Cooking Up Delicious Magic

WHERESOEVER they may roam, Saint Lucians continue to keep national pride on their minds and in their hearts. Many have channeled their energies into countless endeavours that have resulted in them not only eking out a survival but also being among the best in their fields.

Chef Denis Rosembert is one such Saint Lucian making a difference in the culinary arts. Originally from Gros Islet, the 59-year-old started cooking when he was 6 years old when he used to trap birds and go fishing in the mangroves. His grandmother, Gladys, taught him how to cook on the coal pot and the values of preparing what they ate.

Rosembert remembers travelling to Barbados by himself at age 11 in 1969 to get his connecting flight to London, England where his mother came to pick him up. Upon seeing many London homes with chimneys, he immediately asked his mother for hot bread and butter. When she inquired what he meant by that, he told her that almost every home seemed to have an oven. He didn’t take it too kindly when his mother told him that the chimneys were there to provide warmth during winter and not for baking!

“When I got there, I realized that the weather was too cold for me. I was devastated and wanted to return to Saint Lucia right away,” Rosembert said.

After enrolling in school and spending some time in London, he was beginning to enjoy the new environment until he developed chilblains, which are painful inflammation of small blood vessels in the skin that results from repeated exposure to cold but not freezing air. In 1973, he returned to Saint Lucia to start his career at Holiday Inn (now Rex St. Lucian) working there for two years as an apprentice chef.

In 1975, after realizing that 15-year-old Rosembert was very inquisitive and eager to learn, the head chef made arrangements for him to finish his apprenticeship at Swiss Cottage Holiday Inn. After two months there, he was put in charge of buffet. Within months, however, he quit the job and moved to Tower Hotel in London, working as a grill chef. It was hard work, he recalled.

“I was working 16 hours a day, seven days a week,” Rosembert said. “People don’t realize that there’s no way you can make life better by just working 40 hours a week. Working forty hours a week is just to eat and drink. That was how we were able to have the deposit to buy our first house because I was earning £58 a week. That was in 1979.”

Rosembert spent eight years there, receiving many promotions: from First Commis Chef on the Sauce section to Chef de Partie in charge of the Sauce section to the Sous Chef position before leaving in 1984 to continue his career at Trocadero Restaurants after landing a job as Sous Chef. After applying for the Head Chef position at Wheelers Fish Restaurant on King’s Road in Chelsea – and getting the nod – he stayed there for two years.

Sometime later, Rosembert was on the move again, this time leaving London and his family behind to take up the position of Head Chef in a family-run Italian restaurant in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Less than a year later, he returned to London and landed a job as Head Chef at the Coconut Grove Restaurant, staying there for a year until he became Head Chef at the Sports Village Hotel in Norwich in 1989 where stayed for the next three years.

With the vast wealth of culinary experience on his side, Rosembert made a bold move in 1992 by opening his first restaurant, Café des Amis, in Orford Yard, Norwich City Centre. However, after a successful six-year run there, he closed shop and opened at a new location in the Village of Easton, Norwich.

The new restaurant, Chez Denis, complemented the 19-bedroom hotel that Chef Denis built afterwards. However, after 17 years, the restaurant was moved back to the City Centre in Orford Yard, Norwich.

Last December, he published his first book, “Taste of the French Caribbean”, a 226-page hardcover collection of his delicious Caribbean-flavoured recipes that fall under the categories of soups, fish, meat, vegetarian, sauces and desserts.
From sumptuous jerk chicken to spicy curried mutton to mouthwatering sweet golden apple cake, the book is designed to bring your kitchen to life again as he blends the eclectic cuisines of Africa, Europe and Eastern India with a saint Lucian twist create a unique taste for every meal.
“The book came about because my clients love what I cooked. They love the flavour, but do not know how to create it. So they kept asking me for the recipes. I told them if I gave them the recipes, they’d have to pay me. They suggested that I do the book, which I did,” he explained.

Rosembert, who specializes in French Creole, Jewish, Italian and other cuisines, said he found financial independence through hard work, dedication to his craft and an ability to learn new things. His wife, Dinah, has seen his struggles since 1978 and the couple’s three children – Denise, Kersha and Dean – have already begun adopting their father’s go-getter work ethic.

“The way I approach things is that I don’t believe anybody is better than me, neither am I better than anybody else,” Rosembert said. “I’m not going to be living forever and I want to retire or do something different. That’s why I put this book together so that people can actually have the recipes and know how it’s done. Right now, I want to organize holiday cooking workshops here for people from abroad and Saint Lucia.”

Rosembert said he wants to pay it forward to the country that gave him birth, adding that in 2000 he and his wife built a guest house in Belle Vue, Gros Islet in order to provide employment for fellow Saint Lucians.

Said Rosembert: “So we have about thirteens bedrooms here altogether. I was fortunate to be where I am, so I wanted to give something back. We also have two properties in the south of France.”

Rosembert’s advice to Saint Lucians this Independence is to embrace hard work and education and not resort to complaining and mediocrity. He also urged that people tap into their true potential and not be pressured by the challenges that often serve to distract them. Finding true independence, he said, is feeling that one has accomplished their goals.

“Have a goal, believe in yourself and go for it 100%,” Rosembert advised. “Do not go halfway because halfway is not good. You might get trials and tribulations on the way, but stay focused on your end goal. That’s what I did. The thing is that everybody is different but you can adapt to how you carry yourself which should be with respect anywhere you go.”

The new recipe book costs $100 and is now available through Saint Lucia Books and Cost Less Rent A Car in Reduit.