‘Are you free Thursday Night?’ was the text message from Chef Gariel Ferguson; it went on to explain that he would send a menu and I was to select a bottle of ‘value’ wine to pair with one of the menu items.

Typically a bring-your-own-bottle (BYOB) party is simply one in which you bring what you plan to drink, but this was a BYOB with a slight twist, in that you had to select a wine based on a menu that was sent a few days before the actual dinner — the wine was not to be expensive. This is a simple, fun way to host a dinner party; it’s even better when it’s being hosted by one of Jamaica’s top foodies.

Chef’s Boat

A Chef’s Boat is how the evening was coined; running a ‘boat’ is an old-time Jamaican pastime. I even found an official meaning of sorts in a Jamaican Language Dictionary: “run boat” phrase: ‘outdoor cooking with food gathered amongst friends on short notice’. Most of us who attended high school in Jamaica must have been part of a ‘run-a-boat’ event at some point: sometimes the boat sailed quite nicely and at other times the boat sank. Chef Gari’s boat sailed quite nicely indeed. While I found no direct explanation for how this term came about, I suspect it is an adaptation of how cooking on a tiny boat at sea actually works — limited utensils, space, water and ingredients; therefore, you have to use what you have.

The Menu

The boat was definitely not at sea, as Chef Gari threw down some finger-licking food that evening with the following menu: For the starter we had a demitasse of Roasted pumpkin bisque. Next up was the very ‘more-ish’ Goat cheese and roasted tomato vol-au-vent. After a short pause to plate the food, we were served an extremely tasty Thai Curry Fish with clove rice. We all agreed that was “the bomb” until the cumin-braised pork belly with sweet corn bread was presented. The poor chef tried to save some of the braised pork for some friends who were to arrive later, but the mutiny that occurred on the ship resulted in the fact that those poor latecomers will only hear about and perhaps see a few pictures here of what they were to have tasted.

For dessert Chef Gariel prepared Raspberry thumbprints, Cornmeal and lime cookies, Ginger and black pepper cake with caramel ice cream. Although they both deny it, we are sure he got some help from his lovely wife Gillian with the desserts.

It’s 14 more days until the Jamaica OBSERVER CELEBRATES FASHION’S NIGHT OUT organised by this newspaper all over Jamaica… get ready!

Chris Reckord — Entrepreneur & Wine Enthusiast. He and his wife Kerri-Anne are part owners of Jamaica’s only Wine Bar — Bin26 Wine Bar in Devon House, Kingston. Send your questions and comments to creckord@gmail.com. Follow us on twitter.com/DeVineWines