LeVeLs UltraBar and Lounge

A dining experience is altered when you are invited to see a true Chef at work preparing your food. When skills displayed were honed over years and bare hands shape and form your meal, feeding the eyes before the mouth can taste. When knives work as an extension of the hand and raw is artfully combined with cooked in perfect balance, a meal is transposed to a pleasure.

Soft Shell Crab, Fresh Vegetables rolled in Rice

Usuzukuri - slices of Tuna with Ponzu Sauce

Yeah, I LOVE sushi. The pomp and circumstance of every roll, the performance art with the ability to satisfy and nourish and LeVeLs is may favorite place in Trinidad to get it.

Located at the western end of Ariapita Avenue in the capital of Port of Spain, this Ultrabar as they call themselves caters for a wide range of clients on four (4) levels, hence the name.

Beautiful Sushi Sandwich with Tuna and Avocado

My longstanding favorite - Acevichado Roll

Why My Favorite for Sushi

With a number of popular places in our small Republic now offering sushi, why is this my place to go to? Three (3) reasons: 1. Consistently great quality (head sushi Chef José rocks!) 2. Meaningful variety (no identity crisis reflected in the menu) and 3. Great, friendly service.

The LeVeLs menu serves up amazing quintessential hot and cold sushi items and includes LeVeLs specialty rolls, Specialities of the Itamae (japanese chef) from their kitchen like Japanese fried chicken - Katsu and their Epicurean delights - Guava Bar-Be-Que Ribs and Crab Cake Sliders alongside creative cocktails like Wasabi Martinis. What more could you want? Maybe something in your choice of atmosphere; outdoor spaces and a deck share the pulse of the avenue (great 'máco' points to see and be seen), the ground floor housing the sushi and drink bars are lively and at times loud, if that's your style, and the first floor with it's large comfy couches and leather armchairs more suited to the intimate art of conversation. The top level is a large private room opulently outfitted for those who can afford its exclusivity.

Classic Harumaki (Riceless) Roll

Must Tries on the Menu

The Acevichado specialty roll, a Tuna based roll topped with a white sauce so delicious I could drink it out of a cup. Ceviche Nikkei; Shrimp, Scallops and Octopus in their LeVeLs Ceviche Salsa topped with Sweet Potato Tempura. The Crunchy Roulette is LeVeLs' spin on pizza with Salmon, Tuna, Tobiko and Acevichado Sauce. The Curfew Roll with Octopus, Mushroom in Garlic Butter is fully cooked and flavorful. Try them all.

LeVeLs Specialty Crunchy Roulette -
a new spin on Pizza

Steak topped sushi

Visit LeVeLs any day of the week except Mondays and make new friends. 

LeVeLs is located at 1 Taylor Street and Corner of Ariapita Avenue Port of Spain and check out their Facebook page for details of their menu and specials.

For more pictures of the great food we've tried and highly recommend, visit the Belly in Hand facebook page and BellyinHand Foodspotting link.

Traveling To and From Trinidad and Tobago - Airport Fare

On the move again.

Stop, before you unsubscribe to this site and curse its name, I concur; Airport food is generally not a good thing. But having the experience of working in the Airline industry for a very long time (way too long to divulge) Airport staff  and Airline employees let you in on finding the good stuff, road tested: which restaurants/vendors, what items on their menu and even what time of day or week to buy.

En Route

Airport food is very much like airport culture itself, an ever moving collection of the mainly unwashed, weird and bizarre, in a place that is neither here nor there, where it matters not who you really are (only what security profiles make of you). Its one of those places where almost anything can happen: transit points - Twilight Zones. The larger the Airport may mean only much more of the nutritionally bankrupt, overpriced, mass produced and the watered down. But once in a while, particularly when its new, in the International Terminals you get a gem or two.

Brass Artwork Embedded into the Floor
of Miami Airport Concourse

The new and improved Miami International Airport Terminal is impressive, down to the brass detailing in the floor. Functional but not yet fully complete, the long departure gate lined corridors are filled with beautiful shops, food stands and restaurants of all kinds, spankingly new. Two places to eat and drink, to date stand out: Sushi Maki and Beaudevin on Concourse D. Sushi Maki, with twelve locations in Florida and Beaudevin Internationally (I visited the one in Brussels Int'l Airport - Fab!) they offer what I call a great way to kill a few hours - good sushi and good wine.

Inside the Beaudevin Wine Bar/Lounge on Concourse D

Wine Dispensers at Beaudevin

At Beaudevin you may order Wine by the glass, bottle or credit a wine card with cash and sample what is on the dispensing machines. Menu items are fast and designed to complement wine (except for the breakfast items) all Tapas like stuff. The wine selection is large and the staff knowledgeable and helpful (hope this is not only because they are new). This can be a stimulating experience for those now learning and interested in wine.

