David Tapley and James Knight-Pacheco discuss restaurants and reviews.
FACT is the essential resource for all things food, arts, culture and travel. Now, our Editor-in-Chief, David Tapley, has shared his insight into the food industry across Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He was interviewed by James Knight-Pacheco on The ChefJKP Podcast and discussed restaurants, reviews and running a successful publishing brand.
David appears on The ChefJKP Podcast in season seven and episode five, which is available. The Editor-in-Chief has worked in the media industry for more than two decades. In the podcast, he shares his food memories growing up in the UK, and how his palate expanded after working in a kitchen and travelling the world. Plus, he gives a rare insight into how FACT Magazine approaches its restaurant awards and reviews.
The FACT Dining Awards are held across Saudi Arabia and the UAE. On the award process, David explained: “The FACT Awards, if I’m not mistaken, are the only awards in the region where there is no money exchanging hands between any party at any time. You do not have to pay to be nominated, you do not have to pay to attend, and you cannot pay to win an award. It’s not part of the process”.
Restaurants come and go, but FACT’s unwavering passion for dining remains unchanged. The team can be found across the region, sampling the good, the bad and the exceptional. On FACT’s restaurant reviews, David added: “I’ve had people threatening to sue us for defamation because I might say the steak is slightly overcooked. We deal with it a lot – at FACT, we pride ourselves on offering realistic reviews.”
James has welcomed food industry figures, from celebrity chefs to critics on The ChefJKP Podcast. Previous guests have included British chef Jason Atherton, Dubai-based chef Reif Othman and Panchali Mahendra, the CEO of Atelier House Hospitality.
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GO: Visit https://linktr.ee/chefjkp for more information.
