Executive chef Michael Harrison celebrated his 41st birthday a few weeks ago. But that isn’t the only thing he had to celebrate. Last October Michael took over the culinary reins at Cobblers Cove Hotel, St Peter, being the first Barbadian to do so.
Michael’s journey started at an early age but he has been in this field for the past 20 years.
“It all started with my aunt Joyce Harrison in Fernihurst, St Michael, who raised me after my mum died when I was about thirteen years old. She taught me to cook at that young age – with me either doing salads, cooking vegetables or frying chicken on Sundays.”
Michael remembers getting teased by his friends when they called him out to play and he would go outside with his hands full of flour from frying chicken.
After leaving Lynches Secondary, he applied for and got into the Hospitality Division of Barbados Community College in 1993.
Straight out of that school Michael ended up as a waiter at Cobblers Cove but he had his heart set on the kitchen.
“I came for the job as trainee chef but none was available but because of my training at the Hospitality Institute in food and beverage operations and bar, restaurant and kitchen, I was able to accept a job as a waiter. But I went always knowing that as soon as something became available in the kitchen, I would want to move.”
While there was more money in the kitchen, that wasn’t the drawing card for Michael, who couldn’t wait to get his hands on the knives and ingredients to do some slicing, dicing, chopping, sautéing and frying.
An opening in the kitchen popped up, Michael applied and got through.
“It was less money. I had to take a pay cut then but I said no problem, this is what I want to do.”
He got the opportunity to go to London to do a promotion for the top travel magazines in Europe. While there he got a few months’ training at Glens Eagle Hotel in Scotland and that’s where “I found my love for food and cooking”.
He came back to Barbados but kept in contact with the chefs in London and Scotland. Three months after returning to Barbados, he left his three-year job in the kitchen at Cobbler’s Cove to take up a job as commis chef at a restaurant for eighteen months in London.
Getting to London wasn’t easy.
His son was just a few months old and it was hard leaving him behind and with a newborn baby cutting into his finances, Michael had to make some tough decisions.
“I sold my clothes, my CDs and anything I could get to sell. When I changed the cash, it only amounted to £98 (BDS$292.28). The plane ticket still had to be bought, the rent for where I was staying was needed upfront and it was at least £400 (BDS$1 193),” he said, chuckling.
Michael got through with the help of family and friends to go the London and worked at the famous LeGavroche restaurant, where the elite, celebrities and royalty dined.
After the contract ended he picked the United States over Amsterdam for another contract, ending up in Maine and spent eighteen months as a chef de partie and pastry chef at the White Barn Inn (George Bush Sr dined there in the summer).
He came back home for holidays and ended up working at Carambola as head chef. He stuck around for a bit, working at Mullins as executive chef, heading to Royal Pavilion and Sandy Lane as chef de cuisine, and then The Crane as executive chef.
Listless, Michael left the island in 2008 for the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean as an executive chef at a private luxury resort . . . once again cooking for celebrities and royalty for a year.
He came back to the Caribbean, working in Bermuda and then St Lucia at one of the Almond Hotels as executive chef for two years.
There he was approached by a recruiter to work at Cobblers Cove as an executive chef. He started working in October last night.
“For me to come back here after starting here as a commis chef has been a huge accomplishment. I am the first Barbadian to hold this position.”
His journey took him about 19 years and he tells young aspiring chefs that they have to be passionate about the industry, which includes very long hours and mundane tasks but is also very fulfilling and rewarding.
“It’s a beautiful job and profession.”
Married to Debra with son Quasie 19, and daughter Makalah, 11, he says as a family man, the job is very challenging, coupled with his stints overseas.
Michael’s talent has not gone unnoticed, winning Chef Of The Year in 2001, the Governor General’s Award Of Excellence in NIFCA in culinary arts, being the first Duelling Chefs competition winner and also winning two gold medals, a silver and a bronze at the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association’s Taste Of The Caribbean, representing Barbados.
Michael’s skill at creating classical dishes fused with modern influences has already met with excellent reviews and when asked about a special dish, he replies in the negative but leans towards playing with seafood, also saying he likes to experiment.
While commending his small team at Cobblers Cove, saying they all support each other, he said his journey hasn’t been an easy road.
“It has been tough for me . . . . Being black and Bajan, it seems I have to fight and push a little harder. But being black and Bajan, at the same time I’m able to come and fit in this hotel and give the guests here something special.
Even though Michael reeled off names of celebrities during the interview, he is also a celebrity in his own right, being part of a book called 99 Inspirational Chefs Throughout The Americas And The Caribbean.
“That’s a huge thing for me,” he said, also adding that he gives kudos to his aunt for being instrumental in developing his skills and pushing him, because it has enabled him to travel around the world and rub elbows with the best chefs.