The Best Fish Sandwich Ever

The things people do for love. Would you drive about an hour over mountainous terrain in sometimes hazardous conditions for love? Love of the perfect fish sandwich that is - many have and many more will!

Famous Bake and Shark

Trinidad and Tobago can boast of many things, but for over fourteen years we have claimed a title to my knowledge unrivaled: having the Best Fish Sandwich in existence - Bake and Shark.

Naked Sandwich

Basic Components Skillfully Prepared

Fried round bread about the width of a large hamburger bun but half it's thickness holding flakey, mild tasting, moist fillets of well prepared fried shark meat. Undressed, this sandwich is already in a class by itself, topped with some unique condiments (as well as some of the usual suspects) takes it over the top.

Maracas Beach Trinidad

The Most Popular place to buy Bake and Shark - Richard's

At Maracas Beach on the north coast of the island of Trinidad, you will find many Bake and Shark vendors, but the most popular is Richard's Bake and Shark. Easily distinguishable from the other vendors, not so much by the extended sales hut branded in electric blue, but by the long lines of customers which seem a permanent fixture any day if the week.

Richard of Richard's Bake and Shark

Richard's is open every day, it's namesake manning the cash, slicing open the hot bread and inserting the fillets of fish with robotic precision. Richard at first glance may look unapproachable, but engage him in any casual conversation and a broad smile appears though his hands never stop moving. He is at this post every day save Mondays (his day off) and on weekends he stands from morning to evening serving thousands.

Amazing Complements

All Dressed Up

Ask any ten Trinbagonian how they top their Bake and Shark and you may get ten different answers; some like it super sloppy with sauces of garlic, cilantro (shadon beni) and tamarind, others love the salad like additions of cabbage slaw, tomatoes, sliced pineapple and local lettuce. Anyway it is dressed it still remains surprisingly light and immensely addictive. 

The Best Sandwich Made Ultimate
When Enjoyed at Famous Maracas Beach 

With its own fan page and a following of over forty-seven thousand on Facebook, where daily declarations of love are made from locals and foreigners alike, this fish sandwich undoubtedly is unparalleled and Richard's on Maracas Beach - 'the' place to get it.

A Sandwich and A View

Trincity Mall Goodness

Good food, even the fast food type, can satisfy more than a need for sustenance: it can deliver pleasure. Spoonful after spoonful, bite after bite getting a taste of the good stuff is never a bad thing and who knew that a Shopping Mall Food Court could help fill you with joy.

Trincity Mall South Side Food Court

Trinidad & Tobago’s diverse and rapidly expanding food culture is apparent, no more so than in the food courts of the Trincity Mall located in the North East of Trinidad. This large and bustling shopping complex has two food courts (north and south sides) and in keeping with my duties of telling you what’s the best to eat where, I’ll take you with me to the south side.

The south side food court has six separate outlets of interesting food for the Mall patron:

• Jawhara - Arabic Cuisine
• Tandoori Hut - Authentic Indian Cuisine
• Stew's - Trini Caribbean Fare
• Rituals Coffee/Pizza Boys - Coffee, Pizza and Donuts
• Thai Express - Popular Thai Fare
• Popeye's - Louisiana Style Fast Food (US Chain)

Scene at the Food Court

Most concessionaires deliver good quality, true to their theme meals for a reasonable price, but two in my opinion are worth visiting the Mall for, Jawhara and Tandoori Hut.


Jawhara
Jawhara’s fidelity to the rich and heady aromatic spices of Arabic Cooking along with their choice of simple quintessential menu items ensure consistent quality of product. They have a small bag of tricks and they prepare them well. Any given time of day, you can expect to see a long line of customers queueing for the lip smacking Shrimp or Chicken Kebabs, Gyros, grilled Fish or Lamb and honest to goodness Middle Eastern sides like Baba Ganoush, Arabic Rice or Potatoes and Falafel.

Jawhara's Arabic Potatoes (right) with Falafel and Kebbi (left)

Every two weeks or so I crave their Chicken Kebabs, covered in Za’atar (Arabic spice mix) sprinkled with oil and flame licked. Perfectly grilled cubes of white meat on a stick, the right amount of charring and smoky flavor. 

Jawhara's Chicken Kebab with Garlic Sauce

What the flame does to the cumin and turmeric in the spice mix is tantamount to a narcotic, it gets in your head and at times, without realizing it, you close your eyes and inhale deeply when chewing. The condiment to compliment this - a thick and creamy garlic sauce, uncomplicated; mayonnaise, garlic and a few simple herbs; it is a great accomplice.

Everything on their menu is good and worth the money to try at least once to see which you like best.

