An culinary revolution is underway and the Elbow Beach's Seahorse Grill is spearheading the move by putting an imaginative spin on traditional Bermudian favourites.

Award-winning executive chef Neville King, the mastermind behind the creative fare at the Seahorse Grill -- formerly known as Spazzizi's -- insisted that he and the behind-the-scenes team went a step further than just changing their menu and renovating the restaurant.

"It's not just a new menu, it's a new cuisine that we've created, a new Bermuda cuisine,'' Mr. King explained. "It's using, for the most part, whatever we can that's available on the Island and we've turned it into a gourmet, well-presented, really trendy cuisine.'' And he said that he was getting local producers into the act.

"We're using a lot of Bermuda cottage industries, like James Tucker who makes goat cheese, Sally Godet who makes homemade preserves and chutney and the breweries on the Island,'' he added. "We're trying to make, as close as possible, an indigenous cuisine in a gourmet form.

"There are a lots of things on the Island that people don't use but we do, like hibiscus flowers to make dressings and marinades. The hibiscus is a basic in a lot of the different teas that you buy, but a lot of people don't use it here.'' Mr. King, the former executive chef at the Chancery Wine Bar, said he hoped other restaurants would jump on the bandwagon and start serving locally inspired food.

"What we're hoping is that a few other restaurants pick up from where we started off because we really feel that we are pioneering this cuisine.'' And he said that if the idea gained momentum with restaurants, it could result in international recognition of Bermudian cuisine.

"If a lot of other people take up on it, or even a few other restaurants, hopefully we can get some recognition world-wide for Bermuda having its own new cuisine in the same way 10 or 15 years ago it did in Hawaii and 20 or 30 years ago in California.

"The whole thing is about promoting Bermuda,'' Mr. King added. "People have been saying that there is no such thing as Bermuda cuisine and that's why we came up with this new Bermuda cuisine, so it just doesn't have to be fried chicken and peas 'n' rice.'' Mr. King, who has lived in the US and Germany, said that when he first arrived in Bermuda, seven years ago, he found the cuisine on the Island "pretty stagnant''.

"People in the business were very reluctant to change. I didn't think that they appreciated the audience enough, they thought they wanted Caesar salad and snails.

"They were worried about going out on a limb and trying something new,'' he added. "I was a bit more of a go-getter, willing to give things a try.'' Mr. King said the response to all of the new dishes at the Seahorse Grill has been quite good.

"Everything sells pretty equally, which is a good sign on a menu,'' he said.

"There are quite a few that are really dramatic like the sugar cane-fed rabbit which we get from up Boaz Island.'' But Mr. King maintained that locals would find familiar food on the menu, like Bermuda fish chowder -- however, most of the dishes are prepared with an extra twist, like their Bermuda honey and rum-glazed rockfish.

Mr. King said he came up with the idea for the dishes -- like Dark & Stormy chilled soup with melon, ginger and black rum cubes -- after conducting a survey of the Island's produce and attending parties where he observed what Bermudians served.

"I just compiled a list of everything,'' he said. "If I went to a party I'd look at the dishes.

"I then went and spoke to a lot of people because there are a lot of things that have been forgotten through the ages, so I spoke to a few older folks.

The rest was just imagination.'' He added: "When you spoke to locals and discussed their heritage and their traditions you really touched a nerve. People were very proud of their heritage so it seemed like the only natural thing to do was to come up with a cuisine that they could call their own as well.'' Several of the ingredients used in the dishes incorporate seasonal produce, but Mr. King has devised a plan to overcome this hurdle in a bid to ensure that the Seahorse Grill will be supplied year-round with local produce.

"What's kind of fun, but makes the cuisine a little difficult to do, is that the seasons are so short here. If you want loquats you only have January and February, so we send all the guys out and we go picking and find different ways of preserving it, whether it be alcohol or jams and marmalades.

"Hopefully we can keep the cuisine going throughout the year.'' And he hinted that regulars would find new surprises over time as he plans to keep the menu evolving.

The food was not the only change made to the restaurant -- the interior was completely refurbished as well.

Now patrons can enjoy alfresco dining on the patio, a relaxing drink at the bar or dine watching the chefs at work whipping up tasty morsels.

"Not a lot remained the same,'' Mr. King pointed out. "All the furnishings are different. We have a brand new bar, an indoor-outdoor area, new floors -- the only thing that stayed the same was the Bermuda ceiling look and stone walls.

"And we have an all-new kitchen now,'' he added. "We built a big wine cellar, we have space for 2,800 bottles of wine now, with dual climate control -- one area for reds, one for whites.

"Plus, people can go into the wine cellar if they want to choose some wine -- the wine steward will take them.'' Although the restaurant is up and running, there are still a few garnishes to be added.

"We're still waiting on a few bits of furnishings, new cushions for the chairs, mosaic tables for the court-yard area and we're putting a roof, with hanging chandeliers, on the terrace,'' he explained. "By between September 1 and September 10 every thing should be done.'' For reservations to the Seahorse Grill 236-3535.

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THE TEAM -- The Seahorse Grill's new open kitchen allows patrons to watch executive chef Nevill King and his team prepare the innovative, Bermuda inspired dishes. Pictured with Mr. King, from left to right is Yerdaw Berkele, Simons Richardson, Mark Window, Bishan Sighn, Rogelio Perez, Ashley Hykes and Mario Musni.

NEW AND IMPROVED -- The menu is not the only change made at the Seahorse Grill formerly know as Spazzizi's. The interior was revamped with only the ceiling and the stone walls remaining the same.