The Chef JKP Podcast

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 and restaurants across Europe before bringing him to Dubai in 2009. He talks about learning hos...

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 12-hour shifts, and eventually moved to Dubai, where her career took her from large-scale hote...

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 features a special conversation with Nancy Silverton, who reflects on her journey into food, the ...

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 hospitality. From discovering professional kitchens and training in Switzerland to working in Michel...

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 began exploring the smaller restaurants and communities that were largely missing from the city’s f...