Sonia Gray – custodian of Kingston’s best kept secret
Owner and operator of Ahlambra Inn and Restaurant, the lush green foliage, fish tanks and quaint and historical relics welcomes the visitors.
A thoroughbread country girl, Gray recalled her childhood in Portland, where she used to spend time, at one with nature. “As a little girl growing up in Portland I used to catch Jhaanga (shrimp) and make soup.”
She went abroad to pursue degree in film and television with minor in radio, after a career in public relations, Gray decided to live her dreams.
“Cooking is my passion, all my life I have loved to cook… I decided to go back to my passion of cooking,” she said.
Gray still continues with this passion, “I could cook from morning to night and I love to treat the people to real and authentic Jamaican food.”
As her catering business was growing, she found that there was a need to be addressed and the seeds of Alhambra Inn were sown.
“Our house was big, and often friends came asking if they could use the place to organise weddings,” she recalled. “The people were moving into townhouses and there came the need to have a place to do weddings and receptions.”
She and her husband Trevor Clarke, decided to keep the property as close to nature as possible, and have nurtured encapsulated the beauty of the surrounding hill into the property, “this is the reason we don’t have a big structure or a lot of rooms.”
Alhambra is in 2010 celebrating its 21st anniversary.
“I want to preserve as much of my country as possible,” Gray said. “I wish we can set up a museum.”
As Gray strives to maintain and sustain the character in the hospitality business, she dreams that values that Jamaica was build upon would be passed to the younger generation.
“I grew up in a country that was warm, friendly and caring,” she said. “These are the same values I want to see the youngsters to follow.”
amitabh.sharma@hotmail.com
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