caribbean food is some of my absolutely favourite on earth.
it’s spicy and lively. it’s always prepared with care and love and passion. it makes the most of the local foods and doesn’t waste anything. and more than anything, its just so different from the food you get in vancouver.
in canada, if you want good caribbean food, you have to head to toronto. and indeed, every time i’m in toronto, the first place i hit up for food is a jamaican place. you simply can’t get that level of authenticity out west.
yes, i have enjoyed many a fine meal at the reef in vancouver… but it’s just not quite the same. but don’t get me wrong, the reef is a great bandaid for my caribbean food itch.
my absolute dream plate? jerk chicken or pork… curried goat… conch in some form… rice & peas (that’s rice and beans, but they call beans peas in the caribbean)… and festival.
i am happy to report, i ate this on my very first night in turks.
and there is a picture… but it wasn’t on my camera, so i’m waiting for my friend to email it to me. so when it comes, i’ll stick it in right here.
the locals in turks like to joke that the only thing that comes from turks is conch. which is pretty much true. almost everything is imported except the conch. it reminded me very much of the bahamas in that respect.
there’s a LOT of conch in turks.
and i mean… a LOT.
no no no. like A LOT!
yup. thats the conch farm.
a few of my coworkers worked there for their sandals foundation project.
conch is a hideously ugly thing in an absolutely beautiful shell.
in terms of taste… well, i like it.
a lot actually.
it’s kind of like a scallop in terms of flavour and in texture it tends to be quite rubbery, so the preparation and proper cutting and cooking is key to its enjoyment.
the first night i had it in a stewed form… the second night in a ceviche type salad (i couldn’t tell if it was pre-cooked, but i think it was) and then on my last night i had a traditional conch chowder that was a delight.
to no one’s surprise, the jerk chicken at beaches was exceptional.
there was a lovely restaurant that had a jerk bbq as part of their lunch buffet. i ate there twice. it was amazing.
and the view wasn’t so bad either…
and since that shot above is super washed out, this is the very past that lady’s shoulder.
and now for your epic fail portion of the blog…
i totally took two pictures of my jerk chicken and BOTH of them are blurry.
because i am the worst apparently. food blogger fail. but here they are anyways.
ya, so basically that was lunch. a big old slab of jerk chicken fresh off the bbq and smothered with hot jerk sauce… a slice of flank steak marinated in garlic & chili… and a tiny salad so i can technically say i ate something other than just meat.
and all the while, i enjoyed this view from my seat in the restaurant…
ya, i know. rough life, right?
the only other time i had the presence of mind to take food pictures was our last night at schooners, which was a seafood place right beside the beach.
for my appie i had the seared scallops on a corn puree with a little seaweed salad on top and some sort of preserved fruit…
it was pretty yummy although the scallops were more steamed than seared. in fact they didn’t have any crust or color to them at all, as you can probably see.
then i had a bowl of the conch chowder… which i didn’t take a picture of because it just looked like a bowl of chowder. not cream based though, the classic recipe is something like this:
CONCH CHOWDER
INGREDIENTS:