Nourish by Spinneys

Co-host Tiffany Eslick is joined by Spero Panagakis and Chef Alex Stumpf from BB Social Dining. They're known for their bold Eastern-inspired flavours and strong commitment to local sourcing and are now bringing their signature bang bang chicken baos to select Spinneys stores.

BB Social Dining has become one of the UAE’s favourite homegrown concepts with venues in DIFC and Time Out Market Dubai.

This episode continues our new micro-series called The Chef's Counter, an extension of our recently launched in-store initiative to support the chefs, founders and food entrepreneurs shaping the UAE’s dining scene.

The past five weeks have been a great start, with cookies, bagels, salads, pastelitos, tacos and baklava launched in stores from a range of talented chefs.

Co-host Tiffany Eslick is in conversation today with Chef Shaw Lash, known for her dedication to authentic Mexican cuisine. Chef Shaw has spent decades refining her craft across Mexico, the U.S., and Europe. 

Today, she brings that dedication and passion to Dubai through Lila Taqueria and Lila Molino, using traditional methods of nixtamalisation to create authentic tortillas, chips and exceptional masa.

This episode continues our new micro-series called The Chef's Counter, an extension of our recently launched in-store initiative to support the chefs, founders and food entrepreneurs shaping the UAE’s dining scene.

The past three weeks have been a great start, with cookies, bagels, salads, pastelitos, and baklava launched in stores from a range of talented chefs. Chef Shaw also shares the mouth-watering dish coming to select Spinneys stores this week, and how collaboration and food connect people and communities.

We’re continuing The Chef’s Counter, our new micro-series and an extension of our recently launched in-store initiative to support the chefs, founders and food entrepreneurs shaping the UAE’s dining scene.

Co-host Tiffany Eslick is in conversation with Stasha Toncev and Chef Milan Jurkovic, the team behind 21grams, the much-loved homegrown restaurant that has introduced Dubai to the warmth, soul and generosity of Balkan hospitality. They’re bringing their signature chocolate hazlenut baklava into Spinneys as part of The Chef’s Counter.

They also talk about how Dubai’s hospitality community has rallied around one another during challenging times and the power of food to bring people together.

We’ll be spotlighting a different voice from the community in stores each week, so come check it out!

Today we’re introducing a new micro-series called The Chef’s Counter, an extension of our recently launched in-store initiative to support the chefs, founders and food entrepreneurs shaping the UAE’s dining scene. Co-host Tiffany Eslick sits down with Chef Kelvin Cheung of Jun’s and 852 Bakery to launch the series. Chef Kelvin continues to actively champion fellow chefs and is now bringing a selection of dishes to select Spinneys stores as part of the Chef’s Counter. They talk about the power of community, and the importance of showing up for one another. We’ll be spotlighting a different voice from the community in stores each week, so come check it out!

Our first repeat guest is the one-and-only Chef Grégoire Berger, now leading Kraken. Co-host Devina Divecha sits down with Chef Grégoire to talk about his own evolution from pure culinary ambition to building personal connections.

He also shares more about Kraken's focus on local ingredients and suppliers, how his management style has evolved, and the roots of Dubai's culinary scene.

Chapters

0:00 Coming up...

2:09 Personal growth

7:54 The rise of mocktails

9:03 The philosophy behind Kraken

14:03 Dubai's dining scene

22:10 Beyond Kraken

Hosts Tiffany Eslick and Devina Divecha are off to Business Bay to sit down with founder and cake-maker Nadia Parekh. They talk about Nadia's pivot from clinical psychology to food entrepreneur, and the lessons learnt from the closure of Mélange and the launch of Faim. 

They also taste three of Nadia's signature cakes: The Quarantine (Chocolate salted caramel), Everybody's Birthday Cake (Chocolate praline and cereal) and the Jaded (Olive Oil, lemon, mascarpone and mixed berries).

Chapters:

0:00 You can't control things outside!

3:31 From clinical psychology to cakes

6:15 Becoming a food entrepreneur

15:11 Pivoting after Mélange

23:23 Behind Faim

27:20 Cake trends

36:23 We taste cake!

Co-host Devina Divecha sits down with Chef Andreé Núñez at La Mar by Gastón Acurio at Atlantis The Royal in Dubai. Chef Andreé talks discovering his love for cooking at an early age, and his dream to showcase Peruvian cuisine and its influences at La Mar. He also plates a tiradito, a beautifully-plated dish and brings together Japanese techniques with the power of Peruvian ingredients.

Co-host Devina Divecha sits down the women behind Tezukuri, Chef Neha Mishra and Panchali Mahendra, CEO of Atelier House Hospitality for the first episode of 2026. The powerhouse duo talk about their shared passion for creating F&B concepts, and how their friendship evolved into a business relationship with Tezukuri. 

Chapters 0:00 Coming up... 4:23 Building a Friendship 8:18 Behind Tezikuri 14:52 Women in the Food Industry

We're closing out the year with food writer and general counsel Liam Collens. Tiffany Eslick and Devina Divecha sit down for an all-pie breakfast with Liam at one of his favourite spots, Piehaus by 21Grams. They talk about Dubai's dynamic food scene and the challenges of restaurant criticism in today's age of attention. 

We'll be back in the new year with new episodes. Until then, happy holidays!

Chapters

0:00 Coming up...

3:31 Dubai's dining scene

11:19 ‘Bread is not a course on its own’

17:02 Building trust as a food writer 

24:31 Growing up in Trinidad & Tobago

Co-host Tiffany Eslick sits down at Mishkah with author (and clown) Hisham Assaad during his visit for the Sharjah Book Fair a couple of weeks ago. 

Hisham shares his journey in food that traces back to his childhood growing up in a refugee camp in Lebanon, how he wants to record and preserve recipes that are fading away, and. how he got started with clowning!

Hisham started his food blog,  ⁨cookin5m2⁩ , in 2013 and has since published two books—'Bayrut The Cookbook' in 2021 and 'Taboon' in 2024 celebrating his heritage and amazing recipes from Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. 

Chapters

0:00 Coming up...

3:53 Clowning

5:58 Cultural Identity through Cuisine

11:29 From Blog to Cookbook

13:39 Documenting Lesser-Known Dishes

16:52 The Impact of Tragedy

19:29 The Journey to Taboon

27:53 Sharjah Book Fair and Dinner at Mishkah