Our Story So Far…
Chef Barrington Douglas discovered his passion and a flair for cooking from the age of 12 years old.
All his siblings were boys, and as he was the only one interested in cooking, his mother took it upon herself to teach him as if he were her honorary daughter!
Barrington remembers… “At 18, my father was worried about the direction my life was taking.
He asked me firmly, “What do you want to do in life?”
“I replied confidently, “I want to own my own restaurant and bar.” His eyes filled with sadness as he listened.
“Determined to turn my dream into reality, I saved £20 from every £100 I earned. Over 21 years, my savings grew, and I finally achieved my goal. When the time was right, I made the bold decision to leave my well-paid job behind and pursue my dream.”
In 2006, he founded the Discovery Bay restaurant on a small side street in Huddersfield, and the dream he had held for so long became a reality.
After only one month, Discovery Bay was awarded second place in Yorkshire’s Best Ethnic Restaurant 2006, which in turn led to more awards, catering for large prestigious events, multiple TV appearances, and the opportunity to cook around the world.
Below lays out a timeline of his formative years as a professional chef…
Our Story So Far…
Chef Barrington Douglas discovered his passion and a flair for cooking from the age of 12 years old.
All his siblings were boys, and as he was the only one interested in cooking, his mother took it upon herself to teach him as if he were her honorary daughter!
Barrington remembers… “At 18, my father was worried about the direction my life was taking. He asked me firmly, “What do you want to do in life?” I replied confidently, “I want to own my own restaurant and bar.” His eyes filled with sadness as he listened.
“Determined to turn my dream into reality, I saved £20 from every £100 I earned. Over 21 years, my savings grew, and I finally achieved my goal. When the time was right, I made the bold decision to leave my well-paid job behind and pursue my dream.”
In 2006, he founded the Discovery Bay restaurant on a small side street in Huddersfield, and the dream he had held for so long became a reality.
After only one month, Discovery Bay was awarded second place in Yorkshire’s Best Ethnic Restaurant 2006, which in turn led to more awards, catering for large prestigious events, multiple TV appearances, and the opportunity to cook around the world.
Below lays out a timeline of his formative years as a professional chef…
Barrington’s long-term dream became a reality when he founded the Discovery Bay restaurant, in Huddersfield. After only one month, Discovery Bay was awarded second place in Yorkshire’s Best Ethnic Restaurant 2006.
Within a year of opening his restaurant, Barrington was invited to give a cooking demonstration and provide food for 1000 people at Harewood House, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. Many dignitaries were present, including Lord Lassol.
Barrington won the Yorkshire Black Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 Award, and then went on to record “Rhodes around the Caribbean” with Optomen as a guest of Gary Rhodes, which aired in April 2009 on UKTV Food.
Barrington was chosen to appear in the Americas section for Gordon Ramsey’s F-Word 2010. From a shortlist of 10,000 restaurants, Discovery Bay made it all the way to the top 18.
Continuing the aforementioned acclaim, Barrington appeared with Marco Pierre White on Kitchen Wars cooking his signature dish of Jerk Cod Fillet on a Bed of Savoy Cabbage and Pancetta.
Following the launch of his own new range of chef crafted products earlier on in the year, in late 2013 Barrington opened his own Deli in Huddersfield, serving ‘British food with a Jamaican twist’ the range included jerk pork pie, curry chicken pie, sauces & chutneys.
In late 2014, Barrington opened the Discovery Lounge Cocktail Bar in premises next door to his award-winning Discovery Bay Caribbean restaurant, investing 3 months and tens of thousands of pounds into the 1970s retro yet modern & stylish “prettiest-looking bar in Huddersfield.”
Following on from a gold award at the British Pie Awards in 2014, Barringtons Jerk Pork Pies hit the shelves at 35 Tesco stores across Yorkshire and the North East, including Huddersfield, Brighouse, Batley and Cleckheaton.
In 2016 he entered five products into the prestigious Great Taste Awards – the world’s largest and most trusted food and drink accreditation scheme. Three of the entries won Awards, including his BBQ Jerk Sauce, of which one set of judges said: “Bright chilli fruit flavours and a dark smokiness to this sauce. Good consistency to the sauce and we imagine it will work well as a marinade”.
After closing Discovery Bay in 2017 and needing to spend more time with his family after the death of his father, Barrington left the food industry and went into sales.
Barrington is back in the kitchen – and he’s cooking up a new business venture. He is bringing his Caribbean-inspired secret-recipe sauces and BBQ seasonings back, better than ever!
And there’s more…
Introducing just a few of the people Barrington has met, worked with, and prepared menus for, since opening his Discovery Bay restaurant in 2006…
