When Lij Heron was younger, he wanted to do electrical engineering. Now, at 29 years old, he is the chef de partie at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers, the largest and fastest growing Middle Eastern hotel company. And while he has achieved this level at a relatively young age, his journey has been a steady one, paved with hard work. “You need to have a drive to push yourself,” Heron tells Thursday Life, “not just a passion for food, but the drive to succeed.”

As chef de partie at The Rib Room, Heron is second in command, leading a staff of 7 people, who push out about 40 covers for lunch and 85 for dinner, daily. Specialising in Wagyu beef (one of – if not the – best beef in the world), The Rib Room is a fine dining steak house that also specialises in lobster.

“One of the best parts of my job is testing the quality of the Wagyu beef daily, it’s a sweet job!” he says. But tasting aside, Heron usually faces a 14-hour day that includes checking stock, prep work, cooking at various stations, training kitchen staff and preparing for the following day. And while he runs a tight ship, it is no Hell’s Kitchen. He explains that his cooking style includes making sure that each station is running efficiently. “If anything needs to be done, I will jump on it,” he says, “whether it’s making demi-glace or hash browns, because there’s no job that’s beneath me.”

One of the best things about working in Dubai, Heron shares, is the variety of cultures and people he has met during the one-and-a-half-years he has lived in Dubai. He admits that while it was somewhat hard at first, the experience enabled him to work with, and learn about, many different kinds of cuisine. Especially Arabic cuisine. “Sometimes it is hard to watch the news,” he says, “because such a negative picture is painted of Arabs, but they have some fantastic food! They will braise a whole lamb, and when it is almost cooked, add some rice to it. It has such a wicked flavour and could even give our rice and peas competition.”

Talking of rice and peas, does Heron miss Jamaican food? He explains that there is an American/Mexican restaurant called Scarlets, which has jerk chicken on the menu. With limited access to some of the necessary ingredients, Heron had to make some minor adjustments. “I didn’t have any Scotch bonnet pepper, and while we once had it shipped in from Kenya, this was very expensive.” So, Heron replaced it with green chilli “it has the same kick to it,” he says, “well, almost,” he adds.

Born and raised in Kingston, Heron was always surrounded by cooking, especially in his family, “It all started with my mother,” he explains. Growing up in a family of two older brothers, each one had a day where they were to prepare the family meal. His was Saturday. “To me it was the best day because that’s when my mother went to the market,” he says, “so I got to use all the fresh ingredients. She would always encourage me in her motherly ways.” However, it was after a stint at the Hilton Kingston as an apprentice cook that he really decided to pursue a more established career in cooking. His journey took him to New York where he pursued an associate degree in culinary arts at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America. A few months were spent at the Wyndham Resort and Country Club where he completed his internship, before heading off to Sarasota, Florida, as a porter and butcher at the Crab ‘n’ Fin restaurant. It was in August 2002 that he returned to Jamaica, working as the demi chef de partie at the Horizon restaurant, Ritz-Carlton, Rose Hall in Montego Bay, although he gained experience at each of property’s restaurants, including Mangos Poolside Café and the Cohobas Lounge; he was after two years ready for a little break. His break took him to South East Asia, where he spent time living in Malaysia, and Singapore, gaining extended knowledge in the regions’ local cuisine. On returning to Jamaica, six months later, Heron scored a job as junior sous-chef at Royal Plantation Resort, in Ocho Rios.

“When I returned to Jamaica,” he says, “I was employed by my mentor and former Executive Chef from Ritz-Carlton Hall, Chef Dennis McIntosh.”

While his decision to move to Dubai was at first for personal reasons, his research on the country’s food and restaurant industry impressed him. “My restaurant imports live Maine lobsters from the United States,” he says, “that just shows how seriously these people take their food.” In terms of the job, Heron says he was lucky. He simply sent in his resumé and they called him back.

At first, he took up a job in charge of room service at the Jumeirah Emirates. “I took a step down when I came here,” he says, “and I have not regretted it at all. The standard at this hotel is very high, and it is also much bigger. I felt like I did not have enough experience to be a sous-chef here and taking a step down was an essential move. In fact I would do it again. It has made me a better chef and it has also helped me improve steadily.” After heading up the room service kitchen, he moved to Mosaico, an Italian restaurant, before moving to The Rib Room.

Heron hopes to move back to Jamaica in a year or so after gaining more international experience. He praises the development and growth of the Jamaican restaurant industry, over the past 10 years. “You would never have imagined a sushi restaurant in Jamaica back then, so it just shows how much more adventurous the Jamaican people are becoming when it comes to food.” He added, however, that he hopes the hotels will look more to hiring Jamaican executive chefs, instead of international ones. “People always say you have to be passionate about food to be a great chef, but you also have to have drive and creativity,” Heron says. For him, it is this international experience that has given him the drive to be more creative, to fuse exotic flavours, but always adding a little touch of Jamaica.