Chasing Excellence: Culinary Director Matt Worswick Reflects on a Legacy at The Cliff
“We’re aiming for perfection”, Matt Worswick says without the slightest change in the tone of his voice. He means it.
— By Kylee Ross — Photography Kenneth Theysen
Culinary Director – The Cliff
On opening day at The Cliff, he attended an early morning staff meeting to run through “how things are going to work, who's going to be in what place, and where the managers are going to be”, Worswick says. Next on Worswick’s agenda was a meeting with the chefs for a run-through of the menu. “Has it been checked? Has it been finalised? Do we have all of the dietary requirements? Do we have enough plates?” All of this was followed by a “walkaround”—essentially a look at all the table settings done every hour even during service. After the walkaround, Worswick took a final look at the reservations and table plans (he is responsible for the menu and the front of house as culinary director, after all). And finally, Worswick attended another full staff briefing as the first reservation quickly approached.
While the first round of champagne and canapés were served at the bar and lounge, each team member was queued up in position to make the evening’s service run like clockwork. “Everyone deserves their spot to be a part of opening The Cliff”, Worswick says. “This is an iconic moment for everybody, certainly for me.”
He notes the significance of the moment because The Cliff has had a long-standing reputation as a world-renowned restaurant in the Caribbean for over 25 years. And now Worswick is a part of the new legacy which includes an updated menu, an outdoor sushi bar, an entirely renovated restaurant with modern lines and sharp decor, and thoughtful nods to the history of the restaurant throughout the overall dining experience. “It’s still called The Cliff, but it's a new Cliff”, Worswick says.
The expertise Worswick brings to The Cliff far exceeds simply cooking exquisite dishes. He most recently held a position as executive head chef at Gordon Ramsay’s Savoy Grill in London. With a background in Michelin-starred restaurants and five-star hotels, and having earned a Michelin star twice in his own right at the Latymer restaurant and Gelnapp Castle, he’s now most passionate about two things. One, training new staff in the kitchen and seeing them excel in their role. And two, creating unforgettable experiences focused on food. “That's the essence of hospitality, being able to deliver memories and create them”, Worswick says. “Every food experience, or major part of people's lives, whether it's a wedding, a funeral, a baptism, a bar mitzvah, whatever, it's all food.” In a guest’s experience, Worswick says, the chef is just the middle person, “between the amazing ingredients that we get and the guests. All we apply in the middle is either heat or technique to the food.”
Worswick’s menu at The Cliff is based on seasonal ingredients and, as he describes, modern European food packed with bold flavours. “You should be able to eat anything on the menu and know what it is without a printed menu in front of you”, he says. “You’ll know the flavours.” Worswick’s signature dish is a dark chocolate délice. It’s chocolate mousse, ice cream, salted caramel, and yogurt that takes three days to make. That’s the kind of meticulous treatment you’ll find in any dish at The Cliff. There isn’t an abundance of garnishes or surprise pops of sauces or plated purées—each dish is an elegant homage to an ingredient by highlighting its natural flavour profile.
The fall menu included: heirloom tomato salad with goat cheese, tomato water, and basil; cornish scallops with celeriac, curry, caper and pine nut dressing; dorset crown rack of lamb with smoked yogurt, potato mash, carrot, and lamb jus gras; goat cheese ravioli with smoked tomato, spinach, sauce vierge. “We keep the same sort of menu format but we change our menu all the time”, Worswick says. “It keeps the creativity for the chefs as well. What are they going to learn if they do the same thing day in and day out?”
To Worswick, every member of The Cliff team is key to creating the perfect dining experience. That’s why he’s keen on recruiting fresh, enthusiastic talent. “We’re guests here in Barbados”, Worswick says, “and if I can leave some sort of a mark, I want The Cliff to be a training school for people.” He sees a future where people who have worked at The Cliff for a few years move on to other restaurants with the foundational knowledge of working in a fine dining kitchen—and sharing that knowledge within the restaurant industry in Barbados.
“I don’t want to just be perched up on the hill”, Worswick says. The views of the ocean and seaside cliffs are stunning from the hill where you can find the restaurant (especially when the The Cliff balcony is lit up at night) but Worswick is hoping to open the doors literally and figuratively to new guests, new talent, and most importantly, new ideas.
“We have a long way to go because we'll never be perfect. In fact, we will probably never reach perfection, but we’ll bloody well try”, Worswick says. “We want to give people an experience they can't get anywhere else.”
