PISCES... and other culinary impressions
Ok... now I am going to have to write some stuff about Barbados. It is too hard for me to fictionalize this part at present as I don't know what I want to happen in Barbados yet... but I don't want to forget the feelings or impressions, so for now, please let me write it as it is.
My first trip to Pisces Restaurant in St. Lawrence Gap was both magical and painful as I had been promising to go for 8 years... and never made it there until it was too late to see my brother, executive chef/partial owner in action. It was night when I arrived at Pisces by means of his Dodge Dakota (the most recent vehicular acquisition)... I had rather been hoping for the baby blue Mercedes convertible as I remember racing along the Island Highway on Vancouver Island in it. And it was because of this car and the duties being imposed on it that a trip to Taipei to visit me was cancelled.
The restaurant was nothing much to speak of from the road side (nor the beach side either)... But upon entering, well.... It was a mass of white lattice-work opening up to the sky. The terraces overhung the ocean and the lights reflected in the water showing all the gradations of turquoise and blue. The restaurant was lit by hanging lanterns clustered in groups of two, three, four - terracotta "gourds" with the light streaming out through punctured patterns - each cluster decorated with leafy creeping vines.
"Order whatever you want," invited my somewhat uncomfortable host, Dr. (owner of Brown Sugar and other past hotspots... not to mention the restaurants in Victoria and Vancouver). His partner challenged me to spot my brother's contributions to the menu... It was easy: Banana Galette and NY Cheesecake for starters. I will need a copy of that hardcover tome Restaurants of Barbados on my next visit as it includes his recipe for Banana Galette.
(Oh, by the way, the youngest chef at Pisces is a sweetheart... He never spoke to me, but I guess he had heard about my love for hot food... and one day, he cooked me up a special plate of pasta generously laced with all the chilis, sundried tomatos and other good stuff he could find in the kitchen. )
The other stories of Pisces cannot be told here, but I can mention that I also visited other favorite haunts in the neighborhood: Champers, that little place that serves pancakes with fresh lemon and sugar... etc etc... But none really left such an impression. I guess all my knowledge of Barbados being second-hand, I had used my imagination... and up until that point I suppose I had expected - don't be shocked by my ignorance - Trinidad. Where was the good roti and the doubles? What about shark and bake... and most importantly, pepper sauce? Sorry, but that stuff in Barbados has too much mustard in it and isn't nearly hot enough.
One night, we did go for roti though... at the drive-through at Chefette! Now I know you are thinking this is an absolutely ridiculous thing to do... Who in their right mind would expect real roti from Chefette? But this also had a special meaning. The brother of the guy who started Chefette was one of my brother's closest friends (as his family had kind of adopted him). I had wanted to go and visit them, but apparently, the friend was seriously ill. It was not the time. If anyone out there knows them, I would really like to know what how he is.
I also want to go back to Barbados again soon, but I must wait a little before I can manage this. I have a little black book full of names and addresses of people I feel I know... many of whom have written my family, but I was unable to contact any of them last time... Plus, although silly, I felt sorry to disappoint people who expected me to be more like my brother: my "brown" is buried deep under layers of Asia sunlessness. I also didn't do as my brother did and get a West Indian passport... nor accent! I might as well be Korean or Japanese. At least I can speak the language.
My first trip to Pisces Restaurant in St. Lawrence Gap was both magical and painful as I had been promising to go for 8 years... and never made it there until it was too late to see my brother, executive chef/partial owner in action. It was night when I arrived at Pisces by means of his Dodge Dakota (the most recent vehicular acquisition)... I had rather been hoping for the baby blue Mercedes convertible as I remember racing along the Island Highway on Vancouver Island in it. And it was because of this car and the duties being imposed on it that a trip to Taipei to visit me was cancelled.
The restaurant was nothing much to speak of from the road side (nor the beach side either)... But upon entering, well.... It was a mass of white lattice-work opening up to the sky. The terraces overhung the ocean and the lights reflected in the water showing all the gradations of turquoise and blue. The restaurant was lit by hanging lanterns clustered in groups of two, three, four - terracotta "gourds" with the light streaming out through punctured patterns - each cluster decorated with leafy creeping vines.
"Order whatever you want," invited my somewhat uncomfortable host, Dr. (owner of Brown Sugar and other past hotspots... not to mention the restaurants in Victoria and Vancouver). His partner challenged me to spot my brother's contributions to the menu... It was easy: Banana Galette and NY Cheesecake for starters. I will need a copy of that hardcover tome Restaurants of Barbados on my next visit as it includes his recipe for Banana Galette.
(Oh, by the way, the youngest chef at Pisces is a sweetheart... He never spoke to me, but I guess he had heard about my love for hot food... and one day, he cooked me up a special plate of pasta generously laced with all the chilis, sundried tomatos and other good stuff he could find in the kitchen. )
The other stories of Pisces cannot be told here, but I can mention that I also visited other favorite haunts in the neighborhood: Champers, that little place that serves pancakes with fresh lemon and sugar... etc etc... But none really left such an impression. I guess all my knowledge of Barbados being second-hand, I had used my imagination... and up until that point I suppose I had expected - don't be shocked by my ignorance - Trinidad. Where was the good roti and the doubles? What about shark and bake... and most importantly, pepper sauce? Sorry, but that stuff in Barbados has too much mustard in it and isn't nearly hot enough.
One night, we did go for roti though... at the drive-through at Chefette! Now I know you are thinking this is an absolutely ridiculous thing to do... Who in their right mind would expect real roti from Chefette? But this also had a special meaning. The brother of the guy who started Chefette was one of my brother's closest friends (as his family had kind of adopted him). I had wanted to go and visit them, but apparently, the friend was seriously ill. It was not the time. If anyone out there knows them, I would really like to know what how he is.
I also want to go back to Barbados again soon, but I must wait a little before I can manage this. I have a little black book full of names and addresses of people I feel I know... many of whom have written my family, but I was unable to contact any of them last time... Plus, although silly, I felt sorry to disappoint people who expected me to be more like my brother: my "brown" is buried deep under layers of Asia sunlessness. I also didn't do as my brother did and get a West Indian passport... nor accent! I might as well be Korean or Japanese. At least I can speak the language.
posted by Zanmei at 8:17 AM
1 Comments:
The roti at cheffete is terrible. Whats wrong with bajan hotsauce? :-)
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