Sushi Maki's Commitment to Quality and
Sheer Volume Turned Over Daily at MIA Guarantee Fresh Product

Sushi Maki Decor

Sushi Maki, yes, they do have the pre-prepared/pre-packaged, typical rolls you can pick up and run with in the take-away section up front, California, JB and Spicy Tuna Rolls etc.  But even if you are not eating in, order off the menu some of their cooked or raw rolls to take on your flight. Their Volcano Roll: Smoked Salmon, Kanikama Crab, Cream Cheese and Scallions topped with Spicy Lava Sauce. Seven Seas: with three varieties of Whitefish and Tobiko Wasabi and a roll called The Beast: BBQ Eel and Avocado filled. All delicious and slightly larger in portions than what you usually see, portable and satisfying.

My 6:30am Breakfast: Miso w/Tofu

Traveling to and from Trinidad and Tobago, your year round international connection hubs are limited - Miami (MIA) or New York (JFK) and if you travel often its good to know where you can get a good or even exciting taste experience. 

Miami International Airport's Concourse D

More pics and insight on food adventures on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BellyinHand

Want Sushi?

In the heart of the capital is a restaurant lined with grapevines, where the Parisian styled Bistro outdoor seating keeps you in step with the rhythm of lively Ariapita Avenue and one of its two bars serve something more than drinks.

If you want Sushi, to me this is the place to get it any day of the week.

Pieces of their Red Wine Roll

With a number of places serving Sushi in Trinidad (and growing), More Vino / More Sushi located towards the Western end of Ariapita Avenue in Port of Spain is one of the popular and more vibrant places to eat and hang out. It has also been my favorite casual dining restaurant of the last year. Why? Consistently fresh and well prepared Sushi.

GrapeVine Lined Entrance

Another Amazing More Sushi Creation

Sushi is one of my all time favorites. I crave it, have (and will) travel far for it - I mean like have taken a plane with the sole purpose of getting it (I kid you not) and have enjoyed many a week where a sushi meal has been had at least twice. Its one of those things I seek out to sample in every large city, in every corner of the world I visit. And no, raw fish does not taste the same every where. :-)

Executive Chef Shiyo Jujin 
sharpening his Masamoto Sushi Knife

 Their Lobster Roll (Yum!)

At More Sushi, the interesting variety of well made signature rolls (together with the usual suspects) and the inviting atmosphere is what brings me back again and again. Executive Chef Shiyo Jujin is approachable, knowledgable and warm, he and most of the other Chefs will answer silly sushi related questions and engage in polite conversation while remaining skillfully diligent at an art Chef Jujin says takes decades to perfect.

Sweet and Savory Teriyaki Chicken

Squid Salad - Light and Fresh

Sushi is something relatively new to our culture which tends to cook the heck out of our proteins. It is fairly popular, particularly with the younger crowd but to the older folks, like my parents, the concept is still too alien to truly embrace. Salmon is by far the Trinibagonian favorite, as sashimi or incorporated into rolls. As an appreciation for the good stuff is beginning to develop, people here are being turned on to Tuna, Scallops and Octopus, to name a few of the many seafoods used in this type of Japanese cuisine.

The Very Popular Iron Chef Roll: Salmon, Crab Salad, 
Japanese Mayo, Rice Ball and Fish Roe

One of the Lunch Bento Selections: 
Teriyaki, Sushi, Tempura and Salad

More Sushi's offering of cooked rolls like the Strictly Shrimp - Breaded Shrimp, Cream Cheese, Curry Mayo, Poached Shrimp with Chives rolled in rice or the Spider Roll  -  Fried Soft Shell Crab and Spicy Chilly Sauce, could satisfy the Sushi novice as well as the enthusiast. Rolls created for Trinis are also  good, like the Maracas Roll with Jalapenos and Dynamite Sauce and the Plantain Roll with sweet Fried Plantains sliced and artfully incorporated (very pretty to look at as well).

Octopus and Scallops on the menu and display

My passion for the Japanese national favorite can spur me to write incessantly, but I'll close here with a promise to revisit and share more of not only the delights of More Sushi, but what I have learned from my quest to better respect, savor and taste Sushi.

Miso - Japanese Soup with Fish Stock, 
Seaweed and Tofu

Sushi Bar at More Sushi

More Sushi has been in operation for over 2 years sharing the More Vino establishment and has a 'take out' outlet at the Piarco International Airport. Check out their Facebook page for more info at: http://www.facebook.com/moresushi and enjoy.