Revealed: The expert judges panel supporting the 2018 JLT Restaurant Awards

JLT Restaurant Awards 2018: Meet the Judges!

Online voting for the 2018 JLT Restaurant Awards ran from 1 – 31^st October 2018 and almost 10,000 JLT residents, office dwellers, and visitors voted for their favourite Jumeirah Lakes Towers restaurants, cafes, and bars. The 2018 awards feature 16 publicly voted categories, plus two categories, which are decided by four judges: Best Overall and Best Newcomer.

Three Dubai-based F&B-industry insiders are joined by a JLT resident, who we selected from a large number of applications following a social media “recruitment campaign”.

Meet this the #JLTdiningAwards2018 judges:

From top left to bottom right: Courtney Brandt wears many hats. She's an author and a blogger (A to Za'atar). She's also a Zomato Ambassador, What's Cooking UAE host, and a saberer of Champagne. Courtney is joined by Chef Tomas Reger, the brains behind Cruet Cooking Consultants and an avid culinary curator. Originally from the Czech Republic, Tomas got his first taste of cooking assisting his grandmother who was a fabulous cook and supported him in his decision to become a professional chef. His interest in food led him on a culinary journey from the beaches of Spain to the fine dining restaurants of England and finally to the Middle East, where he now calls Dubai home.

Jane Nedanoski, the third member of this year's judging panel, is the Operation Manager at Rhodes W1 at the Grosvenor House Dubai. Jane hails from Macedonia and came to Dubai in 2011 to join Okku. Together with Chef Chef Darren Velvick, Jane also worked at Table 9 and The Croft, before joining Garry Rhodes in Dubai Marina.

The public search across the JLT Dining Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for a JLT resident to join the rank of JLT Restaurant Awards judges yielded a large number of applications. In the end, we selected Hershal Ghambir, a marketing professional with a background in hotels and restaurants, who moved to our neighbourhood earlier this year and is passionate about all things food, restaurants, and digital media.

The four judges will play a crucial role in the final stages of the 2018 JLT Restaurant Awards. They’ll decide the winners of the Best Overall and Best Newcomer categories, but they’ll also scrutinize the shortlist of the 16 publicly voted categories. The judges will look at guest satisfaction scores, overall concept, menus, and a number of other factors for the top three outlets in each category to decide the winners and runner-ups, which will then be announced at the awards ceremony on 26th November 2018.

Interested in attending the awards ceremony? Contact us!

The 2018 JLT Restaurant Awards are supported by: