Devin Morrison, Head Chef, Hot Pot Restaurant

It’s the restaurant of choice for many returning Jamaicans who long for an authentic Jamaican meal. As head chef of the Altamont Road-based Hot Pot Restaurant, Devin Morrison knows how to keep customers coming again and again. Fresh out of school in 2003 – he graduated from Holmwood Technical High – Devin was job-hunting when a friend informed him of a vacancy at Hot Pot for someone to wash pots and share orders. He got the job and was promoted in 2006 to assistant chef and eventually the head position. The 27-year-old, who shared that most of his culinary skills were gained on the job, has aspirations of becoming “one of the greatest chefs in Jamaica” within the next 10 years. To help make this a reality, he’s completing plans to enrol either at the University of Technology (UTech) or HEART Runaway Bay in September to receive formal training.

Javier Singh, Head Chef, Akbar Restaurant

For the last five years, patrons ordering curry or kebab dishes from the menu at Akbar Restaurant on Holborn Road have been savouring the culinary handiwork of Javier Singh. The Indian-born, raised and trained chef hails from the valley district of Dehra Dhun located in the shadows of the Himalayas. Largely self-taught, Javier worked at the Ambassador Hotel in Mumbai for several years as an assistant chef before taking up his current stint at Akbar, located on Holborn Road, where he oversees a kitchen staff of three persons. Fluent in his native tongue of Hindi, but not so much in English, he shared with Thursday Food, through the translation of Anil Bakshi, (the restaurant’s manager) how he’s warmed up to Jamaican culture and the island’s foods and is eager to tantalise the tastebuds of patrons.

Wayne Williams, Sous-chef, Whitebones Seafood Restaurant

Shrimp, salmon or crab. If it’s ocean food fare, Wayne Williams will make a delectable meal of it. He’s a foundation staffer at Whitebones, having been with the restaurant since it opened in February 2006, and still looks forward to the daily challenges of the kitchen. The 34-year-old began his professional life as a certified electrician. However, he was not getting the job satisfaction he craved. “I got tired of driving around in a truck servicing A/Cs,” he reflects, “and I found that whenever I went on church camp trips I would cook and people would encourage me to pursue it further.” He not only listened, but took action. Today, Williams is a Level Three-certified HEART Runaway Bay graduate and intends to take his training even further when he has amassed sufficient funds. Until then, the single father of two-year-old daughter Shanae (who’s already a keen observer of dad around the stove) is content in his role as head chef and finds relaxation reading novels and watching karate films.