This March, after the hustle and bustle of Carnival had started to die down, I was delighted to be invited to Jaffa At The Oval by an old friend. I have had the opportunity to eat there before but something always came up to change my plans. This time however it was smooth sailing and I am delighted to say that I not only had a wonderful culinary experience taste-wise but in terms of ambience and service they were definitely tops!

Located on the second level of the newly renovated Queen’s Park Oval, Jaffa’s décor reminds of the old gentlemen’s club of yore with its rich dark walls, hidden ceilings, and ceiling fans. Strategic use of glass, plentiful windows and bright local artwork prevent the overall effect from being oppressive and the layout allows for considerable intimacy as the conversations of nearby patrons are suitably muffled by the acoustics to a pleasurable distant murmur. One truly gets a feeling of sanctuary, amidst the hustle and bustle of Port of Spain.

From Jaffa’s rather dormant Facebook Group:

In cricketing parlance, the term “Jaffa” means “a perfect delivery”. In the context of Jaffa, our new fine dining restaurant at the Oval, the name represents our commitment to provide dining experiences that are perfectly delivered every time. Jaffa offers a sophisticated ambiance and cuisine that pleases the eye almost as much as it excites the palate. Combined with a world class selection of wines, exotic cocktails, and irresistible desserts in a smoke free environment, Jaffa will redefine fine dining in Trinidad and Tobago.

The lunchtime buffet, which we attended, was rich in options, and one never felt rushed or hassled. Indeed we ended up staying for a little over 3 hours, interspersing our conversations with repeated visits to the offerings. Held from Monday to Friday, Jaffa’s lunchtime buffet is an extremely affordable $165 TT per person and includes a complimentary glass of wine and coffee.

Sipping on my glass of white wine here’s what I sampled during the appetizer and entrée part of the meal.

Clockwise from top:

Appetizer plate: garlic crostinis, beets, olives, chickpea salad, singapore noodles, assorted cheeses.

Main course plate: fish cake, grilled swordfish kebabs, grilled eggplant, chadon beni sauce, cream of tartar sauce

Side dishes plate: white beans, chinese noodles, potato croquette, grilled plaintains in rum sauce

I thoroughly enjoyed everything but there were some standouts which included the cheese pate, the swordfish kebabs (prepared freshly in front my eyes and not dry at all), the incredibly light and slightly sweet potato croquette and the luxuriously rich grilled plantains.

Throughout the various courses the wait staff were attentive to our wishes and needs, pre-emptively refilling our water glasses as needed.

When it was time for dessert, an equally sumptuous display was present, my eyes took in a lot more than my now full stomach could entertain. Still, I gallantly selected a few items. Oh the things I do in the name of food!

From left to right: Lemongrass infused coconut creme brulée, strawberry parfait, hazelnut torte, apple strudel (made with phyllo dough)

My favorite out of all the desserts was the creme brulée, so many places offer what they call creme brulée that is really just custard. This one had a beautiful caramelized crust and the flavour was also wonderful – although the lemongrass was a little more subtle than I had expected. The strawberry parfait was light as was the hazelnut torte (a weakness of mine). The use of phyllo dough in the apple strudel was interesting and made me think of it as an apple ‘baklava’. Quite delicious though, still the creme brulée is what I will definitely hope is on the menu the next time I’m there. And there will be a next time! Now if only they had free Wifi…

Jaffa At The Oval
94 Tragarete Road
St. Clair
(868) 622-6825

Hours:
Mon – Fri : 11:45am – 10:30pm
Sat: 10:00am – 4:00pm

TG Rates This Experience:

Taste – 5/5
Ambience – 5/5
Price – 5/5

Overall Rating: 5/5

Shortly after this post was first published Amour et Café closed its doors indefinitely, citing a ‘legal obstacle’ on their Facebook page. They are still available for orders however. Let’s hope they get everything sorted out in 2011!

There’s something underfoot here in Trinidad. A movement of eager, innovative food lovers, opening small intimate locations where fresh ingredients shine and combine in ways that are delicious, surprising and, even better, affordable!

For far too long Rituals has been the only option around for those who craved a relaxed, low-pressure environment, complete with coffees, pastries and ambience. Unfortunately, with the chain continuing to expand, their offerings have come to feel more cookie-cutter, the staff more detached, and the experience less impressive. Stepping in to fill that void establishments such as Amour et Café and Café Marrakesh (which I will also feature in an upcoming post) have begun to appear.

I first learnt about Amour et Café and their unique approach to all-day breakfast farein a July issue of the Trinidad Exprress. The grainy picture didn’t make much of an impression, but the enthusiasm of the young proprietors did:

“For Ramsubag and Litren, there is nothing more important than breakfast. Though neither attended any professional cooking school, they believe the heart and sou l they put into each dish more than makes up for any professional training.”

