I am becoming increasingly impressed with some of the restaurants in Port of Spain. Keep in mind that I'm in a country with 1.3 million people and a city with just a few hundred thousand... though that may be counted like the 59 people who live in Speyside. Being reasonable about it, let's say that Port of Spain has 600,000 folks in the immediate area which makes it about the size of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
I've told you already about my visit to The Verandah which is, in fact, a fine restaurant. This time I'm adding two more to my fine restaurant list, the Chaud Cafe and Buzo Osteria.
Chaud Cafe
Chaud is a popular word in Port of Spain for a restaurant. There are at least three, Chaud, Chaud Cafe, and Chaud Creole, which are all well regarded. As close as I can tell, chaud is a french word for hot.
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As it turns out Chaud Cafe is located at One Woodbrook Plaza which means its about 100 yards from One Woodbrook Place where I live. The plaza is a small shopping area whose largest shop at the north end of the group is The Shoe Locker. At the opposite end is a group of four small restaurants of which two are not closed for renovations. The last one of them is Chaud Cafe. |
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The Chaud Cafe has a simple, elegant interior and gives the impression that it is a bar with a few tables inside and an outdoor dining area. Given the cloudy skies and that it has been raining a lot lately, I chose to sit inside. |
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And the food? This is the Portuguese Garlic Pork Belly, with a penne pasta side and a glass of Sangria. All in all, it was a very good meal. I ended up taking some of the pasta dish home in a particularly nice container... not the usual Styrofoam clamshell... and the Chaud Cafe was a pleasing surprise.
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Buzo Osteria
The formal name for Buzo's is Buzo Osteria Italiana so you can probably guess what kind of food they serve. No. It is not Chinese.
Buzo is not located in the nicest neighborhood. All right. So. The neighborhood is more than a little run down. Even from the exterior though, Buzo has a thoroughly modern, well maintained look.
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The interior is almost an odd collection of styles with the rough brick and stone walls to the modern light fixtures. I found myself wondering if this building had started out as something else and been converted to a restaurant. Given that the style doesn't seem to match any other building I've seen I think it was designed to look like this.
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For dinner I had a baked salmon with olives, tomatoes and a white wine sauce. The side is a small salad (I do not want to see what the Grande looks like. I suspect it is a huge platter) made with assorted greens, peppers, tomatoes and corn. The third item is the focaccia bread. I had already eaten the piece that had green olives in it.
The meal was delightful and the best I've had in Trinidad.
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The meal was good enough that I decided to go completely wild and have desert as well. This is a dollop of vanilla gelato with whipped cream and chocolate shavings on top served with espresso around it. It was very good too. And as I rolled back to the apartment, I thought about the last three restaurants I'd been to and decided that the last pair would stack up well anywhere.
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