Nothing but the best is good enough |17 August 2019

A trailblazing Irish chef, Kevin Coey, is bringing the Creole multi-cultural cuisine in fine-dining form to Hilton hotels in Seychelles.

The chef displayed his new menu to various media houses yesterday afternoon in a chef’s table event.

The chef stated fish as his main inspiration. “The local availability in the market and off the boat is second to none, besides this the ability to grow our own fruits and vegetables is unique in comparison to other countries that I have worked in,” said chef Coey.

Mr Coey, who has been a chef for Hilton hotels for 21 years now and has been in Seychelles for more than five years, is the head chef at the Hilton Northolme Resort & Spa.

“The local produce that is available on the side of the road is of magnificent quality and readily available if you know where to look for them,” said chef Coey, who added that the hotel will accordingly have food inspired by the local culture.

Dishes on the new menu include lobster bisque, red snapper carpaccio, beef tenderloins and snapper cheek, and coconut parfait, just to name a few. The flavour is as diverse as Seychelles itself, with quality ingredients that when cooked together scream Creole cuisine.

The menu also includes a dish concocted by 19-year-old local cook Robert Ahtime, whose Panko breadfruit made from black pudding mouse, pumpkin crème, local chips and bred lanmar dressing, won him second place in the Hilton FMB masters cooking competition.

“I’ve come up with dishes that Seychellois usually eat and I modernised it a bit,” said the 19-year-old cook.

Ahtime who has been with Hilton for six months states that the hotel is a place that allows him to grow not only creatively but professionally as well. He states that as a young cook it takes confidence, passion and dedication to do something good.

Hilton is one of many hotels that are taking a more environmentally friendly approach and they have incorporated this approach in the kitchen.

“As a chef I one hundred percent believe in sustainable fishing, there is no point fishing for red snappers if there are only two in the sea,” said chef Coey.

The hotel’s menu also comprises vegetable grown and harvested from their local garden

The new menu was launched in February this year with rave reviews from guests and is available at the Les Cocotiers restaurant Hilton Northolme.

The accompanying photos show chef Coey and some of his culinary creations.