our story

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I am Barrie Gunning chef and owner of BadGuys BB Ltd, now trading as The Black Urchin. I am a qualified marketeer and accountant, an entrepreneur and a self thought chef. I have a tremendous passion for authentic, vibrant and flavoursome cuisine with the use of only the freshest and the best quality ingredients. I took that passion and started a journey that will culminated an experience that Barbadians and visitors to the island alike, would greatly appreciate. My goal is to capture the very essence of the real island lifestyle, the beauty, the smile of the people, the exotic flavours it offers and pass that on to our customers on a plate or in a well crafted cocktail.  

The Black Urchin started it's journey in 2008 as Pop Up Barbados in East London, a bi-monthly supper-club in my apartment in Dalston, London, hosting 25 - 30 people. I went on to host guests pop-ups at trendy bars and event spaces in London as well as being one of the headliners for the popular Street Feast London , a night market for gourmet street food vendors catering to a packed crowd of up to 3000 foodies from all over the world. Pop Up Barbados captured media attention and was featured in many major newspapers such as The Guardian, The Telegraph on Sunday and food magazines plus many top food bloggers sites and journals which led to private supper-club bookings with even some famous celebrities in the UK.

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In September 2020 I decided to return to home after COVID and after 21 years living in Europe, where I gave birth to Bad Guys BB. Initially BadGuys started out as a Bajan street food pop up at my aunts' rum bar/mini-mart selling local rum bar eats. Although this was a confinement on what I had to offer it was where I wanted to start. However this quickly moved unto to being a pop up serving contemporary street food tapas at The Drift Lounge in Sunset Crest on the West Coast of Barbados.

 In 2023 I reintroduce the supper-club concept here on the island and with that, I decided to rebrand as The Black Urchin. The brand was to represent the refinement in what we offer. In December 2023, I then moved on from a pop up at The Drift Lounge, to having my own food bar at Haymans Market, serving some amazing gourmet cutters, bao buns with local fillings, homemade sourdough tacos and gourmet fish/meat salads. Customers were wowed by our products and we were happy to have this as a window for exposure.  After a year there we found we were too far away from our wider audience and it wasn't making financial sense to continue. The decision to close,  also provide the opportunity to focus our energy, time and management on the other aspects of our brand.  That is, The Supperclubs and Chef Table experiences, gourmet catering and private chef services. 

Today our supper-clubs are mostly held at our secret location (which is very easy to get to). Since the reintroduction earlier in 2023, our supper-clubs has in the few months taken further refinement in our dishes. Our offerings now range from rustic, gourmet or fine dining.

 We take great pride in what we do and have always had great reviews and feedback. We are professional and friendly. Don't hesitate to give reach out to us on WhatsApp or send us an email to see how we can make your celebration, event, wedding, work do or evening special with our offerings.

Thank you for reading!