Part of What The Food
Dubai's culinary pioneers explore the city’s distinct identity and its continued evolution on the global gastronomy stage.
About the Speakers
Jason Atherton
Jason Atherton started out working alongside great chefs including Pierre Koffmann, Marco Pierre White, Nico Ladenis and Ferran Adria at el Bulli, before joining the Gordon Ramsay Holdings in 2001 and launching ‘Maze, first in London and then another five globally.
His story began in 2010, when award-winning British chef Jason Atherton left the Maze group and opened Table No. 1 in The Waterhouse at South Bund hotel in central Shanghai. A state-of-the-art but informal restaurant offering a flexible menu, Table No. 1 was followed by the launch, in April 2011, of Pollen Street Social in London.
Inspired partly by the concept of the local community social club, Pollen Street Social was to set the tone for the company, providing fine food without the ceremony of fine dining. Considered the flagship of the group, it’s one of the most talked-about and most celebrated restaurants in the UK. Pollen Street Social was awarded a Michelin Star in 2012, within just six months of opening, and was ranked third in The Good Food Guide 2015’s Top 50 British restaurants. Pollen Street Social spawned more London ‘Socials,’ currently including City Social, Social Eating House, The Blind Pig Bar, Little Social, Berners Tavern, Harrods Social, King Social at St. Moritz, Cebu City, and Alula, KSA. Meanwhile, the company continued its global expansion.
In 2023, three restaurants, City Social, Jazz by City, and Row on 45, launched in Dubai, with Row on 45 impressively earning two Michelin stars within six months of opening. More recently, in London, Sael, Three Darlings, and Row on 5 made their debut, with Row on 5 earning its first Michelin star just seven weeks after opening.
Reif Othman
Chef Reif Othman is a Singapore-born, Dubai-based chef and restaurateur whose inventive approach to Japanese and Far-Eastern cuisine has made him one of the region’s most influential culinary figures. His career has spanned several continents, from Europe to Asia and the Middle East, honing his craft in leading kitchens before choosing Dubai as the city where he would establish his own brands.
He is one of the UAE’s few entirely self-funded chef-restaurateurs, with a portfolio of restaurants that reflect his creativity and resilience. Beyond the kitchen, he also expresses his design instincts through his own sneaker shop featuring original creations.
Over the years, Reif and his restaurants have earned multiple Michelin Bib Gourmand recognitions, the Chefs’ Choice Award in the inaugural MENA 50 Best Restaurants, placements in the MENA 50 Best Restaurants list, and Gault & Millau UAE toques. His unconventional style, relentless creativity, and business acumen — sharpened in part from his early career as a stockbroker — have set him apart as a trendsetter. Dishes like his viral “toilet roll” yuzu cake, Instagram-famous wagyu sando, and signature kushi skewers have become cultural touch points in Dubai’s dining scene.
Today, Chef Reif stands as a leading voice in the UAE’s homegrown F&B industry, building brands that not only resonate locally but also carry the potential to represent Dubai’s culinary excellence on the global stage.
Peyman Parham Al Awadhi
Peyman Parham Al Awadhi is the former CEO of New Media Academy, the Middle East region's first social media influencer incubator and the UAE's fastest growing media startup. He is responsible for the strategy that produced the 2 most influential and lucrative content creators in the UAE 3 years in a row.
Al Awadhi is a graduate of the University of Houston in Texas (USA), and has held senior positions in Middle East based multinational companies (Mars Inc. and PepsiCo Intl.), as well as local government entities in the UAE, in the transport, sports and finance sectors. He speaks 5 languages, and is a strategic thinker who operates with a global business acumen. He has accumulated general management experience, and is a critical thinker and planner, who is structured, commercially minded, innovative, adaptable and goal-oriented. Given the positions he has held and years of Strategic and Digital Communications advisory to local and federal government entities in the UAE, Al Awadhi is deeply familiar with the nuances of the public sector, continuing to hold high-level relationships across vital national entities.
Al Awadhi is passionate about Human Development and consistently involves himself in major initiatives within the Education and Learning spaces. He is an avid content creator with a sizable audience, whom he primarily engages on Food and Travel, having explored and documented more than 45 countries around the world. He is the first Emirati Government Employee to win the prestigious ‘Communicator Of The Year’ Award from the Middle East PR Association, and went on to become Vice Chairman.
He was chosen as one of ‘The 40 Most Influential Emiratis Under 40’ during the UAE's 40th National Day celebration. Also, he was featured on the Forbes Middle East list of ‘50 Impactful Marketing and Communications Professionals In The Middle East’ in 2020.