Trinidad and Tobago Restaurant Week 2015

After unfortunately not being able to participate in Trinidad and Tobago Restaurant Week 2014 (hereafter referred to as TTRW), I decided as a make up for that, to attend two different restaurants for TTRW 2015.

I heard about TTRW 2015 about two weeks before the actual 'week' began. During Restaurant Week, participating local restaurants offer up to 30% off regular dishes on their menu, and a diner gets some options of dishes to choose from. The cost included a starter, main course and dessert and a complimentary alcoholic beverage, all taxes included.

So, first off, I decided to go to Chaud Cafe with my friends. It was super awesome!

A week so big, it lasts ten days! (Photo cred: Shelby Seenath)

Incidentally, the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival has been scheduled around the same time as TTRW, so before the reservation at 9pm, we watched a local film called 'City on the Hill', which was a documentary of just under an hour speaking about aspects of local culture and Laventille's role in its creation. It was very enlightening and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Afterward, we headed to Chaud Cafe for our reservation. First things first, I must make special mention of this: the reservation was at 9pm, we got there a few minutes before the reservation time, and we were able to be seated. I was really impressed by this gesture.

Chaud Cafe! (Photo cred: Shelby Seenath)

Our awesome waiter, Jeremy, was very helpful and patient. I commend him for his excellent service!

We all got glasses of pink Moscato. I love this, by the way. To me, it complemented everything I consumed perfectly.

Cheers to the weekend! (Photo cred: Andora French-James)

For my starter, I had the soup of the day, which was fish broth. The broth contained mahi mahi as well as some king fish, with fresh ochroes and herbs. A splash of coconut milk was added to give it a lovely light sweetness. It was indeed a delicious starter. 

Delicious fish broth stater (Photo cred: Shelby Seenath)

Some of my other friends had the shrimp and sausage starter and they all said it was delicious too. One had the salad; which was a combination of roasted and raw vegetables; and she said that the combination, though unusual worked really well and the blue cheese dressing made it all the more flavourful.

Garlic Shrimp and Chorizo Sausage, Pimenton, Sherry (Photo cred: Rochelle Stafford)

For the main course, I decided to have the Mahi Mahi Po'Boy. It was spendidly flavoured. The fish was well seasoned with a variety of spices and a touch of lime; breaded and deep fried, This sandwich was topped with a coleslaw, tomatoes and remoulade. It was really tasty.

Mahi Mahi Po'Boy (Photo cred: Rochelle Stafford)

I think the the most popular main course of the night was definitely the Provencal Roasted Chicken with the Apple Waffle. It looked beautiful and from what I've heard from my friends who had it, the waffle was very fluffy and delicious. Even though the chicken was said to be a bit dry; the combination worked for them.

Provencal Roasted Chicken and Apple Waffles (Photo cred: Shelby Seenath)

It was so pretty I had to upload another photo (Photo cred: Andora French-James)

Just absorb it for a bit more :)

The presentation is perfect (Photo cred: Rochelle Stafford)

One of my friends had the Moroccan Vegetable Tagine, and said it was divine. I mean look at the presentation alone!

Moroccan Vegetable Tagine (Photo cred: Andora French-James)

And presenting ....

Like Christmas in a bowl (Photo cred: Rochelle Stafford)

By this time, I was pretty sure I did not have any more room to eat, but I made the space, and I'm glad I did, because this dessert is worth it. Presenting the cast iron cookie, ice-cream and caramel!

Cast iron cookie, Vanilla Ice-cream, Rum Caramel (Photo cred: Shelby Seenath)

This for me was the perfect ending. The cookie was freshly basked in this very cast iron dish, and it was soo good, and that rum caramel atop the ice-cream was amazing!! I would go to Chaud Cafe again simply to order this!

Another friend of mine had the Panna Cotta. It looked wonderful, and she enjoyed it thoroughly.

