New Head Chef compares Alderney to Caribbean islands

When Wendell Jacob compares a sunny day on Alderney to the Caribbean islands, he knows what he's talking about – he hails from Barbados.

The new Head Chef at The Connaught came to the island when a friend living in Jersey suggested the Channel Islands as a good place to work as a chef.

He's glad he crossed the Atlantic not only because he keeps the residents, staff and Meals-on-Wheels clients well fed, but also because sometimes Alderney feels like home from home.

"On a nice spring or summer day, it's equal to any Caribbean island," he says in the summer issue of the Connaught Chronicle newsletter (connaughtcare.org/l/our-first-newsletter/), out now. "Alderney has got so much going for it, like a secret destination."

The 41-year-old has been in charge of the care home's kitchens since February, bringing considerable skills learned as a Sous Chef at the Royal Westmoreland golf resort in Barbados and latterly as Senior Chef de Partie at Alderney's Blonde Hedgehog boutique hotel.

He's in charge of four kitchen staff serving the 50+ residents plus 20 Meals on Wheels a day. His wife, Karen Chase, splits her time working part-time at The Connaught and as a receptionist at the Mignot Memorial Hospital.

"Our aim is to constantly improve food quality while ensuring it's also nutritional," he says during a break in the busy service. "So our menus are both tasty and healthy."