Kayla Dhaliwall is quick to admit her first professional job in a kitchen did not go according to plan.
As a teenager, the Victoria native was hired to cook breakfast for residents at a retirement community.
“I was so bad at it,” Dhaliwall, 31, recalled. “I was overcooking everyone’s eggs. But the director of the residence, she really liked my work ethic. So she demoted me to janitor. But I never gave up on that dream.”
In February, Dhaliwall’s dream of opening a restaurant of her own came to fruition when she and her partner, Cheryl Chung, launched A Fine Mess on White Rock’s Marine Drive.
The couple describes the venture as “global comfort food,” offering “familiar dishes the way they were originally meant to be served.”
“I wanted this restaurant to be an accumulation of my career and everything I’ve learned and experienced to this point,” Dhaliwall said.
Following her less-than-stellar performance at the seniors residence, Dhaliwall spent a few years working in kitchens on the Gulf Islands, before training at Vancouver Community College. She worked at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel during the 2010 Olympics followed by stints at a few downtown restaurants, before she was approached by a Food Network Canada producer who wanted to recruit her for Top Chef Canada.
Dhaliwall was one of 16 chefs from across the country selected to compete for the crown during the third season of the reality show in 2013. She was eliminated in the show’s fourth episode; Cloverdale native Matthew Stowe won the Top Chef title that season.
“It was not what I thought it was going to be,” Dhaliwall said of the show.
“It was very much about making good television and not about the raw talent of the chefs.”
She said, however, the experience solidified her desire for creating great food.
“For me, it’s about having my guests come to me saying, ‘that’s the best burger I’ve ever had,’” she said.
With two months behind them at A Fine Mess, Dhaliwall and Chung – who now live in White Rock – admit there have been some challenges, not the least of which is distancing their restaurant from Cielo’s, which occupied the space previously.
“The thing is, we never bought Cielo’s. We bought a restaurant,” Dhaliwall said, noting they’ve had several disappointed patrons come in and immediately leave upon realizing they’re not in the former restaurant.
“Cielo’s was already closed. For us to try and resurrect Cielo’s when we never experienced it ourselves, we wouldn’t have done it justice.”
Though the couple knows the waterfront location of their restaurant makes it a great tourist draw, they’re more focused on connecting with people in the White Rock/South Surrey community, by way of hospitality-industry nights and other events targeting business people and regulars.
“We want to be a locals’ restaurant,” Dhaliwall said.