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta, Sorrel Curd, Brandy Snaps (Photo cred: Andora French-James)

Chaud Cafe was overall wonderful. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to people inside and outside of TTRW :D I'm really particular when it comes to food quality, decor and service, and Chaud gets a 10 in all three elements.

Next restaurant on the list that I visited was Shesha Cafe.

I have to commend Shesha as well; we got there before our reservation time, and we were able to be seated as soon as we arrived.

Shesha Cafe was quite a different experience from Chaud Cafe; while the service was great and the decor was lovely; the starter and entree were really salty for my taste. The pita bread with three different kinds of humus was pretty good in comparison to the tomato and chick pea starter I had.

Chick pea and tomato soup 

While the flavour was overall good; I believe the parmesan cheese added to the soup made it too salty for my taste.

Three flavoured hummus with pita bread

For the entree; the group I went with pretty much had three out of the four options; I had the pan seared tuna dish.

Pan seared tuna with salsa served with vegetable rice

The salsa and vegetable rice were really tasty; so was the tuna; but the tuna itself was so salty.

My sister had the best tasting meal in my opinion; the roasted tomatoes were delicious; and she said the chicken and lamb were grilled to perfection; another friend found the lamb to be a bit bland.

Chicken and lamb kebab skewers with rosemary potatoes

My mom and another friend ordered the vegetarian meal.

Pasta primavera with vegetables

They said it was not too bad in terms of flavour, but it did look pretty.

Dessert was ultra-fantastic.

Baklawa with vanilla ice-cream

The baklawa was a first for me, and it was sooo delicious: it was cinnamon-y, nutty, sweet and the pastry offered a lovely crunch. I am pretty sure there was caramel mixed in there. The vanilla ice-cream was the perfect compliment.

My friends had the cheese cake and chocolate mousse.

Mini cheesecake and chocolate mousse brownie

They described the cheesecake as heavenly; and actually wished for a mashup of both desserts, instead of having it separately.

Shesha Cafe overall was a good experience. One thing that disappointed me though was their non-participation in the complimentary drink offer.

Afterward we headed to Movie Towne for two Film Festival movies; which were very entertaining.We viewed 'Sand Dollars', which was a film set in the Dominican Republic and 'Resorts', filmed in beautiful Tobago. Afterward, the Q&A sessions with the cast and crew were really enlightening and added to overall experience.

Many thanks to the organizers of TTRW 2015! I look forward to an even bigger and better week for 2016. 

Also, I really enjoyed the Film Festival, and I do look forward to it next year as well :D

Epic Restaurant Visit and Go to the Market, please!

I've wanted to blog in forever, and now is my chance.

So here's what. I have somewhat of a confession to make.

I have become somewhat of a foodie. I've always loved food, but my seriousness for food begun when I decided to do Food and Nutrition when I was in high school. Learning about vitamins and minerals and how it affects your body and how to prepare certain foods was just so fascinating to me. It was cemented when I attended a cooking class hosted by the Wendy Rahamut's School of Cooking for a Mediterranean cuisine. It was so much fun and I had a great time with ma mere!

Mediterranean food: (top/right) Mediterranean flat bread and hummos (literally my new cheese subsitute)
(bottom/right: cous cous, taboulleh (my go-to salad now) and rosemary lamb (left-hand side: beautiful San Fernando!)

Even though I am a semi-foodie at this time, I do not think I would ever become a fan of red meats, like beef, lamb and pork, however I do eat bacon, minced beef and ham occasionally. In the future though, it would be out of my diet for sure. 

But let's talk about this epic restaurant visit, followed by my first market visit in ages.

Epic Restaurant Visit

So, this is a restaurant I've wanted to visit since I was attending high school. Do you dare to venture a guess?

*Smiles*

Now what can I say about Chaud apart from the fact that it's the most recommended restaurant to tourists to Trinidad and that the people who've visited always say it's good, consistently? That's pretty much sums up what Chaud is. Owned by Chef Khalid Mohammed, it is the arguably the best locally-owned fine dining restaurant in Trinidad.

