send us Fan Mail Coming from a career in the oil and gas sector, to then change direction and start a business within hospitality from scratch is not an easy task, however Hattem Mattar, has done this and succeeded! From humble origins in Egypt, it was his family who showed him the love of food, and how to grill from a young age, but it wasn't until he took a work trip to Texas that the passi...

Send us Fan Mail A warm welcome back to the second season of the Chef JKP podcast, I know right second season! So what is in store? A lot of inspirational guest's celebrating all things food and hospitality, serious discussions, as well as funny things that happen in the day to day life in the world of top professionals from around the globe. Since I started the podcast, we have had some wond...

Send us Fan Mail Samantha Wood is one of the most prominent food critics in the Gulf region. Her alias is Foodiva, below is the award winning website where she reviews new or up and coming restaurants. https://www.foodiva.net With almost a decade into running her business, Samantha knows a thing or two when it comes to hospitality, as her dad used to run hotels for a living, plus she had extensive...

Send us Fan Mail Having both Brazilian and Sicilian roots, can only mean a lot of passion and fire! Vanessa describes herself as always enjoying food, growing up in her grandmothers kitchen, which allowed her to have an interest in cooking from a very early age. Her first taste in the professional world of all things culinary, would take place running a pasta station over a weekend, which at the t...

Send us Fan Mail When it come the world of social media and being an influencer, Homam Ayaso is the go to guy. His alias is - The Gastronaut - just go and have a look at the type of content he is smashing out! https://www.instagram.com/homamino/ A self taught cook born in Syria, raised in Saudi Arabia, it was his mother who inspired him to cook from a young age. Studying and working in the field o...

Send us Fan Mail From an early age Shane Born was taught to appreciate a good home cooked meal, and what it really means to be at the dining table surrounded by family. It was this valuable life lesson that gave him the drive to push beyond the home kitchen, working alongside his mentor and business partner - his mother. To this day he describes her a key figure in his culinary life. She was the p...

Send us Fan Mail A love for all things hospitality and technology has allowed Tjalling van den Burger to have a job which combines his two passions! Being placed in a Michelin starred kitchen at a young age washing dishes allowed him to see the ins and outs of what happens behind the scenes at the highest possible levels of gastronomy, 6 months down the line, he decided to take the opportunity to...

Send us Fan Mail Emirati born Sahar Parham al Awadhi is the Head Pastry chef for the world re-known 7 star hotel - The Burj al Arab. https://www.jumeirah.com/en/stay/dubai/burj-al-arab-jumeirah The love of food stems from her mother, during early childhood the family were always trying new places and flavours that would lead to new experiences.  The chef describes her mother as her "best and...

Send us Fan Mail Alasdair Hopper went from shy teenager to being viewed by millions on the BBC, this would not of happened had it not been his love of hospitality. His first passion of photography led him to get a degree, during this time he worked in various areas of hospitality to "enjoy the wine", this was the catalyst that gave him the drive to pursue a career in a leading front of h...

Send us Fan Mail Simon Ritchie began to be interested in journalism at the early age of 11, having lived for a short while in Egypt, for him and his family, the only English television around during that time was only the BBC News. Remembering the amazing and interesting stories, is what really got him engrossed in this field. A few years later, he dabbled with various subjects, before he got the...

Send us Fan Mail Most 15 year old boys are either playing football or video games, Roberto was certainly not your average 15 year old! This was the time that he decided to become a chef, not an easy decision to make at such a young age. Drive and passion is what he describes as the source that drives him to be at the top of his game, learning from some of the very best chef's in the world, wi...

Send us Fan Mail At the tender age of just 23 years old, Halil Asar was the youngest 3 star Michelin Maitre'D in Europe.  Raised in his mothers restaurant, doing homework in the wine cellar, he was always going to be destined to have a shining career in hospitality. Explaining the details of what it takes to be a Master Maitre'D at the very top of the restaurant game! Halil had gained pr...