A quick look at their Facebook page (and menu) sealed the deal and one sunny morning, when my schedule was relatively light I decided to drop in and see what it was all about.

Upon arriving at lower Phillip Street (on-site parking is available) I was quickly taken aback by the unassuming exterior. Although I’m sure the banner was probably done for free by some well-meaning souls the drab colours and hard to read ‘graffiti script’ felt much more appropriate for an auto-mechanic shop than a location promising romance and soul-satisfying fare. However, once I reached the top of the steps and stepped inside, I could not be more surprised at how the interior contradicted everything that had met my eyes to that point.

Warm tropical colors played against the plush couches which offered alternate seating to the jaunty chrome chairs and tables. Instantly, you felt relaxed and ‘at home’.

As a low-key mix of alternative female singers and neo-soul played in the background we were greeted by a young woman I recognized from the Express article as Vanessa Litren. Personable, yet somewhat reserved she helped us with our menu choices, offered helpful recommendations before taking our order. She lit up talking about the unusual combinations on their menu and how she had come up with them. When she disappeared for some time, and the sound and aromas of kitchen prep floated through the area it hit me that she was doing everything by herself! This impressed me even more. It was clear from the onset that first and foremost Amour et Café is a labour of love and a genuine expression of its owners passion for food and good company. I hoped that the patronage and money would follow, and wondered how they would manage if it should. At least one or two extra hands may need to come on board!

As she put our orders together I continued to take a look around.

On designated evenings Amour et Café also doubles as an acoustic performance space for local musicians and poets. It also exhibits the work of emerging visual artists.

Finally our orders arrived! Breathtaking, don’t you think?

Mmm.. Let’s take a closer look at that French Toast, shall we?

Beautiful isn’t it? Everything clearly reflected the pride and emotional investment she has in her dishes. I really admired and respected that. I only hoped it tasted 1/2 as good as it looked! No worries there. It tasted twice as good! No seriously. And once I poured the maple syrup on… O.M.G. Nuff said.

Hearing our murmurs and sighs she asked tentatively if everything was OK. I hope our mutterings appeased her because the experience really was sublime!
I hadn’t intended on eating anything else. But once that was done, I just wanted to linger and drink in the ambience a little more.

Tea seemed to be the perfect choice at that moment for a digestif.

Amour et Café offers a wide range of teas, both domestic and international. Their guide lists all the flavours and the purported benefits of each brew. I settled on a ‘Tiramisu Tea’ flavour, curious as to what it would hold.

As with their food, the presentation was flawless and full of flair. The tea was enjoyable with distinctive caramel flavours and an almond aroma.

All in all my first visit to Amour et Café was an overwhelmingly positive experience. From the welcome ambience, to the prompt service to the outstandingly good food and fresh approach to the notion of breakfast fare. Do drop in if/when you get a chance. I hope that they will be able to bring on some extra hands in time to handle the demand as word-of-mouth hopefully grows!

I have read some criticisms in the past on the lack of variety in ‘local fruit’ offerings, and I do hope that they integrate more tropical fare at a later date (I’d love to see what they would come up with for guava and carambola!). Having seen the operations first-hand though and having read about their commitment to not using processed/artificial ingredients I do believe that their current menu is more reflective of what is most affordable and easiest to prep and assemble on short notice using fresh ingredients. It makes sense at this point in their development to focus on a few well-made offerings before looking to source a wider array of local fruits that may or may not be popular or cost-effective in smaller batches (not to mention more labour-intensive).

Kudos to Candice Ramsubag and Vanessa Litren for creating an unforgettable destination!

To learn more about Amour et Café visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Woodbrook-Trinidad-and-Tobago/Amour-et-Cafe/103002863071058

Amour et Café
4 Phillip Street
Woodbrook
868-489-6089

TG Rates This Experience:

Taste – 5/5
Ambience – 5/5
Price – 5/5

Overall Rating: 5/5

From The Mountain Express:

The Simma Down Caribbean Café just recently opened on Market Street downtown [Asheville], in the area formerly occupied by One Love. The restaurant is also surprisingly affordable, offering lunch plates laden with jerk chicken or pork and heaps of coconut rice and peas, greens and plantains — for the rock-bottom price of only $7. Chef/owner Sam Briggs says that the prices might go up eventually, but for now his aim is to draw customers through the front doors. The menu offers other traditional island dishes like salt-fish fritters, cassava fries and Jamaican patties — think Caribbean-style empanadas. Also offered are American classics (“for the less adventurous,” chides the menu) like hamburgers and chicken strips.
For the full article & contact details click here
Image “Up Market Street” by Jeff Pitman – Artist

Have you eaten at Simma Down? Why not share your thoughts?

Image: Philadelphia Inquirer

Last month the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a piece on a Trinidadian food stand called Calypso in Chestnut Hill’s Farmers Market.