We were greeted by smartly dressed staff, who directed us to a table closest to the front, where I can see the savannah (ideally, exactly where I wanted to sit). We were given water (Evian) and garlic bread with tamarind sauce and butter as a starter.

Gosh was it delicious.

We went straight to the main course. My sister and I both had pot-roasted chicken breast (organic) with potatoes and veggies. Great meal.

My lovely dinner

The reason why I just say great, in all honesty, my mom and I season chicken highly, and Chaud's was adjusted to me for their customers, tourists included, so it did not have the burst of flavour I expected. The vegetables were great though (I have a slight veggie fetish these days).

My mom had a crispy snapper dish. And I must say it was perfectly grilled/crispy and the flavour was just right. My mom likes her food dry, and she just loved the flavour and the fact that it was not dripping in sauce.

Mi Madre's snapper meal

Let me mention the juices we ordered. I had a passion fruit juice, in which they mixed in some pineapple juice so the passion flavour was really powerful. It was perfectly sweet. My sister had freshly squeezed orange juice, and she loved it. It was indeed refreshing. Mom had a fruit punch, which was made with fresh fruit; it was just right.

For dessert, my sister ordered a butter caramel pecan ice-cream, I had chocolate chocolate chip and mom had a coconut pistachio sorbet. They were all hand-made and very very delicious.

Chocolate chocolate chip goodness

Butter pecan caramel goodness

Pistachio coconut goodness

I can't even begin to express how great the service was, as well as the staff. Perfect evening. Thank you Chaud!

Go to the Market, please!

I swear to you if you want to save money and get fresh goods, may I recommend the market. Tunapuna market is usually my go-to market, so I cannot really speak for the rest.

I can tell you the savings you can have through salmon for now: in the supermarket you will pay close to TT$70 for one slice of filleted salmon fit for one person, but you can get a 4.5 pound salmon for just under TT$100, filleted and all! And everyone is so friendly and welcoming. Bargains galore.

I've never liked the market as a child and I've never understood why my mother would ever venture there, but as I got older, it became clearer to me.

So to recap?
I would definitely recommend Chaud as a restaurant to visit, and of course huge savings are to be realized at the market!

That's all for now.

Trinidad and Tobago Restaurant Week 2013 at Bella

I have a huge smile on my face while I'm typing this blog. As an individual obsessed with tourism and most things related to it, I get really happy when I see individuals or groups in Trinidad and Tobago adding more to the tourism product. And one such amazing initiative this year is Trinidad and Tobago Restaurant Week (TTRW).

Usually I look forward to food festivals, because more than likely when you go, you are bound to find some amazing items that you've never seen or heard of or even tried. I really wanted to go to the Food, Wine and Rum Festival in Barbados this year, but it was highly unlikely. Plus Taste T&T is clearly not taking place this year, and I really wanted to attend a food-related festival. I see it as a good way to gather family and friends and just spend a wonderful time together. Earlier on this year, I went to the Blue Food Festival in Tobago, which for me was a bit disappointing, but interesting nonetheless. All in the name of new food stuff, yeah?

So TTRW! How did I stumble upon thee? (Literally)

The logo for TTRW

On Facebook, I like a page run by a restaurant/hotel called Mariposa Gardens in Lopinot, Trinidad. I've visited the property on two occasions. The first time was for a hiking experience and the second time, I had some of the best food in my life; cream of pumpkin soup, beef slow cooked in a cocoa-infused sauce, tilapia seasoned with lime and fresh herbs and homemade cocoa ice-cream. Some days I could still taste the goodies I ate there. They posted a question on their Facebook page: What does TTRW stand for? If you got it right, you could have won a free meal courtesy of the facility for this TTRW thing. I was like huh? What on earth is that? Low and behold I find out about Trinidad and Tobago Restaurant Week, two weeks before it was about to take place. I found that it would have run from the 8th - 17th of November, and that some restaurants throughout T&T would be offering dinner at a discount during the time period. I said hell yes!

