TOBAGO
Creab and dumplings, creole flavours and creamy dairy
It is hardly surprising that Daniel Defoe’s classic story Robinson Crusoe was based on Tobago. The overused phrase ‘island paradise’ doesn’t do justice to the pristine beaches dotted along its picture-book coastline. Pigeon Point has boundless white sand, dancing coconut trees and a jetty leading into an azure sea. It was in Tobago where Princess Margaret chose to spend part of her honeymoon in a small hut on a spit of beach known simply as No Man’s Land.
Much of Tobago’s food scene is rooted in its past. At Castara Beach, tourists can help the fishermen pull in their nets then enjoy a superb jerk chicken supper at Pavilion on Northside Road. It is one of the more pastoral islands. Dairy farming is big business here. Josefa Patience’s Café Cream Cheese showcases the produce of her herd. The goats get their feed from an old sugar plantation and their milk is the most sought-after on the island. Locals swear they can taste sugar cane in it.
Creole influences can be felt more strongly here than on any other island. Jemma’s Tree House is a 30-year-old restaurant that’s a Tobagonian institution. A sea almond tree grows through the roof and all the tables have views towards Goat Island. Don’t leave without trying the coleslaw with honey and mustard, prawns stewed in creole and the macaroni pie.
Spicy oxtail, coocoo (cornmeal), fish broth and plantain, vegetable rice and dumplings are ubiquitous and delicious in equal measure. Try them all at Kariwak, a thatched-roof restaurant that delivers every time. A huge kitchen garden influences the daily changing menu, which may include pigeonpea soup, gazpacho salad and grilled aubergine with black olives.
However, nothing holds a candle to the island classic: crab and dumplings. The crab is left in its shell and has just enough hair to remind you of its freshness, accompanied by a dumpling that is large, flat and piping hot. The locals have the best advice for eating: ‘crack de ting with your teeth and suck out de flesh’ (crack the shell with your teeth and suck out the flesh). The Store Bay ladies, who cook up the freshest seafood and sell it from pretty beachside kiosks specialise in this dish. It’s difficult to know which one to choose: Miss Jean’s, Miss Trim’s, Miss Joyce’s, Alma’s, Silvia’s or Miss Esmie’s. Once the lunchtime rush is over and the ladies have retreated to the shade of their houses, you will have the beach to yourself once more.