Farm to Table: Chef / Co-owner Sophie Michell on Going Local with Ingredients
Sophie Michell and I met the day before the Local & Co. reopening in October. The restaurant closed a month prior for expansion—including an open fire grill and smoker for serving tacos, grilled fish, smoked meats, and burgers by the beach.
— By Kylee Ross
— Photography Kenneth Theysen
Sophie Michell
Chef / Co-owner – Local & Co.
Both floors of the restaurant were crawling with staff restocking the vintage rum bar, prepping locally sourced ingredients, and preparing the kitchen. A small group of people, including co-founder Julie McNeel, sat near the Queen Street door typing on laptops and answering a steady stream of incoming calls.
When Michell entered the front door, I instinctively lifted my gaze from my notepad. I could hear the buzz of “hellos” and discreet meeting invitations. Contractors and other members of her team surrounded her like a swarm of perfectly coordinated worker bees. Without missing a beat, Michell responded to every query, comment, and confirmation—but never stopped moving through the restaurant.
By the time she made her way to me, I felt oddly at home. Sitting amongst the exposed brick walls, ornate carpets, and plush chairs, I had the sense I would be well taken care of—even while the restaurant was closed to guests.
We took a side door to access the steel stairs outside and passed the upper patio (offering a view of the ocean for private dinners) and made our way to the cosy upstairs kitchen (where Michell and other guest chefs host private dining experiences for small groups).
We sat across from a few people recording videos for social media announcing the restaurant’s reopening. Once they finished, we eased into our conversation. I wanted to start at the beginning. Michell is a well-established chef who has trained and cooked in Michelin-starred restaurants in the United Kingdom and made a name for herself in TV and food writing. It isn’t every day that you get to ask someone with that kind of resume how it all started.
When I asked what persuaded her to say “yes” to packing up her life in the UK for a position in Barbados, she said it was “quite random”. She had stopped working in kitchens and was the Food and Drink Director for Byron Burgers UK. “I always talked about having a seafront restaurant where I could scuba dive on the weekend”, she says. “That was kind of my passion: the sea and conservation.” When the opportunity to travel to the island to consult on a restaurant for friends Julie and Ian McNeel arose, she jumped on it. This was in February 2020, so while in Barbados, Michell and her husband had to make a decision for their family. Would they travel back to the UK or stay in Barbados for the remainder of the pandemic lockdown? They eventually opted to stay indefinitely, and Michell joined Local & Co. as chef / co-owner.
Our conversation then pivoted to her start as a chef. “I think like anything, my choice to become a chef was impacted by lots of little things that happened to me”, Michell says. After leaving school at 14, she got her first job in a gastropub. “Looking back at that very first job in the countryside in Somerset, I think even though it was just a casual pub, I learned straightaway how to cook from scratch”, Michell says while reminiscing about the lessons that have stayed with her from that first job. She mentions this because everything at Local & Co. is made from scratch every day. “And farm to table produce was already at the forefront of my mind then.”
This naturally brings us to chatting about the ethos at Local & Co.: Eat well. Do good. Michell tells me that 90% of the products used in restaurants and hotels in Barbados are imported. Michell and the team set out to “turn that on its head”. By actively choosing to support Bajan artisans, farmers, butchers, and fisherfolk, Local & Co. uses 80% locally sourced ingredients. “I don't think anyone in the world should be planning business without having sustainability, local economy, and eco-practices at the forefront, because that's the only way we can function realistically, consciously and ethically”, she says. Now, the restaurant is Blue-verified by Oceanic Global for a sustainability plan for single-use plastic, waste management, and water efficiency.
Farm to table cooking offers constantly refreshing options for the menu of the main restaurant and the beach grill. And what to expect from a meal at Local & Co. depends on several factors beyond the chef’s control. As Michell puts it, “We are totally governed by what the farmers can grow, and the farmers are totally governed by the weather and the conditions.” The meals are also governed by Michell’s latest inspirations. When we speak, the star ingredients are cassava flour, sea purslane, and organic meat from Oink & Moo—with most emphasis on cassava. All the tortillas for tacos and other imaginative dishes, tart cases, and dredge for the staple fried chicken bites with chadon beni aïoli and smoked tomato ketchup, are made from scratch with a blend of the flour. “We take influence from the Caribbean and from places which are similar in agricultural zone: South America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia have all got the same sort of produce. So, playing with those flavours is quite fun.”
With that, I wrap up the interview and ask if Michell would show me around. I snap a few photos of the impeccably styled area where we were sitting and, as we walk down the stairs, the beach grill. Michell points to something. “That’s actually my smoker right there”, she says. “There’s nothing better than sitting on a beach and having an amazing grilled piece of meat or grilled fish, you know?” And that’s where Local & Co. is headed next: toward the addition of more casual dishes, with the same quality of local ingredients as the fine dining menu, to eat by the ocean.