So there were categories according to price for the restaurants $120 - Savoury, $200 - Scrumptious, $300 - Delectable and $400 - Divine. If I had extra money, I would have gone to as many as I possibly could have. I ended up narrowing it down to two restaurants to dine at: The Lighthouse Restaurant in Chaguaramas or Bella on the Avenue on Ariapita Avenue. I chose the latter because it would have been less of a hassle to get there.

The restaurant had a lovely ambiance, and the menu was simple and seemed delicious. For the starter I ordered a lovely a soup du jour - which was really a coconut and broccoli infused soup. It was absolutely delicious.

Soup du Jour

There was also a roasted vegetable tower as the other option for the appetizer.

Roasted Vegetable Tower

I heard it was really good as well!

For the main course, I had pan roasted shrimp in a ginger coconut sauce with a rustic vegetable medley and mashed sweet potatoes and plantains. Amazing! The vegetables were perfectly seasoned, and the shrimp was creamy and savoury because of the coconut sauce, and the plantains and sweet potato added a light sweetness to the dish.

The other option was a cumin and garlic rub sirloin served with roasted saffron potatoes and some vegetables. I tried a piece of the sirloin, and it was pretty delicious.

For dessert there was an option of ice-cream or a house creme brulee. Mmm good! I was able to sample the creme brulee and it was unbelievablely delicious! I am a serious ice-cream person, so of course I had my ice-cream.

Creme Brulee

Dulce de Leche Ice-Cream

When we thought all that was over, the restaurant offered a complementary cocktail. They were pretty great too!

Pina Colada

This was a creamy pina colada, and below is strawberry mocktail.

Strawberry Mocktail

And yes, after eating here, I would recommend the place. On the regular menu, they offer mostly salads, burgers, pasta dishes and the like. If this is along the lines of what you prefer to eat out, Bella is for you. The staff treated us courteously throughout the night as well, which we appreciated immensely.

I had such a good time with my peeps at Bella on the Avenue! Thanks to Trinidad and Tobago Restaurant Week for this initiative. T&T has great culinary tourism potential, and this initiative was a healthy start. Looking forward to an even bigger and better TTRW 2014!

Blue Food Festival, Tobago

The Blue Food Festival is an annual event held at Bloody Bay, Tobago, that features by-products made from one type of ground provision, dasheen. Dasheen is a favourite of mine to consume as it regards ground provision. I love it boiled together with cassava, eddoes, sweet potatoes and plantain with salted fish ie saltfish. So, when I saw there was a festival centred around dasheen, and where I can see products made from dasheen, apart from the boiled dasheen I'm used to, I said hell yes!

Yes I.

This festival has been something I have been looking forward to attending for the past three years. Yes, three years. However, I could not have attended since I first got interested because of commitments at school. This year I was finally able to make arrangements to head to Tobago to this much anticipated Blue Food Festival.

As previously aforementioned, the event is held at Bloody Bay, Tobago, which is more or less in the country side, and depending on where you're staying on the island, it may be about an hour or more in driving to get there. We took just over an hour to get there.

On to Bloody Bay!

The drive was a pretty scenic one I must say. Tobago has a lot of vegetation, ie, it ha rell bush! But the views were pretty amazing.

Englishman's Bay

Upon approaching the site, you park about fifteen minutes away, and one of the public transportation buses will shuttle drive you in to and out of the festival.

The banner 

Upon entering the stage is to the immediate right as well as a tent placement for judges, and when you turn to the left you see the many booths that are supposed to be filled with goodies made from the ever important dasheen. The day was pretty overcast, and it probably rained earlier, but the first thing that I noticed was how muddy and wet the ground was.

That was probably the first thing that probably dulled my excitement. I was aware that every year, it rains at the festival, but I said that since it's in it's fifteenth year, it would have been organized in such a way where that in the event that it rains, it wouldn't be an issue for patrons ... but that was not the case. Thankfully, while I was there it did not rain, but about an hour later it certainly poured.

