WHO'S COOKING at ...The Terra Nova All Suite Hotel?

The epitome of epicurean dining, the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel has been providing top-class meals for years.

Whether it's the always-enjoyable Sunday Brunch or the comparatively new Steak and Seafood Wednesdays, if it's at the Terra Nova, it's fine dining. Leading the food brigade is Chef Ronald Morrison. He said he's officially been a chef for 13 years, but he's been in the kitchen for many more years.

"I've always cooked at home from I was a boy, doing my mackerel and dumplings," he joked. The cheerful chef, who loves to prepare seafood, explained that when he went to high school, he originally signed up for a welding class.

"But the class was too full, so I remembered the cooking I did at home and I thought, 'mek mi try di Food and Nutrition'. The teacher thought it was a good idea," he recalled. After high school, Morrison got more experience working in Antigua for two years. After he returned to Jamaica, there was a brief stint at Mother's. He's been at the Terra Nova for 10 years, improving his skills through various HEART Trust/NTA programmes. Now he does the full range of cooking (including a little pastry) but "I like the fireside. When the orders come in, I like the rush."

He's a big fan of the Gleaner-sponsored Restaurant Week. "It's very interesting. I like the face it's giving to food now. In past years, food has always been on the back burner but now people are getting more interested." He joked that he wouldn't mind seeing an RW where the kitchen staff get to enjoy the fare. He does cook at home but "only for special guests and on my wife's birthday." But he places emphasis on exposure to new foods.

"Even in presentations to students, I try to break them out of the thinking 'mi nah eat that'. You have to develop your tastebuds. We are in charge of uplifting Jamaican food, incorporating international food with Jamaican."