cutting ribbon
Strategically located virtually in the heart of the tourism belt, in the western area of Anguilla, is a just-opened culinary facility called Sarjai’s Restaurant, offering eclectic cuisine for lunch and dinner. The opening was on Tuesday evening this week.
The couple operating the roadside restaurant in Long Bay, are Mr Darren Connor and his wife, Mrs Cherise Connor, who named it after their daughter, Sarjai. The building was previously used over the years by other operators for similar restaurant services.
It was recently up for rent and, as Darren criss-crossed the area, he had an idea to become involved in the restaurant ownership business. He took down the “for rent” sign and over the next few days convinced the owner to turn over the building to him.
For young Darren, it is an extension of his well-known culinary expertise. In the first place, he is the lead chef at Bamboo Restaurant at Viceroy Anguilla to which resort he has brought much pride as a result of his culinary successes in Miami. For some years now, he has been a member of the famed Anguilla Culinary Team which has distinguished itself as a force to be reckoned with at the Annual Taste of the Caribbean Culinary Competition. The team has won gold awards, either individually or collectively, and Darren has been a major part of that achievement.
This year in the culinary competition, for example, Chef Connor won the Chef of the Caribbean for cooking the best beef. In addition, he won the Angus beef award and next spring he will travel around the Midwest USA with Angus Beef to inspect the farms. In 2003 he was instrumental in helping his team to win the best menu award in the culinary competition.
Mrs Gilda Gumbs-Samuel, Executive Director of the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, was the main speaker at the opening of the restaurant. “This is an extremely welcoming pleasure for me because Darren a member of the culinary team which I am tasked with taking to Miami every year,” she said. “For the past couple of years, I always said that Darren is was a quiet giant of the year. No matter how exciting the times were, he was always very quiet – and when a problem would occur in Miami, Darren always said ‘don’t worry, Gilda, we are going to make it work’”.
It was probably that quiet confidence and influence that led to the successful accomplishments of the team.
Even at the opening of his restaurant, and the excitement it engendered among his many friends and well-wishers, Darren, only smiling, maintained his quietude. It was his wife who spoke on his behalf, and about how both of them undertook to open the restaurant with the hope that it would eventually become one of Anguilla’s popular culinary spots. To that end, they both cut the ribbon to the inside of the well-laid out building following the blessing by Anglican Priest, Reverend Menes Hodge.