Jawhara's Trincity Mall Menu

Tandoori Hut
My other guilty Trincity Mall south side pleasure is the Tandoori Hut. Authentic Indian Cuisine and like their next door neighbor Jawhara, their limited daily offering affords the significant repetition needed for the perfection of skills to create such authentic dishes. 

The Tandoori Hut Outlet at Trincity Mall

With items like Parata Wraps with fillings of Peneer Butter Masala, Curried Chicken, Fish or Lamb coupled with Fresh Salad, its easy for them to stand out - the fabulous wraps may prompt a nap afterwards though. Nann prepared on demand in their on site Tandoori Oven, heavily spice infused Seafood and Pumpkin Soups, a selection of Curries, Tandoori Chicken (of course), Sweet and Savory Lassis along with Watermelon or Cucumber Juices are on the menu.

When I get the hankering I have anything from a full meal of Rice, Curried Mushrooms and Fish Tikka to a Garlic Nann with Pimentos or my running favorite; their Potato Fries.

Amazing Tandoori Hut Fries

These aren't ordinary fries, they are spiced, deep fried and while hot, dusted in a sugar laced seasoning. Yum! These, still warm, dipped in the supplied garlic sauce - Tandoori Hut's is thin and slightly sweet, yellow in colour and charged with roasted cumin (we call Geerah) are divine. Truth be told, this has replaced a meal for me many days when on the go (not that I need an excuse).

Tandoori Bites

A fairly new item to their repertoire is Tandoori Bites, Chicken Wings marinated in Tandoori Spices and fried to crispy, spicy perfection. Fabulous as a snack when drinking ('Cutters' as we call it) these still juicy morsels have a kick with an earthy heat and their deep red colour is a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.

Well seasoned and bursting with colour - Tandoori Bites

For a taste of the bonafide when needing a change from ordinary fast food, these two choices can lend a little exotic and deliver on the goodness.

With seven casual dining restaurants, two cafe style sandwich shops and thirteen more vendors at the north side food court and environs, Trincity Mall indeed has much more to offer and I'll continue to give you the scoop on what's good.

Trincity Mall is located on the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, East Trinidad.

Saltfish Buljol

Trying to capture the essence of true Trinidad and Tobago culture and cuisine is going to be a challenge. Seizing a moment; any given time, a snapshot of what its like to be here-now and transposing the real everyday wonders and miraculous nothings. I will forever endeavor to do it justice.

Saltfish Buljol Trinidad Style

In Trinidad and Tobago, when someone offers you Saltfish, or you see it on a menu it means a Buljol of Salted Fish. I have seen a number of meanings for the word Buljol, but from my experience of Caribbean Fusion expect the meal to be prepared almost like a salad with sea food as the base. Usually a fleshy fish is used (though I have had it with squid), it is cooked and chopped finely or flaked, mixed together with chopped onions, garlic, tomatoes, tossed in olive oil and fresh lime or lemon juice and served at room temperature. Buljol recipes using salted fish, all over the Caribbean are really not that different, their variations are subtle; adding hot peppers, sweet peppers, chives or avocado. 

Salted Pollock

To me these are all things you can add to the base recipe if that’s your preference, and if you are purchasing it prepared from a restaurant in Trinidad, you ain’t getting avocado in it (expensive and popular item) nor are they lacing the whole public offering with hot Scotch Bonnet Peppers (the local flamer measuring 100,000-350,000 on the Scoville Scale).  

Clockwise from top: Onions, Garlic, Salted Fish, Tomatoes, Thyme Leaves (centre)

Trini Saltfish Buljol is made from either salted Pollock or Shark. In earlier years Cod was used until the Atlantic Cod population began to decline and its price skyrocketed. You can buy salted fish here at any grocery, established market or any self respecting neighborhood shop (we call them parlours). Easy to prepare and enjoy any time, it is considered a breakfast item and accompanied by your choice of a variety of bread like sides. 

Saltfish being prepared (boiled & flaked)

Done right, the taste of the fish is not salty, but the salting process concentrates the essence of the fish such that it is infused and fragrant with the good fish flavors. The dish is balanced with the aromatics; onion and garlic while the tomatoes add texture and their acidity enhances taste. The oil and fresh lemon put it over the top, cleaning and sharpening up the flavors. The liquid that springs from these ingredients marrying is best eaten by sopping it up with torn bits of fresh bread, bake or nann held with your fingers grabbing the flesh then shoving it into your mouth with lip smacking delight. 

Plan to eat this when you don’t have to make out with anyone soon after, but do plan.

Saltfish Buljol and Garlic Nann (w/red pimento)