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'Tis the season for food so take some vegetables, meat, put them on the cutting board, sharpen the knives, and drop the ingredients in a Dutch pot and plate them … luscious fare, yes? Did someone say a work of art? Yes, you heard it right. Before the cuisine satisfies your appetite, it whips up the visual senses. "I believe that we eat with our eyes first," says Melissa Dukharan, culinary artist and chef as she ran a potato over a mandoline (an instrument used for slicing and cutting juliennes), sliced it paper thin and rolled them to make a rose, as a part of a salad presentation. Bouquet of salad - Blanched potato rose with lettuce The road to creation of culinary art involves traits that an artist would put in a painting or a sculpture. But the challenge is to complement the looks with the taste. Over the years, the tastes and trends are paying more attention to detail, into which the new age chefs are foraying. "A culinary artist is someone ...

Popular HGTV star Vern Yip was the toast at the hip Star Grill restaurant in Mandeville on Saturday, October 20, where he participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the new eatery. In fact, the designer/interior decorator was the big attraction of the day, signing autographs and revelling in praise for the exquisite décor of the restaurant he conceptualised and executed. Vern Yip The green building with the red star logo strikes the visitor's eyes, and the interiors transcend from waterfalls to white goblet lamps floating on the ceiling. "Our decor is the most talked about in town," restaurateur Andrea Patmore said. "Our guests enjoy relaxing at Star Grill and taking pictures almost as much as they enjoy the food." It was the lush green hills of Manchester and the clouds descending on them that inspired designer Yip. "If you look at the lamps, they are delicately hanging from the ceiling, as they float in the sky," he q...

Shrimp pasta.   It was a sojourn of two foodies that created Star Grill in Mandeville. "When we lived in Kingston we used to go out to eat a lot," said Andrea Bulli-Patmore, who owns the restaurant with her husband Christopher. They moved to Manchester, where Andrea’s husband has a family business, and did not find many dining options. “We saw a need and decided to fill it,” she said. Armed with a dream and a mission to create a unique dining experience, the husband-and-wife duo started to lay the blueprints. “The restaurant was named after our eldest daughter, Rohini, which means star,” she explains. Star Grill opened its doors in November last year, but had its official opening on Saturday. It is a combination of a drive-through, fast-food and fine-dining segments, which, like a fusion of cuisines, converge on one premises. Star Grill restaurant offers a variety of cuisine, Bulli-Patmore explains. “We have fine dining – stea...

They passed on but have left a mark on our lives; the aroma of their creations continues and will continue to tickle our senses and palates and their memories inspire and spread cheer. A tribute to Norma Shirley, Anil Sud and Rudolph Gschloessl as we unfold another chapter of Restaurant Week starting November 13.  Norma Shirley ... Jamaican culinary icon Her names were as multifaceted as her culinary skills, she was "Norma the food stylist, decorator, chef and cook par excellence, host, mother, god mother, aunty Norma and to her friend Norms," recalled Joy McHugh, an old friend. McHugh's husband Ruddy and Norma Shirley were friends since high school, "she was the god mother of my son and we are the god parents of her son Delius," she said. Shirley studied to be a nurse and practised in New York, she was not a born cook though, " Norma couldn't cook to save her life," McHugh jokingly remarked. Food became the love of her life. Her f...

They passed on but have left a mark on our lives; the aroma of their creations continues and will continue to tickle our senses and palates and their memories inspire and spread cheer. A tribute to Norma Shirley, Anil Sud and Rudolph Gschloessl as we unfold another chapter of Restaurant Week starting November 13. Rudolph Gschloessl - Music, the food of love Neville Anderson, partner at Café Aubergine and an old time friend of Rudolph Gschloessl (or Rudy as he was known among friends), went into a time warp in the in early 80s to Munich, Germany. "Rudy was the financial controller with Warner Brothers, I met him at a party and we bonded immediately." The bond was their similar taste in cooking and food, and the duo hit off on a crescendo. "He loved good Jamaican food and we opened Neville's Jamaican restaurant in Munich," Anderson said. Anderson, who loved cooking, and Gschloessl, were food aficionados and introduced Germans to fine and elegant Jama...