Excerpt: “It is time to make the next round of roti. Campbell slides balls of dough made with ground split peas and garlic from under a kitchen towel, flattens them, and rolls them out with a big, wooden rolling pin. Then she lays the tortilla-like rounds on a circular griddle called a tahwah, brushing them with oil, and flipping them repeatedly with a blunt spatula.

The roti I buy is wrapped in a tidy packet around a filling of her stewy vegetables – a soft, curried potato, chickpeas, calabasa, and spinach, the flavors sweet and slightly tangy, the roti wrap tender and warm and fresh.
I am invited to sample the macaroni pie (a lush mac and cheese suffused with egg and onion and baked). I have a forkful of creamy, spiced coleslaw. And a swig of mango lemonade with a hit of Trinidad’s Angostura bitters”

You can read the full article at: www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/88549322.html
For more information visit their website: www.calypsoch.com

If you’ve eaten at Calypso why not share your thoughts?

MovieTowne is turning into quite a culinary hub for those in North-West Trinidad. When it first opened it was a bit of a wasteland (outside of the cineplex). The biggest non-movie attraction for the longest while was ‘Shakers’, an outdoor pub/bar. However over the last 12-18 months there’s been an explosion of eateries, representing everything from sushi (Hanami’s), to Trinidad Creole (Woodford Café) to American chain eating (TCBY’s and Ruby Tuesdays), Chinese (Shanghai Experience), Irish (J. Malone’s) and much more!
On my latest jaunt (to see the Simpsons movie) my friend and I dropped by Paradis de la Creme, the complex’s resident bakery/patisserie.

Their treats are always breathtaking and artfully displayed:

So far I have only sampled their desserts, but they also offer savoury pastries, quiches and breakfast and lunch offerings. The premises are always clean and well maintained and the quality of the food remains consistent. Service can be spotty though and the staff often seem visibly inconvienced by customer requests, even when placing orders. Even though I haven’t personally had much trouble when there, on this visit they twice messed up my friend’s requests and she had even more ‘horror stories’ of past interactions. Tsk Tsk Tsk

This time around I decided to try out their Noyers (according to their description “walnuts, coffee and caramel in perfect harmony” )

The flavours of coffee and chocolate were so intense that I almost passed out from the first bite. and the texture somehow managed to be simultaneously dense but mousse-like. The layers floated above a layer of walnut pieces. I personally would have preferred the walnuts to have been ground or broken into smaller fragments, as I’m not a fan of bold nut chunks, but that may just be a personal hangup of mine. I would definitely purchase it again the next time around but I really have my eye on the Fruit Tartlets, Fruit Slices and Oreo Mousse cakes… Ooo la la!

Paradis de la Creme
MovieTowne
Invader’s Bay
868-624-6378

TG Rates This Experience:

Taste – 4/5
Ambience – 4/5
Price – 4/5

Overall Rating: 4/5

I was first introduced to Häagen Dazs when I lived in the US so it was with great joy that I received the news several years ago that Häagen Dazs would be distributed locally via local supermarkets! Although the prices were astronomical, the quality of texture and flavour made it the perfect occasional indulgence for my palate. Then, in 2003, Hadco (the local distributor for Häagen Dazs) opened a Häagen Dazs cafe at Ellerslie Plaza in Maraval. Although I often passed it I never went inside. I’m a creature of habit and naturally 90% hermit, something that this site has been helping me to push beyond, so it was great interest and curiousity that I decided to change that last week

From the moment that I entered I was impressed. The decor is very pristine and airy and ambient electro-lounge plays at a comfortable volume, instantly transporting you into another world, away from the heat, traffic and tensions just a glass pane away. Myself and the two other women who entered as the cafe opened were both newbies and the server was very courteous, professional and attentive to our needs and questions. Something that one definitely appreciates and makes note of in this country!

After looking at the array of flavours (which are regularly rotated) I decided to purchase a small cup ($15) of tiramisu icecream. The café also sells cakes and brownies, and I promise that I will sample (and share) those at another point.

Comfortable chairs, couches and what I called ‘pods’ are all around so I quickly settled into one of the ‘Pods’ with my icecream – eager to both taste it, and to take advantage of the café’s free Wi-Fi capabilities.

As I settled into the groove of the electro-lounge beats, and opened my email application, I took my first taste of the tiramisu…

My my my my my my my …. this is what I have been missing people!!! Dense creamy vanilla interlaced with intense espresso and crunchy almond biscuit chunks, it was almost a meal unto itself. I definitely took my time to savour it all.

I had not purchased a drink ($7 for a softdrink?!?) so was pleasantly surprised when the server placed a glass of water on my table. These days complimentary water is getting rarer and rarer so I definitely took note of that as well.

