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.

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.

Liberty

In our quite little corner of the world….we live.

Life happens here like no other place on the planet, Trinidadians are truly unique; we love our drink, our bellies and we love to be out and about with family and friends (‘liming’ as we call it) no matter what the weather or the circumstance. We live with a flare that has a pinch of the countries and places we are connected to by the blood our forefathers still pulsing through our veins, yet remain idiosyncratic as a people. Distinct in our place as part of the collective Caribbean.

Fireworks and the Port of Spain Skyline

Independence Day celebrations this year was no exception to the bacchanal, recreation and spectacle that Trinis can generate on any Holiday (not that we need a reason). August 31, 1962 Trinidad and Tobago gained it’s independence from the British and the official celebration is recognized with Military style parades in the streets of the capital of Port of Spain, Trinidad and in the sister isle of Tobago in Scarborough.

National Awards are presented in grand ceremony in the afternoon to brothers and sisters of the soil, heros and significant contributors to the county’s good.

Later at around 9:00 p.m. fireworks displays are held, again in Port of Spain and Scarborough. Many have made a tradition of finding the right spot for their gathering, and make an outing of the night.

My husband and I, are two of the many who stay at a hotel (the Trinidad Hilton) overlooking the Port of Spain Savannah where the fireworks display is held in Trinidad. From a balcony (better of course if you get one of the upper floors), you feel as though you can touch the shards of light. The effect can hardly be explained, you don’t just see the two dimensional spread and shower of luminescence, you experience the third dimension of the pyrotechnics; it coming straight at you with the slightly delayed sound (BOOM), resonating in your chest after each explosion of visual sensory deluge. We have seen this spectacle many times over from the same balcony and I must say...It never gets old!

Fireworks Outside My Balcony - Amazing Colour

At the end of it you hear the screams of delight raise out of the dark all around you. From the hundreds of rooms at the Hotel, the crowd lined streets below, the open Savannah and in the hills and environs. The cheers are carried on the wind, undulating, waxing and waning until its no more, and signaling the start of the journey home for many.

The added bonus for those holed up in the hotels till the next day…….you get to party on, or sleep in a great bed that you don’t have to make in the morning and recover from the optical overload. For me, I get to partake of one of my favorite things in the whole world (I kid you not)….room service!

Hilton's Steak & Vegetables

The in-room dining menu at this Hilton is not extensive, but It covers the bases: Callaloo Soup, Traditional Trini curries (lamb and chicken with roti) and the usual suspects for the foreigners (burgers, pizza, panini, clubs etc) along with some fantastic deserts. I go for the steak with local vegetables on the side or the rack of lamb. Yes, the red meat. With their food I have experienced consistently year after year an execution of a basic culinary technique which allows them to score each and every time; they know how to cook a steak! Its heaven in every bite and I can’t wait till next year!