When you taste Selena Minors’ takeout food it is always delicious. It is almost like the good flavour bewitches the consumer too. After the first bite one is bedazzled and repeat customers just can’t help but return time after time.

Where is this incredible eatery? Selena’s is beside Cousins Variety in Wellington, 123 Mullet Bay Road, on your way to St. George’s. You just step right up to her window and order up.

Ms Minors says: “I am a St. David’s Islander and I love cooking and was taught by my grandmother, in her kitchen, when I was about seven years old.

“It is an art form to me and I am always learning new recipes.

“I enjoy being my own boss but the hours are long — about 12 hours each day as we open at 11 a.m until 10 p.m. or midnight weekends.”

Sometimes she might have a dozen or so people standing off to the side of the window. Many people like to collect their burgers and fries, oxtails, barbecue ribs or chicken with peas and rice and head home at the end of the day.And if you have a sweet tooth her home made cakes will cure any sweet craving. Folks adore her “Upside Down Apple Cake” and her famous lemon cake.

Well mannered teenagers go for the burgers, fries and milkshakes and sit out in Selena’s outdoor cubicle on wooden picnic benches to devour it.

“Mostly I cater to locals but even the tourists get word of me and they come for my burgers and fries,” shared Ms Minors.

Selena also remembers her regulars, greetinn one on a weekly visit with: “Hi honey, you having a fish cake with Tabasco, lettuce, tarter sauce and fried onions today?”

Ms Minors is the consummate professional. She accepts the challenges and rigours with open arms. She is hard working and takes pride in her work. In simple terms she is a determined woman who loves her job and it shows.

Not only is Ms Minors a great cook but she is a people person who takes pride in her presentation. She is a perfectionist who believes in getting things right — like her famous Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, ham, cassava pie, mashed potatoes and the works all for under $20.

“My father, Joe Thompson, is a big help on Sunday mornings with the ‘Codfish and potato breakfasts’ that are very popular! He comes early and turns on my big pots and gets things going for me.

“He loves my “Johnny bread”, historically referred to as “Journey Bread” that I serve with the Sunday breakfast.

“Also my handy man, my father, can repair anything. I don’t know how I would manage without him.”

Personally, Ms Minors says she loves cooking good fish and chips and fried onions as so many enjoy them.

“I cook good local dishes such as the fish dinners. My hearty soups like barley or green split pea, cooked in my large two gallon soup pots, are very popular in this cooler weather.

Previous to her opening her own thriving business she worked at the Halfway House, Wok, and Speciality Inn. In her very younger days she worked in St. George’s delicatessen in a small place where “All Talk” is on Duke of York Street.

“When I think about my future, I see myself right here. Perhaps I will work a little less and travel more with my family.

“In the next few months I will have a new chef to help me and we will be revising the menu and making a few changes.”Ms Minors’ experience, her passion for cooking and her love of people make her the exemplary chef she is today. And when you stop by for an order - remember that her fish cakes are fabulous!

Selena’s hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (midnight on weekends) and the phone: 297-2979.