Now Omari McQueen is intent on taking his restaurant on the road
If Omari McQueen isn’t the youngest restaurateur in the UK, he’s definitely the youngest in London. At just 11, he’s opened a pop-up at Boxpark food hall in Croydon, where his rice and peas and fried plantain are selling well.
Omari’s food is Caribbean in flavour, vegan in design. Since Saturday, the young chef’s dishes have been proving popular, doing serious business alongside big names such as Great British Menu star James Cochran, who opened Goat, a Caribbean-inspired restaurant concept, last week.
Despite Omari’s age, the 11-year-old isn’t new to the food industry – his year-old vegan dips brand, Dipalicious, has caught the attention of everyone from Levi Roots to Daniel Radcliffe – but his stall at Boxpark, running for an initial seven days, is his first proper foray into restaurant life. And even though he starts secondary school in September, he has ambitions beyond his temporary set up.
“I want to get a food bus,” Omari told i. “I’m really enjoying the week. It’s going very well. We’ve been busy.
Omari’s food is Caribbean in flavour, vegan in design. Since Saturday, the young chef’s dishes have been proving popular, doing serious business alongside big names such as Great British Menu star James Cochran, who opened Goat, a Caribbean-inspired restaurant concept, last week.
Despite Omari’s age, the 11-year-old isn’t new to the food industry – his year-old vegan dips brand, Dipalicious, has caught the attention of everyone from Levi Roots to Daniel Radcliffe – but his stall at Boxpark, running for an initial seven days, is his first proper foray into restaurant life. And even though he starts secondary school in September, he has ambitions beyond his temporary set up.
“I want to get a food bus,” Omari told i. “I’m really enjoying the week. It’s going very well. We’ve been busy.
Omari, at just 11, is already getting going in the restaurant world (Photo: Dipalicious/Instagram)
Vegetable curry
“The bus would let me take my food all around London and around the country. My dad would be the driver. It would let me spend more time with him.
“I do vegan Caribbean food. We have vegetable curry with white rice, callaloo, pumpkin soup, rice and peas, fried plantain. They’re all my own recipes.”
Omari learned to cook to help out his mum Leah and dad Jermaine, a bus driver. Two years ago, Leah was suffering from serious migraines and would often be confined to bed. She decided to teach her older kids how to cook for themselves. Omari hasn’t left the kitchen since.
“I really enjoy it,” said Omari, who lives with his family in Peckham, south east London. “I definitely want to be a chef.”
Omari serves vegan Caribbean cuisine (Photo: Dipalicious /Instagram)
Not long after his mum taught him how to prepare classics such as rice and peas, and his dad got him learning how to fry chicken so that the meat stays tender and the coating crisp, Omari decided to become vegan, and combined traditional Caribbean flavours with plant-based cookery.
“I do vegan Caribbean food. We have vegetable curry with white rice, callaloo, pumpkin soup, rice and peas, fried plantain. They’re all my own recipes.”
Omari learned to cook to help out his mum Leah and dad Jermaine, a bus driver. Two years ago, Leah was suffering from serious migraines and would often be confined to bed. She decided to teach her older kids how to cook for themselves. Omari hasn’t left the kitchen since.
“I really enjoy it,” said Omari, who lives with his family in Peckham, south east London. “I definitely want to be a chef.”
The importance of seasoning
Leah, who has five other children between the ages of eight and 13, said the family has had to embrace plant-based food. She said to i: “I was very unwell and my husband works shifts, so we thought it would be good to teach our eldest children how to cook.
“Omari really took to it and was really curious about food processes and origins, so I told him to go off and research. He came back and said, ‘that’s it, mum, I’m vegan’.
“He’s always been very interested in our culture and our food. I taught him basic stuff like spaghetti bolognese and tuna pasta too, so we did have that. But it’s the Caribbean food he is really into. The thing I really taught him was seasoning – that’s so important.
“He’s a real foodie and he’s intent on becoming a chef. He cooks every day. At home, we all eat his food now, so we’re all vegan when he cooks. But Jermaine still has some meat and I’m a pescetarian now. I told him, ‘look mate, I’m not stopping fish.”
“Omari really took to it and was really curious about food processes and origins, so I told him to go off and research. He came back and said, ‘that’s it, mum, I’m vegan’.
“He’s always been very interested in our culture and our food. I taught him basic stuff like spaghetti bolognese and tuna pasta too, so we did have that. But it’s the Caribbean food he is really into. The thing I really taught him was seasoning – that’s so important.
“He’s a real foodie and he’s intent on becoming a chef. He cooks every day. At home, we all eat his food now, so we’re all vegan when he cooks. But Jermaine still has some meat and I’m a pescetarian now. I told him, ‘look mate, I’m not stopping fish.”
Wowing CEOs
Leah, unsurprisingly, is proud of her son’s achievements, and while she isn’t particularly keen on cooking herself, she said running the restaurant has been fun. Omari was given a week’s slot for free after impressing Boxpark CEO Roger Wade with his tenacity and talent. Omari had approached Roger himself.
Leah added: ” He just does things. But the restaurant has been a team effort. Omari’s the head chef, he bosses us all about, but we’ve all helped. Even my 13-year-old comes down.
“We don’t know whether it will happen, but if we do manage to open a restaurant, or this bus, we would make it work. Omari wouldn’t stop school but I’m sure he’d do evenings and weekends.
“Omari’s in his element when he’s cooking.”
Vegetable curry is one of Omari's biggest sellers Photo: Dipalicious/Instagram
Leah said her migraines have subsided in the last year and said Omari’s convinced it’s because she’s given up meat. She’s a little sceptical, but is open to the remarkable. He is clearly relentless in his pursuit of cooking as a medium to do good.
While Boxpark is the latest project, Omari has been running his award-winning vegan dips brand Dipalicious since early 2018, having been cooking since the age of eight. The project is helping to fund his pop-up.
He is also keen to grow his YouTube channel, where he hopes to inspire and teach other children how to cook for their families, whether out of necessity or not.
“I think he’ll get this food bus eventually,” said Leah. “He’s brilliant.”
https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/food-and-drink/uks-youngest-restaurateur-omari-mcqueen-dipalicious-boxpark-croydon/
Leah added: ” He just does things. But the restaurant has been a team effort. Omari’s the head chef, he bosses us all about, but we’ve all helped. Even my 13-year-old comes down.
“We don’t know whether it will happen, but if we do manage to open a restaurant, or this bus, we would make it work. Omari wouldn’t stop school but I’m sure he’d do evenings and weekends.
“Omari’s in his element when he’s cooking.”
While Boxpark is the latest project, Omari has been running his award-winning vegan dips brand Dipalicious since early 2018, having been cooking since the age of eight. The project is helping to fund his pop-up.
He is also keen to grow his YouTube channel, where he hopes to inspire and teach other children how to cook for their families, whether out of necessity or not.
“I think he’ll get this food bus eventually,” said Leah. “He’s brilliant.”
https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/food-and-drink/uks-youngest-restaurateur-omari-mcqueen-dipalicious-boxpark-croydon/
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