Lifestyle Editor

Pastry chef Fhonthip Jones’ aim is not only to satisfy your sweet tooth. Her 17 years’ experience in five-star and five-diamond hotels has taught her it is equally important that her dishes make a personal connection with diners.

Q: Why pastry?

A: I finished culinary school and, in Thailand, when you get in, you have to learn everything from the beginning and after that, you choose what you would like to be.

My mom (Sian Taka) always did desserts and I liked them — what she did for us, for the family. I loved creating things and learning what my mom showed me, but I looked at doing it in different ways.

Q: Where were you before here?

A: Before moving to Bermuda I was the executive pastry chef at a number of hotels — Belle Mont Farm in St Kitts & Nevis, at Jumby Bay in Antigua, at The Ritz-Carlton in Maui, Hawaii, The Four Seasons in Nevis and at The Ritz-Carlton in Dubai, as well.

Q: Why did you decide to move to this part of the world?

A: My boss for three years at Sheraton Laguna Phuket was executive chef Patrick Duff.

He went to The Ritz-Carlton in Jamaica and encouraged me to move over there with him. I was in England waiting for my flight to Jamaica on September 11, 2001, and could see what was going on. My flight was delayed because of the terrorist attacks in the US; my family was so worried about me.

Finally, I arrived and The Ritz-Carlton laid off half the staff — 600 people. Everybody from Thailand had to make a decision — whether to move on or to look for work there. I chose to go forward.

I was a junior staff member at the time and I wanted to be a pastry chef. I wanted to learn more; to be good. I stayed on and in my first year there, they had a big competition for wedding cakes and at the end of the day, I got a gold medal. After my contract finished, I went to The Ritz-Carlton in St Thomas and since then I’ve kept moving forward. I went from there on to Hawaii.

Q: Weren’t you at all worried about being on your own?

A: When I left for Jamaica, I knew there were five Thai chefs there — I had friends. After September 11, I was by myself. But, I’m a fighter, a woman of strong mind, and my mom taught me that if I want whatever I’m looking for, I have to go get it. Nobody will give it to me.

Q: How did you end up in Bermuda?

A: I have lived in Caribbean islands for the past 15 years. I got married in Hawaii to an American man from Seattle (Scott Jones) and we have one daughter together.

We worked at the same hotel, where he was the food & beverage manager. He got a contract at Coral Beach to become its director of food and beverage and said it was a good opportunity for us to move to Bermuda.

As a family, we would go together anyhow, but I was uncomfortable. I’m not good at staying at home doing nothing. I’m a workaholic; everybody who knows me knows that. I saw an ad for the Hamilton Princess; an opportunity for me to try for a job. So I sent my CV, they called me for an interview and now I’m here.

Q: What is your impression of Bermuda so far?

A: I love my team. I have a lot of experience and that’s what I want to bring to the table as a pastry chef at the Hamilton Princess.

The gingerbread house (that’s been on display in the hotel lobby all month) was my first project. It was amazing and what I try to tell my staff is, we have to put our heads together to get something good; everybody has to work together. Everybody has what they’re good at and we have to work out how to bring that all to the table.

I love the weather here. In general, it’s beautiful — the landscape, the people. I love interacting with the local people. They’re really welcoming.

Q: What is your favourite thing to make?

A: I love bread. I have to stay away from it because I eat too much. But my passion is the amenities; the personal touches. To do them well you have to know what guests like, where they come from. When they walk in their room and there’s a tiny lemon cake waiting for them in honour of their anniversary and they sit and wonder: how did they know that?

There was a guest who came to one of the hotels I worked at. She and her husband married there ten years ago. She said, ‘I have pictures to show you how beautiful the wedding was’.

Someone who’d worked there then told me how she’d loved the cake. I’d only been there for a year, but I looked at the picture and copied every detail of the cake from her wedding day ten years ago. I did everything exactly the same, just a smaller version.

When I gave it to her she started crying: ‘How did you know?’ That’s the kind of thing I love; those personal touches; how you make them smile when they see something amazing. It makes a memory they will never forget.