We are seeing Saudis fill the spectrum of careers, from the culturally taboo professions (comedians, DJs and actors) to the most specific niches of creativity (floral designer, body paint artist and illustrators) and we couldn’t be more pleased. These individuals aren’t new role models. They aren’t even the first; they are the everyday citizens of a nation showing that we have diverse talent and the potential to do anything.

One such individual is Badr Fayez. A graduate of Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, Fayez is your average 30-something Saudi in a thobe but with one main difference. For the past 11 years, he’s been abroad marinating educational expertise in experience and international expectation in order to produce the most appetizing proposal Saudi Arabia has had since Hani Al Attas decided it was time for a five-star revamp of Jeddah’s culinary prowess. Fayez is preparing to wow our taste buds and elevate the experience of fine dining in the Kingdom to the ranks of some of the major league cities in the game of culinary excellence, such as New York, Los Angeles and Paris.

In all fairness, Jeddah does already have the Leylaty Group Restaurants; Riyadh has Centuria Mall’s fine dining and a restaurant in a hotel or two; and well, Alkhobar has the neighboring city of Bahrain. However, when you call Mustafa at Byblos and he tells you it’s full because it’s vacation and it’s the only restaurant anyone from Riyadh has heard of, you start to miss the various options one would find in any cosmopolitan city. The truth is, we’ve been lacking in the culinary industry for decades. Thankfully, young Saudis, like Mohammed Taleb (another restaurant aficionado who recently opened up 16Hundred) and Fayez are on a mission to rectify our lack in options.

Having studied environmental design, culinary arts and marketing, Fayez’s competitors don’t seem to stand a chance. The fierce combination is sure to concoct a delicious temptation that will satisfy all our senses, from the ambiance and service to the food and décor. And, it’s about time. “I didn’t know I’d grow up to be a chef,” admitted Fayez. “It wasn’t seen as the most appropriate career.” Although did confess he could often be found in the kitchen, as a chubby adolescent, busy experimenting with unique recipes for unheard of sandwiches.

“I followed my father’s footsteps because it was the most obvious road,” stated Fayez. “I knew I had an artistic sense, just not in architecture.”

Ironically, it was a PhD student in architecture whom his father hired as a mentor to help Fayez in school that encouraged Fayez to pursue his love for food professionally. “He told me to follow my true passion and cook, and so I did,” he said with a smile of self-fulfillment.

In school, Fayez garnered extensive knowledge of all aspects of the culinary business. Not simply limited to baking the perfect Pommes Soufflé, or tedious deboning of a Red Snapper, Fayez believes his education taught him that the most important thing when having your own restaurant business is the service.

“The face of my company is the waiter,” asserted the chef. “If the waiter isn’t good at servicing the patron, then nothing else really matters.” He admits it is the service, and not the food, that determines if he will return to a restaurant or not. “I’m trying to change the experience of fine dining in the Kingdom, which admittedly, means several factors, but the most important is the service.”

Fayez went on to state that his waiters must not only memorize the menu, but be thoroughly well versed in their cuisine. “They will need to taste all the dishes so that they can describe them accurately to the patrons, tell them what ingredients are used, what will complement the dish and have the knowledge to tell them directly what can or cannot be changed without having to go back to the kitchen to ask the chef.”

In addition to service, Fayez believes that high quality produce must be a requirement. “Presentation is also very important,” admitted Fayez. “The main goal is to have the client leave the restaurant satisfied.” With an eccentric resume of experience, which includes working as a pastry chef at Leylaty, inside the kitchen of the Italian restaurant, Lallo’s, an internship at the Grand Hotel in Vienna and a semester aboard in Southeast Asia, Fayez admits he doesn’t have a favorite cuisine, but rather he admires the philosophies behind different ones.

A rogue chef, Fayez claims he is attempting to “break free from traditions” by creating experimental dishes of international ingredients. Currently, the Saudi chef is opening two restaurants: Muse, a high-end seafood restaurant with a French cordon bleu chef, and Kome, a casual dinning experience of Japanese cuisine, which will open in the next few months in the scenic setting of the southern Corniche.