Harry Singh, the founder of the popular Trinidadian restaurant Harry Singh’s Original Caribbean Restaurant, died at his Coon Rapids home July 3. He was 81.
The native of Trinidad and Tobago introduced Minneapolis to his take on Caribbean cuisine in the Eat Street corridor eatery on Nicollet Avenue for over four decades.
Singh’s friend James Byron said the two first met at the restaurant, shortly after Byron arrived from Trinidad and Tobago in 1989. They soon realized they were from the same area of the twin-island nation: the south.
“Everybody will tell you that when it comes to Trinidad cooking, this is the guy that they went to first before any of the other cooks came into being,” said Byron, founder of Twin Cities Carifest.
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Customers came for the chef’s jerk chicken, roti and spicy hot sauce — and conversation.
“There wasn’t a subject that he wouldn’t like speaking about,” Byron said. “Everyday life, politics, things back home, how it’s going, whether it’s going good, going bad — you know what I mean?”
Singh’s sister, Marla Jadoonanan, said he was the “golden child” of the family in their parents’ eyes. Singh was the oldest, and Jadoonanan was the youngest of seven siblings, she said.
“What didn’t he want to talk about? He would talk about any and everything. He was just gifted in that,” she said. “You could just say one word and he will continue the conversation that way.”
Her brother worked as a social worker and “had that knowledge of how to speak to people,” Jadoonanan said.
Restauranteur Harry Singh kneads dough in this file photo from 2010.
Courtesy of Harry Singh’s Original Caribbean Restaurant
She said their mother, Carmen, played a big role when it came to food and the art of cooking.
“He had a passion for cooking from the age of, you know, very young,” she said. “My mom taught him a lot of cooking.”
She says Singh pioneered Trinidadian cuisine in Minneapolis and inspired local chefs.
“He was definitely a trailblazer in the food community,” Jadoonanan said. “He encouraged people to follow their dream and made a pathway for all of us that came after him.”
Anissa Channa, co-founder of Channa Kitchen in Uptown, posted on Instagram about what Singh meant to her Trinidadian cuisine business.
“His restaurant was a neighborhood staple for decades, and most of Channa Kitchen’s customers only know about curry chicken, roti or doubles because of Harry Singh,” she wrote. “Looking for home-cooked food, his restaurant was also a source of comfort by Minneapolis’ transplants like myself.”
Byron called Singh “very open and straightforward.” He says the chef and entrepreneur will be missed.
Restauranteur Harry Singh (left) poses with an award for “The Best of the Twin Cities” in 2010 with his late son, Robyn.
Courtesy of Harry Singh’s Original Caribbean Restaurant
Singh’s legacy will be long-lasting “and create a great void all in the same breath,” he said. He was “a gentleman that you could go and sit down and talk to and get advice [and] an insight to things.”
Singh is survived by his son, David, and five siblings.
Dining and Cooking