Today we’d like to introduce you to Cheryl Chin.
Hi Cheryl, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My husband Anson and I are of Jamaican Chinese ancestry. I was born in Kingston, Jamaica. 3 grandparents from China, maternal grandmother and both parents born and raised in Jamaica. I have 3 sisters and a younger brother. Moved to Miami to attend college in 1980. Miami-Dade Community College then Florida International University for Undergraduate and Graduate degrees. Married Anson in 1984. He was born in Portland, Jamaica. We have one son AJ, daughter-in-law Kylie and 2 granddaughters. We also have 2 older foster daughters. Our family is very passionate about food so having a restaurant works for us. Our son is also a food blogger with his own youtube channel. This is how Jamaica Kitchen Restaurant came to be.
In 1976 one of Anson’s relatives bought a pizza and sub shop called Ruzzi’s Pizza.
Anson started making Jamaican patties for the pizza shop. They were very popular. His sister and her husband then bought the shop in 1979 and started adding Jamaican dishes to the menu. His uncle bought the business in 1986 and that’s when current head chef Alfred Kong and I came to work here and it was eventually renamed Jamaica Kitchen. We converted the menu to all Jamaican dishes and stopped making pizza and subs. Anson’s uncle passed away so Anson and I took over the business completely. Since Anson is also an excellent chef, we expanded the menu to include Jamaican Chinese dishes too. So we offer delicious Jamaican and Jamaican chinese food like curried oxtails, jerk chicken, jerk pork, suey mein, stew peas, rice and peas, ackee and saltfish, chinese roast chicken, fried rice, curry goat and a daily soup. Our menu is quite large and we have many different flavors of Jamaican patties as well.
Over the years, ethnic food has become more and more popular. We were featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives first in 2008 and again on Triple D Nation in Feb 2020. We are invited to the annual SOBE Food and Wine Festival on February 24th, 2023, to participate in the Diners Drive-Ins and Dives event hosted by Hunter Fieri at the National Hotel that night. We also participated 4 years ago at Taste of Jamaica night there. We have done several interviews and videos for magazines, both online and on television.
Currently, the restaurant continues to prosper. We stay pretty busy. Jamaican food has really gotten extremely popular over the last several years. Unfortunately, our most popular meat costs especially oxtails and goat prices have skyrocketed. We survived covid; tough at first but we made it through. Food costs are all currently pretty high. We are hanging in there thank goodness. We have great employees, many long term and very dependable. We are grateful to still be in the same business after so many years. Alfred, our main cook (doesn’t like to be called a chef) still comes to work at 330am every morning 6 days a week. He has a sous chef that assists him. We have very loyal customers that have been with us for 36+ years and many of their children and grandchildren are now regular patrons also. We get new customers all the time. It’s very rewarding to see regular and new faces daily.
Anson and I have large extended families and so far, America has been very good to us. We are truly blessed.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There were some rough years until we really got established. Covid was and still is tough. We lost several customers to this dreadful disease. We made it through though it continues to affect our lives in different ways. Even though we are Jamaican born and raised, we are also of Chinese heritage, and we faced some prejudice from a few at the beginning of covid.
Daily we face prejudice from a few that come in the restaurant, see Asians (most of the staff are Jamaican Chinese), and just walk out because they think we are not authentic Jamaicans.
We actually have a sign in here that says, “Yes We Are Jamaican.” Others will question us about heritage etc to find out if we truly are Jamaican. Since we do have Jamaican accents that usually ends the discussions quickly. Unfortunately, a few others just leave without asking anything.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I oversee the daily restaurant operations. My front manager Wendy and I deal with catering orders for events and parties. Anson handles much of the business’ financial side as well as being a chef and purchasing many of the restaurant staples.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We have great front people, also an excellent kitchen manager, awesome chefs, and very competent, hardworking staff overall. We are very lucky. Pretty much runs smoothly most of the time. Please come try our food. We aim to please. We are primarily takeout but have some seating. We also use DoorDash, UberEats and Grubhub delivery services. Our son and my brother take care of anything computer-related, website, tech support.
Anson and I have large extended families and so far, America has been very good to us. We are truly blessed. Thank you for sharing our story.
Facebook, Instagram… all social media.
Contact Info:
- Phone: (305) 596-2585
- Website: www.jamaicakitchen.com
- Instagram: @jamaicakitchen
- Facebook: facebook.com/jamaicakitchenmia
- TikTok: @jamaicakitchen
