Obviously cooking Caribbean food had been in the back of my mind for years,’ says Michelle, ‘but up until MasterChef I’d always had to be quite subtle with it because of the places I was working. Suddenly, I could go a bit more all-out with it and really showcase those Caribbean flavours fully. The feedback was amazing, particularly when Marcus Wareing said my food was "Caribbean royalty on a plate!" That competition was when I discovered that I definitely wanted to do Caribbean food.’

Coming out of MasterChef, Michelle’s mission became combining her love of precise, elevated cookery, which she’d discovered throughout her training, with the Caribbean flavours she was so familiar with. Despite Caribbean food already being relatively well-represented in London at the time, this elevated style of the cuisine was something she felt was lacking, ‘I wanted to show that Caribbean food isn’t all about that jerk shack vibe and isn’t always super casual,’ she explains, ‘it could be elevated to become a fine dining cuisine like French or Spanish. I longed for somewhere that I could get dressed up, be wowed by amazing Caribbean food and for it to feel like a real occasion. That was my aim – to try taking it away from the street food level.’

Michelle launched her own supper club concept Myristica in 2018, cooking the elevated style of Caribbean food that she’s so passionate about, and within a year her events were selling out. One of the keys to this popularity was ensuring that her food never lost the flavour, and even more importantly the soul, that she feels all Caribbean food should have. Michelle may use techniques she learnt in Michelin-starred kitchens to take her menu to the next level while also championing seasonal produce, but her priority is that her food is still recognisably Caribbean. 

‘It’s definitely a delicate balance between compiling dishes in a different way but keeping that authenticity,’ says Michelle, ‘but I think I’ve got it just right. It gives me goosebumps sometimes when people take me aside at the end of the meal, often elderly Caribbean people, and say ‘This reminds me of my grandmother’s food’, but equally it’s amazing seeing people try Caribbean for the first time and loving it. At the end of the day, I want people to come and have a really positive memory of Caribbean food, just as I do from my childhood.’

The success of Michelle’s supper clubs is proof that there is definitely a demand for high-end Caribbean cookery in London; her attention is now turned to finding a permanent home for Myristica, so that even more people can try her progressive take on the cuisine. In the meantime, as Executive Chef at the Royal College of General Practitioners she continues to flourish in the kitchen, bringing the odd Caribbean twist to the menu. Her biggest focus, however, remains bringing Caribbean food to a wider audience – something she did by creating meal kits during the pandemic, ‘I want everyone to be able to try Caribbean food at its finest, no matter where you are in the UK,’ she smiles, ‘I’ve started a spice range and only plan to do more TV appearances to encourage people to try cooking Caribbean food in their own homes but there are other plans going on behind the scenes.’

Michelle isn’t just a chef with a huge amount of skill in the kitchen, but one with a huge amount of ambition too, demonstrated by her commitment to making a success of Myristica while also increasing awareness of Caribbean food more broadly. If her success so far is anything to go by, it would come as no surprise at all to see Michelle leading the way in contemporary Caribbean cuisine in years to come.