The Anguilla Culinary Experience 2024 (ACE) will welcome Guest Chefs Zachary Engel, James Beard Award-winner and executive chef and co-owner of Michelin-starred Galit in Chicago, and Yannick Rochat, sous chef at Saison by Mauro Colagreco at Raffles London at The OWO, when the destination-wide epicurean festival returns for its third year from 23 – 26 May 2024 in Anguilla.
Anguilla’s only destination-wide food and wine festival, ACE, brings together culinary talent and food-loving guests from Anguilla and around the world at the island’s luxury resorts, private villas and bespoke restaurants.
During the four days of music-filled parties, collaborative dinners, beach barbeques, cooking competitions and tastings, talented local and international chefs, sommeliers, and mixologists draw on their diverse influences and creativity as they share kitchens and showcase Anguilla’s fresh seafood and native ingredients.
A portion of ACE sponsorships and ticket sales will help fund critical, educational programming for the island’s next generation of culinary and hospitality professionals.
This year’s festival opens Thursday, 23 May, with a choice of tantalising dining experiences. Chef Proprietor Alain Laurent of Jacala (right) is partnering with Nathalie Le Sénéchal of Grands Vins De France Anguilla and Brian Bostwick of The Duckhorn Portfolio to present a five-course, wine pairing dinner at the beachfront Meads Bay restaurant. Guests will enjoy a leisurely evening of Napa Valley wines and French fare with Caribbean flair.
Savi Beach Club will host Savor, Soirée & Sensation at its chic, seaside venue on Meads Bay. The epic evening will begin with a set dinner by Executive Chef Dario Schiavo and live music, followed by a comic, vibrant cabaret show and an after-party with a DJ and dancing. For Thursday’s Restaurant Night, Chef Engel will merge his Middle Eastern flavours with Chef Proprietor Carrie Bogar’s ‘Cuisine of the Sun’ at Veya Restaurant in Sandy Ground.
The duo will alternate dinner courses and team up for dessert. At Bamboo Bar & Grill at Four Seasons Anguilla on Meads Bay, Executive Chef Manu Calderon will bring Caribbean flavours to life in a multi-course dinner with live music.
“Working with Chef Carrie will be a privilege and an exciting opportunity for me to learn more about Anguilla. Chefs are ambassadors for their cities and citizens. We love to share everything, and I’m always so grateful to chefs I get to collaborate with for welcoming me into their spaces,” said Chef Engel. “Hospitality people have a lot of pride in their hometowns. This shines at a food festival, where we gather as industry colleagues to give guests a killer time.”
Both guest chefs will cook on Friday, 24 May. Chefs Engel and Bogar will reunite on the oceanfront terrace at Villa Alegria on Cul de Sac to present a tasting menu. Hosted by ACE Co-chairs Neil and Wendy Freeman, the evening starts with cocktails and live music.
Each course will be paired with wines selected by Bogar’s husband, Veya co-owner Jerry Bogar, and curated by Grands Vins de France Anguilla. Chef Engel will also share his industry insights with local culinary students at a morning Q&A session at Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club.
At Altamer Luxury Villas on Shoal Bay West, Guest Chef Yannick Rochat (above) is joining his brother, Chef Xavier Rochat of Anguilla, to present Flavors of Altamer, a Culinary Tapestry of Caribbean Cuisine. The gastronomic journey will spotlight a variety of indigenous ingredients and feature a rooftop cocktail hour with delectable, passed bites, followed by an oceanfront dinner.
Also, on Friday, the blissful shores of Maundays Bay will become the setting for a Barefoot Beach Dinner featuring live music and interactive culinary stations by Executive Chef Bruno Carvalho at Cap Juluca, a Belmond Hotel.
Farm-to-table Garden Dinner at Aurora. Photograph by Pink Mako.
On Saturday, May 25, Platinum ACE Sponsor Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club will host its ACE signature party, A Taste of Aurora, at D Richard’s Steakhouse. Guests will embark on a grand culinary tour featuring customised offerings from six of Aurora’s deliciously diverse restaurants—all in one place, all in one night.
Partygoers can dine their way through a series of gourmet oases, sip cocktails made with fresh ingredients grown onsite at Aurora’s organic farm and hydroponic gardens, dance under the stars to a live band, and enter to win raffle prizes.