So I walk to a few booths and I really just saw items on sale, basically. Some persons literally refused to sell some of their goodies, because according to them, the judges did not pass by their booths yet. And I couldn't help but think, huh? The judges were going to judge later in the day I believe.

But anyway...

There were all sorts of dasheen-related items.

Dasheen wine

The lady who sold this asked if I wanted to try some, but I passed on the offer at the point in time (it was still morning time ;} ).

Other by-products from the dasheen included, dasheen cake (which was pretty delicious), dasheen sweet bread, boiled dasheens with saltfish, dasheen cupcakes, dasheen bakes, dasheen punch a creme, etc etc.

Dasheen goodies

Dasheen ice-cream



The dasheen ice-cream was pretty decadent. I enjoyed that ice-cream so so much. I think I would go back (in the next ten years or so, because the event itself was disappointing to me), just to get that ice-cream.  My intention was to purchase a dasheen-based lunch, but because the seating area became a permanent spot for some of the patrons already seated, it was impossible to even sit and chillax for a bit there. Another thing that sort of dulled my appetite was the fact that the entire area smelled like manure, and that scent combined with food meant to be sold for consumption equals a more or less negative appetite for me. 

But it was pretty cool, and a bit barbaric to see pigs roasting on an open pit:

Because I could not sit to have lunch, and nothing seemed to be going on the time I was there, I had to leave. I saw no point in staying there just to stand in mud. So we ended up leaving Bloody Bay, and driving to Jemma's Seaview Kitchen and Treehouse Restaurant for a delicious Creole lunch, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

It was a fantastic end to what I can term a Blue Food Fiasco. I have a few recommendations to the organizers of the Blue Food Festival, since I am not the only one who felt the way I did when I left the festival (disappointed and highly annoyed):

1. Since it rains every year, perhaps change the time of year the festival is held, or locate the festival at some sort of indoor facility. The mud and the slight manure scent and the rain that was clearly about to burst was really a factor of discomfort, not only for me, but for others as well.

2. The festival is centred around the root vegetable, dasheen. For me, it would have been nice if there was a tent of some sort, featuring the dasheen, and the different types, and some of the raw products made from dasheen. It would have been nice to at least hear some of the health benefits, and even a little history of dasheen became an essential part of the Caribbean diet. That would have added to the festival (but this is just me).

3. It would have been nice to see some demonstrations (I know I left before 1pm, but still) of the way some of the food products are prepared using the dasheen, such as the ice-cream, or the baked goods that were available, or even the wine. It literally felt like a market to me, as opposed to a 'food festival'. 

4. I know I got there early and left long before the entertainment started, but I had to leave the sister isle at a certain time. The event started at 10am, I think some form of entertainment should have been going on since then .... something: poetry, local dancers, and the like. I know some well known artistes were scheduled to perform, but I left way before they even got there (well perhaps if I had gotten a seat .... -_- ).

Overall, the Blue Food Festival was not too bad, but I thought after fifteen years, and all the excitement and anticipation I had, it would have been great, and I ended up leaving pretty disappointed. 

This is simply my two cents on Blue Food Festival 2013.

Please enjoy this picture, taken at the Treehouse Restaurant (ensure you visit there on every Tobago visit).

:)

What A Week

Work has been cool more or less this week. Living in a different country and getting the opportunity to explore the island when you have free time makes the entire experience holistic for me. I get to work and be a tourist at the same. Hehe!! Anyway..

Saturday I did my first tour of Barbados with Island Safari, one of the leading tour companies in Barbados. We basically did a drive through each parish, apart from Christ Church and St. Michael, since these are 2 parishes everyone tends to frequent. Our tour guide's name was Ian, and he was very knowledgeable about new developments and history throughout the island. One thing that had me a bit disappointed with Island Safari beforehand is the package we took, they told us no refreshments would be provided apart from cups and ice, so the group of us decided, to just walk with our own refreshments. To my pleasant surprise however, the tour guide offered us jungle juice (just a variation of the famous Bajan rum punch), and orange juice.

