A refined Caribbean condo resort on the Turks and Caicos - set on the beach front of Grace Bay, one of the ten best beaches in the world.

Gourmet Dining Turks and Caicos
Gourmet Catering - Banquets Turks and Caicos

Our fine dining, Turks and Caicos gourmet restaurant, O'Soleil, and terrace overlook our Croquet Lawn hedged with bougainvillea. At night the tables on the terrace show as for the candles that give a yellow tint to the crystal glassware reflecting back and forth in dots of mirrored yellow flame.

Inside, the dining room is white on white mirrored again by crystal glassware reflecting the crystal chandeliers 2 stories above.

Executive Chef Lauren Callighen (read more here) creates an international cuisine fused with island ingredients and then passed back through more international tastes. There is nothing "standard" about her kitchen's tastes. The design of each plate makes it a sculpture, a happening. Eyes, taste, smell and the caring thought of the restaurant team under the guidance of Restaurant Manager, Leonie Henry.

Gourmet Dining - Turks and Caicos
Allied with
Gourmet Catering - Turks and Caicos

In Chef Callighen's vision of contemporary Turks & Caicos gourmet dining cuisine, she takes the best of the Caribbean and marries it to her version of Mediterranean-style cooking. It's the reason behind such creations as a Caicos sweet corn and conch chowder, served with crème fraîche and laced with Caribbean rum. And it's led Callighen to create a roasted pumpkin and tamarind soup, with an oxtail dumpling and pumpkin seed oil.

The seagoing tradition that permeated Chef Callighen's Canadian childhood informs her day-to-day life as a chef. That's no surprise, given thatshe grew up in one of Canada's great fishing communities. In the islands, she's quickly embraced the products of the Caribbean Sea around her, from rock lobster to grouper.

Her inventiveness and creativity have led Callighen to prepare curried grouper, and serve it with a Kaffir lime curry sauce with jasmine rice, mango chutney and naan bread. As for wahoo, she likes to grill it, and surround the fish with a coconut peanut sauce, a side of baby bok choy and a garnish of banana relish. With Caicos Bank red snapper, she makes a curried mango risotto and serves it with Mojo sauce and Thai basil.

Apart from the local harvest from the sea, Callighen makes an effort to find, use and support locally-grown organic produce. Much of what she uses comes from Island Fresh Produce, a hydroponic farm in Provo.

As for meat, while she prepares New York Steak and Peppercorn Angus Steak in a fairly traditional fashion, she allows herself some creativity with Australian rack of lamb, which she does with a Harissa barbecue sauce and serves with a guava glazed shallot and mashed potato duet. And the Karubuta pork tenderloin is given an all-spice rub and plated with a sweet potato puree, tamarind sauce and baby spinach.

"I like the Mediterranean style," Chef Callighen states. "I love fresh ingredients and I like using every part of them. I really enjoy the flavors, and the cooking tends to be light and fresh and summery. And that works very well with climate we have here in the Caribbean."

Chef Callighen takes her same cuisine into the Turks and Caicos gourmet catering for events, meetings and island weddings. She and Monique, the Catering Manager, carve out the menus for style and cost so that our guests are always supported in their needs.

Executive Chef Lauren Callighen
Turks and Caicos Gourmet Cuisine

Born and raised in the maritime city of St. John's, a seaport on the east coast of Canada's easternmost maritime province of Newfoundland, Chef Callighen traces her interest in all things culinary to being reared in this oceanfront town. The rich bounty of Canada's waters were at her doorstep while food and cooking took center stage in the Callighen household. As Chef Callighen puts it, "Everything that happened in the family happened at the kitchen table."

Callighen, whose grandfather was a cook on a merchant marine ship, began working professionally in a kitchen at age 15, as a prep cook at a local restaurant in St John's. It was clear to her that this was her career path, and therefore attended the culinary school at Algonquin College in Ottawa. Following that academic grounding, Callighen went on to work at Ottawa's premier catering company, Tulips and Maple, under Chef Tim Wasylko. She went on to cook with Executive Chef Kurt Videl of Le Café‚ in Ottawa for the Canadian Prime Minister's Gala in 2003.

In 2005, Callighen moved to Turks & Caicos, where she cooked at a local restaurant and then a resort, grounding herself in the Caribbean culture and delighted to be close to the sea. She joined the Somerset on Grace Bay in 2006 as part of the opening team working under Executive Chef Stephen McGarrie. Callighen quickly ascended to the top chef position, and now helms the kitchen, overseeing both the fine dining at O'Soleil and the casual dining at Lunasea.