On Sunday, 26 May, the fan-favourite ACE Beach BBQ + Basket & Bartending Battles, presented by NCBA, returns to the Anguilla Great House & Beach Resort on Rendezvous Bay.
The grills will be hot, and the drinks cold as chefs from Paper’s BBQ, Tasty’s POV, Anguilla Great House, and Roy’s Bayside Grill serve up gourmet burgers, slow-cooked brisket and grilled seafood, chicken and ribs, along with desserts by Heart & Soul Takeout, Catering & Confectionary.
ACE-goers can mash sand (aka dance) to the DJ’s tunes, enter prize raffles, play trivia, make a kids’ craft with KidzKare and cheer on the members of the Anguilla National Culinary Team (ANCT) as they square off in this year’s mystery basket challenge and a new bartending battle.
Chefs Engel, Bogar and Chef Proprietor Lowell Hodge of Sharky’s restaurant will judge the cooking competition and ANCT alum and International Bartender Hall of Fame member Ron Webster will crown the champion of the inaugural ACE Bartending Battle.
Following the BBQ, everyone is invited to Malliouhana’s beach bar and restaurant, Leon’s at Meads Bay, for an ACE edition of the resort’s popular Sunday Funday.
The festive gathering will feature live music, tropical cocktails and island-inspired fare from Head Chef Kelston “Sweets” Connor. Later that evening, Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club’s Culinary Director Chef Michele Greggio, Executive Sous Chef Lester Gumbs and Sous Chef Karla Hughes will present a Farm-to-Table Garden Dinner.
The alfresco feast will be held on the resort’s organic farm and will be accompanied by wine selections by Aurora Sommelier Bernel Richardson (above) and live music. Cocktails and courses will centre around freshly harvested vegetables, fruit, and herbs from the farm and Aurora’s hydroponic gardens.
In between the festival’s main events, guests can enjoy restaurant specials by Chef Hodge at Sharky’s on the West End and by Chef Rexford “Rex” Fleming (below) at Ocean Echo on Meads Bay.
Photography by Lily Moses.
At Malliouhana, ACE-enthusiasts can learn the history of rum on the island from Cultural Ambassador Chesney Hughes while indulging in infused chocolates by Pastry Chef Tim Franklin paired with locally made Glo’s Flavoured Rums and concocting speciality rum punches with Mixologist Taffy Roland-Hodge.
Local guides from Quest Experiences will lead immersive cultural experiences such as harvesting natural salt and making traditional Johnny Cakes in an outdoor oven. Quest will also chauffeur rum-punch-loving guests in open-air, candy-coloured Mokes on a beach bar rum crawl around the island hosted by Nicole Gerber, co-owner of the luxury travel agency JetSetting Families, a SmartFlyer affiliate and Virtuoso member.
“We welcome Guest Chefs Zachary Engel from Galit in Chicago and Yannick Rochat from Raffles in London to this year’s event,” said Mrs Stacey Liburd, Anguilla’s Director of Tourism. “Visitors to ACE will experience not only the truly innovative cuisine inspired by these outstanding chef collaborations but also our fantastic local culinary traditions, which have made Anguilla the destination of choice for foodies seeking delectable adventures.”
Janine Edwards, an executive with Sunset Homes Anguilla and founder of JanineConnects.com, and Trudy Nixon, publisher and producer of TRUE Anguilla Magazine and TRUE Anguilla TV Show, are returning as ACE’s knowledgeable and vivacious festival co-hosts.
Visit www.anguillaculinaryexperience.com for more information and to buy tickets.
Tickets are sold a la carte, allowing festival goers to customise an itinerary that fits their style, palate, and budget.
How to get to Anguilla
Anguilla is accessible from the UK via British Airways or Virgin Atlantic on services to Antigua (ANU), followed by a short inter-island flight transfer to Anguilla (AXA). An alternative route is with Air France via Paris (CDG) to St Maarten (SXM), followed by a short boat transfer or flight.
American Airlines also operates a service from Miami International Airport (MIA) into Anguilla, with connections to the UK available.
For more information on Anguilla, please visit the official website: www.ivisitanguilla.com.
Lead image of Villa Alegria Chefs Dinner. Photograph by Zuri Wilkes.
You must be logged in to post a comment.