We went to several major look out points and I got some fantastic shots of Bathsheba Bay and Cove Beach on the east coast of the island. It was absolutely amazing, and I thoroughly enjoyed the safari experience with the tour team.

Isn't Port St Charles absolutely gorgeous?

When I saw the first class port in the parish of St. Peter, Barbados and how beautiful the water looked, I just thought wow Trinidad and Tobago has a lot of work to do as it regards its tourism industry. I remember there were some talks about investing in yachting tourism, but damn, after seeing this port facility, we have a lot of work to do.

I snapped photos of the yachts in the distance >.<

Barbados is indeed a beautiful place. The one thing I probably should have done is make note of the major points Ian drove us to, because I honestly cannot remember the name of some of the gorgeous places I've seen.

Cove Bay, St. Lucy

The tour was finalized by us going to the Bathsheba Bay and through a rainforest that is either Joe's River Rainforest or Turner's Hall Woods. I really cannot recall :/

Bathsheba's Bay

The forest

In the rural areas, agriculture predominates

Black-bellied sheep :)

Mayne that tour was awesome, and to top if off, we got some refreshments, which I was not expecting lol.

Afterward, my friend and I ventured to The Crane. I have no shame in saying this, it was the first time I took the bus in Barbados. And I laughed in my head, because I had to stand, and I kept swaying initially, and the people around me watched me as though I wasn't right in my head. The Crane is one of the premiere resorts in Barbados, and it really is an awesome property.

For me, The Crane has a more romantic, secluded atmosphere, as opposed to Atlantis Resort, the Bahamas, which I've had the pleasure of visiting earlier this year. Atlantis Resort is of course probably the most popular resort in the Bahamas, and there is more of a fun, bright atmosphere up there.

Just a snippet of what I first saw

The Crane I believe was named after the nearby Crane Beach. It is a beautiful beach, and if I only had my swimsuit, I would have been in that water in a heartbeat, but there is time to do that still in Barbados.

Crane Beach

We happened to meet up with the manager of the property, and we were able to see how the suites looked. I was literally on a high. We walked around the property and took several shots, and afterward, went to 1887 Bar to try the talked-about rum punch. In my opinion, their's was just alright and really strong.

I met some pretty cool employees at The Crane afterward, and listened to their life stories, while I heard remixes to mostly Rihanna's music in the background. I found out about the extent of domestic violence and a person's quest to be independent and settle down. It was good vibes. Afterward the intention was to revisit St. Lawrence Gap for dinner, but that did not happen, but it's all good. There's still time for that of course.

Sunday evening, I went to the Globe Drive-In Cinema, we watched two movies: 2 Guns with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg and Redemption with Jason Statham and Agata Buzek.

Part of the drive-in cinema

2 Guns was okay for me, but because I was more or less distracted while the movie was going on, I didn't really take it in as much as I would have liked to, but the part at the end was awesome. And I'm huge fan of these two fantastic actors, so I would recommend it. Redemption was awesome for me because I actually paid attention to what was going on. It was really symbolic and interesting especially the relationship with the two main characters; in the end he was indeed redeemed.

For the first time in my life, I have been a part of a television audience, called 'Destination Caribbean', on CaribVision. It was really cool with all the lighting, and the cameras. It was hard not to laugh at some things though, but it was such a great experience. The panel discussed Festival Tourism and whether it is truly beneficial for the Caribbean region, and basically at the end of the discussion one can say so. My personal difficulty has always been whether we actually make money from these festivals, and how these festivals can remain authentic, if it's a cultural, and not become highly commercialized.

Panelists: The Gabby, Ms Sutherland, Mr Keens-Douglas and Sr Villalba

But it was a pleasure to have and meet a Trini representative, Shaneil Sutherland, and the other three panelists Elias Villalba of Venezuela, Anthony 'Mighty Gabby' Carter of Barbados and Ricardo Keens-Douglas of Grenada. If you want to catch episodes of Destination Caribbean, just YouTube 'CTO Destination TV Show' and enjoy!

Ah what adventures beheld in Barbados :)