Fifteen years ago when a young Kester Robinson was crowded by peers for a little taste of what he cooked up in Central High School’s Home Economics Department, it was clear to all that he had a future in the kitchen.
Now Robinson is the award-winning chef behind The Pergola Smokehouse and Lounge, which counts a wide cross-section of society among its patrons, while furthering his mission of broadening the culinary horizons of Guyanese.
“The Pergola was really opened because I wanted persons to be exposed to different ingredients, to international standards and more so be creative and innovative in their craft unlike everybody cooking the same food. While I support Guyana’s cuisines — chowmein, cookup rice, fried rice — I still believe that we can do more and we should be very versed when it comes to cuisines and not be limited to these. In being innovative, I want us to utilise as much as we can of our local ingredients, with just little touches of the ingredients we will find abroad but being more open to fusing the ingredients. The founding of it was to elevate Guyanese cuisine… its presentation… its portions, and also making it somewhat healthier. Over the time The Pergola has been here, I’ve trained many staff and many persons within the culinary, hospitality industry to become better professionals some of [whom] came without any knowledge and today they’re doing much better,” Robinson told Stabroek Weekend.
During a visit to The Pergola, located at the Courtyard Mall on Robb Street, Georgetown, one will immediately notice the atmosphere that Robinson has sought to evoke as he seeks to offer not only food but an entire experience. In addition to the use of upcycled and recycled materials, there are figurines and other knickknacks and collectibles, many of which Robinson has brought back from the places he has visited.
Robinson’s experience in the kitchen started at home. He recalled helping to cream the butter and the sugar, beating eggs and adding them to the mixture one at a time then folding the flour in whenever his mother was baking cakes on the weekends. It didn’t take long before he was sure he knew enough to bake a cake on his own. He was fourteen when he baked his first sponge cake. A year later, a proud Robinson was sharing samples to close friends; the reviews, he said, were great.
At fifteen, a cousin picking up on the teen’s passion for baking enrolled him into classes presented by now late cake decorating pioneer Debbie Mentore. One day, when a neighbour was getting married, they asked whether he knew anyone who could bake a wedding cake. “Me,” Robinson replied. Although they initially thought he must have been joking, Robinson got the job. His mother assisted as several pounds of black cake were ordered. “It was a lot of work but from that came another wedding and then another wedding. The reviews from the first wedding were really good. The cake itself tasted so amazing that even today people still ask if I could do their wedding cakes… Being so young and being able to handle a cake to that level, to that size, was an achievement,” he said.
In school, Robinson was an introvert and preferred to keep to himself. This, of course, was not a great trait for making friends and some even told him he was too “stush”. It was a while before he learnt that “stush” meant he felt he was too good to be their friend but the wonders he did in Home Economics class changed all of that.
Classmates and teachers were so taken by his baking and cooking that he became popular.
He recalled that after an Agriculture class where the students were required to walk with eggs for a topic, they handed him their eggs and asked that he use them to bake them a cake. In the run up to their Christmas parties, students in his class would bring money or the required ingredients for Kester to prepare all of the food. Robinson even catered his own graduation ceremony and years after Central High would have him cater other graduations. “I must give credit to Central High, they were very supportive of me,” he said.
Two years later after high school, Robinson was encouraged by Judge Nicole Pierre to attend Carnegie School of Home Economics. He spent a year there doing bake shop and pastry, and restaurant training courses. After-ward, he left Guyana to do a course in Trinidad on cake decorating but instead ended up doing wedding planning and décor at the University of the West Indies (UWI) open campus followed by a course in Business Management. His first job subsequently followed. While in Trinidad, Robinson worked at three restaurants, including the Aioli Restaurant, and the Soongs Great Wall Restaurant. During that time, he did a diploma in baking and pastry arts at the Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute. He also spent six months in Antigua at the Sandals Resort, where he did work study. He said he excelled and was put in charge of all wedding cakes and special functions while working alongside chefs from the Philippines and Switzerland. Though he was still an intern, having worked closely with these chefs, he gained so much knowledge and honed his skill that many didn’t realise that he was just an intern. Added to the list of impressive things he’s done, Robinson also worked for the then first lady of St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a consultant for her cafe and he trained all her staff there during the several months he stayed there.
During his time away Robinson managed to earn several accolades, including a silver medal for the National Culinary Competition in Trinidad in 2016, and being recognised as Best Pastry Chef in the same year and for the Best Dessert a year later. He was also recognised by the Trinidad and Tobago Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism Association for his contribution to the culinary industry there.
Despite his expertise in pastry making, Robinson shared that he has never done pastry making here in Guyana. He chuckled at the thought of what most Guyanese would say at the sight of several tiny pastries on a plate. Guyanese, he explained, are accustomed to large platters of food, often with the main portion being rice. “My restaurant really was a way to share my knowledge of what I’ve learnt outside with the Guyanese here, more so students who would have attended Carnegie. I still believe today that these students are not exposed and are not experienced enough. While experience is one thing, exposure is another thing. Most of the lecturers at Carnegie are lecturers; they are not chef lecturers…. As much as they get some level of practice over the time they are with the students, it’s a whole different ball game in a high paced industry,” he said.
Through his restaurant, Robinson taught approximately a hundred students between the ages of 5 and 18 back in 2019. His students, he reminisced, loved the experience. There were also couples’ cooking sessions done last year. Plans are in train to have these sessions again this year.
Robinson plans to head to France later this year if all goes well. The trip, expected to last several months, is to enable the chef can further his studies in the pastry art. During this time, persons will be trained to manage The Pergola. Whether Guyana will be ready for what he plans to introduce when he returns is a question he can’t answer but with dessert being close to his heart, he hopes that the people here will be more open minded towards trying new foods and understanding the art of it.
The Pergola can be contacted on Facebook and Instagram or via telephone at 644-2221.
