Chef Collin brings a taste of the Caribbean to Colchester

He has catered events for a whole host of A-listers from Katy Perry and Beyonce to super rich American dynasty the Rockefeller family and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

And he says they all have in common a real desire to experience an authentic taste of Jamaica.

Now Collin is bringing his unique style of culinary expertise to a recently opened Colchester bar to launch a tapas-style menu rich in Caribbean flavour and origin.

Collin explains his decision to put down roots in the north Essex town has his family at its heart.

With his own award-winning restaurant in London’s Canary Wharf and events booked up months in advance for the great and the good, he was spending less and less time with his wife, who was also working alongside him at the restaurant.

“Then we had a baby and it became more and more important to spend as much time together, so we made the decision to back to Jamaica for a while because I got an amazing job offer too,” he explains.

But in December last year, while creating and working with Colchester food company Surya on his own range of sauces, Collin decided to move to Colchester.

“As soon as I came here, I knew it was the right place for my family. It has got a really good relaxed atmosphere and we just felt it was a really great environment for our son.

“And then I wanted to find somewhere I could work that was near my family and would give me that good work-life balance,” says Collin.

After meeting owner of the Haunt, Karen Mole, the pair got on straight away and began working together on launching the new menu for the North Hill venue.

With a passion for intensely-flavoured Caribbean cookery, Collin says he brings together the contemporary and the traditional for his unique take on Jamaican cuisine.

Fusing exotic flavours and textures he says his food proudly harks back to the generations of folk who inhabited Jamaica for centuries with recipes passed down through the generations.

Jerk chicken, curried goat and steamed sea bass are among Collin’s signature dishes.

Born in Trelawny, Collin started his career in Jamaica aged just 16, learning the craft through apprenticeships across both that island and the Cayman Islands before moving the Britain almost 20 years ago.

He explains it took a great deal of “hard graft” fighting his way up the UK’s tough culinary ladder which included time spent selling his distinctive Jamaican Rum Cakes on the street of Dalston.

His Jamaican/European culinary fusion began to put him on the map and catch the eye of foodies and celebrities across the world.

His fine dining restaurant, Chef Collin Brown, saw him become the first Caribbean chef to be awarded a prestigious AA Rosette.

As well as wanting to spend more time with his family, his decision to return to his beloved Jamaica in 2013 was also inspired by an offer to cook at the only Caribbean castle, Trident Castle and the historic White Witch Restaurant in Montego Bay along with running a cookery school.

He says: “I was dying for an opportunity to bring it home and create a restaurant that attracts people from all over the world.

“The White Witch is such an amazing, historic location and what really sold it to me was the opportunity to create a chef school on site.

“This work is really important to me. I never received formal culinary training.

“I learned everything by apprenticeship on the job and this is what I have always wanted to do, it’s my way of giving back to Jamaica.”

His return to Britain, and subsequent move to Colchester has also seen the launch of his range of sauces and marinades, in 50 Tesco stores, which allow fans of his style of cooking to have a go at recreating it at home.

“People often do not know where to start but with these they can just put the sauce in or rub on the marinade and they instantly have the flavour there.

“A lot of people always asked me all the time how to make it, so it seemed a good way of doing it and the response has been good since it has started being sold in Tesco.

“I am hoping another big supermarket will be taking it on soon as well,” he says.

And this week also saw the launch of the new menu at the Haunt. He explains : “The idea is that people who want to try it but are not sure what to order, can have a taste of different dishes. That is why we have done it like a tapas style menu. I have worked with the brilliant bar staff to create cocktails that complement the food and the idea is that it will be very relaxed.

“Like a home from home where you can just sit back and relax.”

Pulled Jerk pork spring roll with sweet, zesty June plum and lime sauce, poached mussels in light coconut rundown, with coriander fennel, curried mutton with rice and peas and breaded potato balls with salt mackerel pate are just some of the mouth watering dishes on the new menu.

Customers will be able to buy three for one price, or six, in order to make the choice that bit easier.

There is even a Haunt signature salmon fish cake with caviar, created especially for the bar which will now be a home from home to Collin himself six nights a week.

That isn’t to say he won’t be keeping his hand in catering for the odd celebrity here and there.

He already has a barbecue planned for former Hollyoaks star Nathalie Emmanuel, who hails from Southend, and has gone on to star in Game of the Thrones and the Fast and Furious movie Franchise.

“I have known her since she was a little girl and I have been cooking for her at parties and things since she came to my restaurant in Canary Wharf when she was about 16.

“Most of the celebrities I cook for just really want that authentic Caribbean taste.”