Executive Chef Brian Lumley, among Jamaica’s best-trained culinarians, recently copped a major feature in Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper after wowing foodies in the African nation’s capital of Kampala.

Lumley featured at a fine dining experience organised by the Consulate of Jamaica in Uganda.

The article quoted Michael Idusso, the honorary consul of Jamaica to Uganda, noting that, “bringing Chef Lumley to Kampala was about showcasing the finest in Jamaican cuisine.”

And the chef delivered as promised, based on the sentiments expressed by Daily Monitor writer Gloria Haguma.

In Haguma’s words, “What unfolded was an evening of indulgence, the kind that keeps you anticipating the next course. We had to wait between courses, and each dish that landed before us was worth the wait.

“Chef Lumley, assisted by students from the Culinary School Uganda, treated diners to a five-course meal, with servings that infused Jamaican and Ugandan delicacies,” she wrote.

The article dished that the night began with pre-cocktails that included crispy pork belly, lacquered with a sorrel glaze and paired with sorrel jam.

The main course comprised a jerk chicken roulade, rolled with callaloo and cheese, served alongside baked apple and garden vegetables, Haguma wrote, adding that guests were also treated to pimento smoked beef tenderloin accompanied by appleton buerre blanc.

She said her favourite was the duo of purple sweet potato and pumpkin soup.

“And, by the end of the night, it felt less like a meal and more like a cultural exchange,” Haguma wrote, giving a thumbs up to the event.

For his part, Lumley hailed the “massive” potential of Ugandan cuisine and noted that Jamaica and the African country use similar ingredients in cooking despite the cuisines being vastly different.

“Not so many similarities, but nuances. We share many ingredients because of the climate. For example, you use spring onion, we use scallion. You have beans, we have peas. Even the red soil here reminds me of St Catherine in Jamaica,” he said in an interview with the Daily Monitor. “The biggest difference is spice; Jamaicans pile it on, Ugandans are more subtle.”