James Knight-Pacheco.
James Knight-Pacheco.
James was born in Venezuelan (hence his love of Chocolate and Sunshine,) but grew up in the South West of England. Now, with over two-decades of professional culinary experience, he is currently the Executive chef at ME Dubai, located in the iconic Opus Tower by Zaha Hadid.
Earlier in his career, James worked with several internationally respected chefs including Raymond Blanc, Gordon Ramsay, Michael Caines, Jason Atherton, Peter Gorton and Andre Garrett.
His style of cooking is inventive, progressive and intelligent; combining customer desire with industry knowledge to surprise and satisfy the diner through inimitable experiences is his goal, and is what he does best.
During a rewarding career of 20 years, James has been fortunate enough to have worked in some of the world’s finest luxury hotels and restaurants in the UK and the Middle East, including Sense of the Edge in Oman - winner of Best Restaurant Middle East 2012 – where James was chef de cuisine.
In August 2015 James joined Emaar Hospitality Group, as Executive Head Chef for the prestigious Dubai Marina Yacht Club, contributing to the property’s evolving culinary offerings. He then went on to become Executive Chef at the trendy luxury boutique hotel, Vida Downtown Dubai.
James has had the great fortune to be filmed on two of the BBC’s prime-time cooking shows including Out of the Frying Pan and The Restaurant, as well as having conducted numerous public appearances at high-profile industry events, as well as being featured in many international publications.
James has also presented to audiences ranging in size from a handful at intimate dinner parties to 3,000 people at many BBC Good Food Shows, this experience has helped James in becoming a competent public speaker with an excellent aptitude for comparing and hosting events.
Equally, he also demonstrated and tutored at the multi-award-winning Ashburton Cookery School in Devon and the Exeter Catering College, both in the United Kingdom.
In December 2018 / 2019, James was named as one of the 50 most influential people in food and beverage throughout the Middle East and Africa by Caterer Middle East. Also voted the "Executive Chef of the Year 2019" in the Hotelier Middle East awards. Knowing the level of talent among his peers in this region, James is deeply humbled.