On my table was a promo for a shake called a MooseMilk that included icecream, kahlua, chocolate, strawberries and who knows what else. The server told me it cost $38, and I think I will get one my next time around, along with a white chocolate-raspberry brownie that I had been eyeing

Behind me was a magazine rack that included copies of Gourmet Magazine, I think that was the touch that sealed the deal for me This was a place that I was gonna make my own. (It also didn’t hurt that the huge posters for their new Fondue stations had me planning who I could call to make a lime ).

As I left I pondered the amusing, and I’m sure unintentional irony that Häagen Dazs, a Jewish-American concoction, named in gratitude for the civilian heroes of World War II was now housed on the grounds of what was at one point a local World War II POW camp, housing both captured German soldiers, as well as German and Eastern European Jewish refugees who after having found refuge in Trinidad, were then deemed of ‘enemy aliens’ once war was declared.

From Joan Nathan’s Jewish Cooking in America: Expanded Edition (Knopf Cooks American):
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Probably the most famous Jewish ice-cream concern is Häagen-Dazs. Reuben Mattus, a Polish immigrant, started in the ice-cream business in the 1920s as a child of ten just after he and his widowed mother, Leah, stepped off the boat… Mattus’ new kind of ice cream went against the rules and was so heavy that he had to change his equipment.
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“I prided myself on being a marketing man. If you’re the same like everybody else you’re lost. The number one thing was to get a foreign sounding name. The only country which saved the Jews during World War II was Denmark, so I put together a totally fictitious Danish name and had it registered. Häagen-Dazs doesn’t mean anything. It would attract attention, especially with the umlaut. If I made good ice cream I wanted my people to get it, so I made it kosher… I made a special ice cream for people who wanted a special taste. That was my attempt and it worked. It sold by word of mouth.”

Well I definitely think that Mr. Mattus achieved that special taste. One that I plan to return to again and again. Yes, Belgian chocolate, Macadamian Brittle, Coconut Macaroon, I’m looking at you!

Häagen-Dazs Trinidad
Ellerslie Plaza
Maraval
Port of Spain
868-622-8833
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View all locations (Maraval, San Fernando, Tobago)
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TG Rates This Experience:

Taste – 5/5
Ambience – 5/5
Price – 4/5

Overall Rating: 4.7/5

Several months ago I was excited and surprised to be asked to join the Caribbean panel for The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants survey. Of course I said yes!

Two weeks ago my official thank you letter, and the issue of Restaurant magazine that presented the final top 100 candidates, arrived. Sadly (but not surprisingly) no Caribbean locations made the cut. There simply isn’t enough population I think for us to garner enough votes. I was a bit sad that there was not a list of the top finalists by region though, cos I would have been interested to see who did make the top 10 for the Caribbean.

You can view the Top 50 for yourself, and if you are lucky enough to live near some of these establishments check them out! I know that I will be keeping this copy of Restaurant magazine near cos I hope to do some travelling in the future

For the professional and the passionate

Restaurant magazine was launched in London in 2001, in response to the phenomenal increase in interest in the industry in the UK. Under the stapline ‘For the professional and the passionate’, it quickly established itself as THE magazine for the quality end of the restaurant business, serving everybody from kitchen porter to head chef, from waiter to restaurant manager, as well as the owners, suppliers and service companies operating within the industry.

Based in London’s Regent Street, in the heart of one of the world’s most thriving restaurant communities, Restaurant has grown into a magazine of international influence, thanks in no small part to the success of The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants, which it launched in 2002. Restaurant magazine will continue to support the restaurant business, in the UK and around the globe, and is delighted to have the support of excellent partners in this endeavour.

The above advert for a restaurant (new?) called Angelo’s caught my eye in the Saturday Express. Ariapita Avenue is the main culinary artery for dining in and around Port-of-Spain and it really is amazing how many restaurants it seems able to contain! I think I”ll have to check them out, especially as Tiramisu is currently my Häagen Dazs flavour of choice (for reasons that will be posted in the near future ).

If you’ve eaten at Angelo’s why not leave a comment to let me and others know your thoughts/opinion, etc.

In my continuing quest to share the ins and outs of Trinbagonian cuisine I have decided that its time to also include our ‘ambassadors’. I’m talking about those brave mom and pop operations that open up at home and abroad offering our fare to foreigners and locals alike. The quality of these places can range from the sublime to the abysmal which is why I want to begin compiling recommendations and warnings from readers and visitors of Caribbean eateries all over the world, especially those that offer and feature Trinidadian food in their repertoire.

The first place I want to shine a spotlight on is called ‘Caribbean Flavors’ and is/was located in Southeast Queens, NYC according to this website.

Caribbean Flavors Roti Shop
90-63 Sutphin Blvd., Jamaica, Queens, NY, USA
718-523-6049
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Cuisine: Caribbean
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Hours: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day

If you’ve eaten there why not leave a comment and let me know how it was, if it’s still in operation, you know, things like that!