Taking entrepreneurial steps one at a time, dancehall artiste Tanya Stephens is hoping to breathe some new life into Ocho Rios and it’s not through music. The singjay recently opened her first restaurant H2O in the Coconut Grove Shopping Centre in Ocho Rios.

Joking that it was her addiction to food and alcohol that drove her into starting her own restaurant where she could have both daily, H2O officially opened its doors to customers on New Year’s weekend.

Mixed cuisine

Although she doesn’t actually cook at the restaurant, Stephens brings her own spice and twist to the mixed cuisine on the menu.

Having grown up and currently living in the Ocho Rios vicinity, the tourist resort town was the ideal spot for Stephens to begin making one of many strides outside of music. She told the STAR, “The motivation came from wanting to show that I had more ability than music and that I had a choice of things to do, plus I really am addicted to food. Right now, I’m my biggest customer, I eat there every day.”

With H2O being a little known secret outside of Ocho Rios, Stephens is approaching the restaurant like she does her music, wanting to perfect her craft before presenting it fully to the public. Despite the lack of publicity, the restaurant is still doing well attracting a mix of locals and tourists.

Special guest

Another feature attracting persons to the restaurant besides the food is the weekly Saturday Night Jams where artistes perform live. Shying away from using dancehall acts, singers such as Sophia Squire, Jeffrey Star and Inga Stewart have all performed there already, although one day Stephens herself might give a special guest performance.

Outside of making moves in business ventures, Stephens is currently working on her third album titled Infallible. She said, “The next album Infallible should be out in a few months, the title is a little play on words, cause I’m not saying that I’m infallible cause I’m not. Persons can expect what I’m expecting from me which is an improvement from what I’ve done before, nothing less … I do what I feel like and I try to spark discussion.”

Currently, Stephens has a song and video out that is doing well, it is titled Heart of Stone, a collaboration with Othniel ‘Taddy P’ Campbell.

Source: JamaicaStar