On Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6, 2026, The Rockhouse Foundation brought together chefs, supporters, and friends in Negril, Jamaica for its Coastal Culinary Weekend, an expanded edition of the Foundation’s beloved annual Dinner on the Beach. This year, the event grew into a full two-day celebration of food, community, and Caribbean culinary culture across two unforgettable dinners. The weekend raised over US$75,000 to support the expansion of Sav Inclusive, the Foundation’s flagship initiative and Jamaica’s first public school serving children with and without disabilities in a full-inclusion setting.

Friday evening featured an unparalleled Dinner on the Cliffs at Rockhouse Hotel, where Michelle and Suzanne Rousseau made their debut as Rockhouse Restaurant’s new culinary directors. Guests arrived at the Rockhouse Restaurant bar for cocktails and passed hors d’oeuvres, including curried ackee wontons with papaya ginger, jerk chicken cashew spring rolls with peanut sauce, and mini oxtail patties with sorrel marmalade, before sitting down to a four-course dinner on the cliffs featuring the dishes that will be incorporated on the new menu launching this month. The menu moved through a West Indian mezze board with lentil hummus, marlin ceviche, and coco bread focaccia; shared pastas and farm vegetables including eggplant parmesan with Scotch bonnet arrabiata and roast pumpkin ravioli with chevre and pepita dukkah; individual mains ranging from catch in banana leaf with green papaya slaw to coal fired beef with island chimichurri; and a shared dessert of bean-to-bar chocolate mousse with coconut chantilly. The menu signalled the Rousseau sisters’ approach to Rockhouse Restaurant: Rooted in Jamaican ingredients and the flavours of the Caribbean, with Mediterranean influences and a distinctly coastal sensibility. A selection of items from their new menu launches this month, with the full menu debuting in September 2026.

On Saturday afternoon, guests gathered at Skylark’s Sky Deck for an intimate book talk celebrating the release of Chef Andre Fowles’s debut cookbook, My Jamaican Table. Moderated by media personality Yendi Phillipps, the conversation traced Fowles’s culinary journey and his deep connection to Jamaican cooking and culture. Books were available for purchase and signing.

Ahead of the festivities, Markette principal and Executive Chef India Doris shares a moment with Chairman and CEO of Rockhouse Hotel Skylark Negril Beach Resort Paul Salmon (right) and Rockhouse Hotel and Skylark Negril Beach Resort co-principal Damian Salmon. (Photo: Michael Condran)

Saturday evening, Skylark’s beachfront became the setting for the Dinner on the Beach, hosted by Andre Fowles and headlined by Chef India Doris, executive chef of Markette in New York City and recipient of the 2025 Michelin Young Chef Award.

Guests arrived to sunset cocktails, canapés, and a raw bar station before sitting down to a family-style dinner that opened with Hamachi with green mango, tamarind, and sorrel, followed by a spread of peri peri chicken, grilled red snapper with curry leaf and charred local kale, orzo with Scotch bonnet and feta, spiced roasted carrots with yogurt and lentils, and pumpkin curry with roti. Dessert was a soursop trifle.

During the dinner, Paul Salmon, Rockhouse Foundation chairman, welcomed guests and thanked all those who made the weekend possible whilst Anna Thwaites Wallace, president of the Rockhouse Foundation, spoke on the foundation’s ongoing work at Sav Inclusive. A video presentation showcased the foundation’s impact at the school before India Doris took the floor to walk guests through the menu and the inspiration behind it. The evening continued with a Rockhouse Foundation raffle drawing before guests moved on to an after-party at Miss Lily’s, with DJ Max Glazer.

Author and chef Andre Fowles discusses the inspiration behind his cookbook, My Jamaican Table with moderator Yendi Phillipps. (Photo: Micharl Condran)

Soursop trifle (Photo: Micharl Condran)

Caviar, crab salad and crème fraîche on a blini (Photo: Micharl Condran)

Pumpkin ravioli and gnocci fra’diavolo (Photo: Micharl Condran)

Hamachi (Photo: Micharl Condran)

Coal fired beef –

Chef Andre Fowles prepares fresh selections at the raw bar during cocktail hour for the Rockhouse Foundation Dinner on the Beach.(Photo: Micharl Condran)

Chef India Doris serves Petrossian caviar at the raw bar during cocktail hour during the Rockhouse Foundation’s Dinner on the Beach.(Photo: Micharl Condran)

Rockhouse Restaurant culinary directors Michelle (left) and Suzanne Rousseau detail the evening’s menu at Dinner on the Cliffs. (Photo: Micharl Condran)

Showcasing their copies of My Jamaican Table at the book talk are Rockhouse Foundation Director of Partnerships and Special Projects Vanessa Moore (left) and Rockhouse Foundation President Anna Thwaites-Wallace. (Photo: Micharl Condran)