The food · Trinidad & Tobago

Everything he actually cooks.

Some of this you’ll know. Most of it you probably won’t, and that’s the good part. Every dish below has come out of Nigel’s kitchen for a real event, and every photograph is his own.

Never had Trini food?

Start with these three.

Nothing here is difficult or challenging. It’s comfort food that just comes from somewhere you haven’t eaten yet.

Doubles

Say: DUH-bles

Two soft fried flatbreads folded around curried chickpeas. Closest thing Trinidad has to a national breakfast, and the easiest way in.

Curry Chicken & Roti

Say: BUSS-up-shut

Mild, rich curry with a soft torn flatbread you eat with your hands. If you like a good chicken curry, you already like this.

Jerk Wings

Say: jerk

Marinated overnight, grilled hard. Familiar territory, just better than the version you’ve had before.

Roti & Doubles

Bread made the same morning.

Dough goes down the night before and every piece is rolled and cooked on the day. This is the part of the menu Nigel refuses to shortcut, and it’s the part people come back for.

Paratha roti

Buss-Up-Shut

Eaten standing up

Doubles

Fried to order

Aloo Pie

The night before

Dough, Resting

With chow

Doubles, Loaded

Curries & Stews

The pots that take all day.

Trinidadian curry isn’t Indian curry and isn’t Jamaican curry. The geera is roasted and ground, the green seasoning is blended fresh, and the meat browns in burnt sugar before any liquid goes near it.

Stewed oxtail in a dark gravy with thyme

Browned down

Stew Oxtail

The everyday pot

Curry Chicken

One pot

Pelau

Goat, curry powder, geera, coconut cream and herbs before cooking

Before the pot

Curry Goat

Plate of curry chicken with buss-up-shut roti

Together

Curry & Roti

Tobago style

Crab & Dumplings

Soups

Saturday food.

In Trinidad soup is a weekend institution, not a starter. These are thick, filling and travel better than almost anything else on the menu, which makes them good for a crowd.

Three containers of cow heel, oxtail and corn soup

Three pots

Cow Heel, Oxtail & Corn

Sweet and thick

Corn Soup

Whole fish

Fish Broth

Grill & Jerk

Cooked outside, over fire.

The easiest entry point if your guests are nervous about unfamiliar food, and the part of the menu that scales best for a large, outdoor crowd.

Jerk chicken wings charring over an open grill

Over coals

Jerk Wings

By the tray

Wings, Ready

Two racks of lamb seasoned with garlic, herbs and lemon zest

Seasoned and waiting

Rack of Lamb

Off the fire

Lamb Chops

Seafood

Bought whole, cleaned by hand.

Fish arrives whole and gets broken down, limed and seasoned the same day. It is the most Trinidadian thing on this page and the thing least like anything else available locally.

Limed first

Kingfish

Foil on the grill

Grilled Whole Fish

Crisp

Fried Fish

Fresh whole fish in a bowl before cleaning

That morning

Fresh Catch

Catering Spreads

What it looks like when it arrives.

Most events are delivered hot in trays, ready to serve. This is the part worth showing a host: not one plate, but the whole table.

Three takeaway boxes of curry chicken, dhal and roti

Packed

Individual Boxes

Takeaway box of lo mein, barbecue chicken and callaloo

Full plate

Lo Mein & Callaloo

Six catering pans of soup, chicken, rice and seasoning

The full line

Six Pans

Laid out

Buffet Table

Stacked

By the Tub

Heat, and what you can and can’t eat

Pepper always comes on the side. Nothing leaves the kitchen hot unless you ask for it hot, so a table of children and a table of Trinidadians can eat the same meal.

There is a lot here without meat. Channa, dhal, aloo, callaloo and the roti are all vegetarian as standard. Not an afterthought, just how the food already is. Tell Nigel about allergies when you enquire and he’ll work around them.

Seen something?

Tell him the date.

15 to 60 guests is the usual range, more by arrangement, and about two weeks’ notice. He replies within 48 hours.

Check your date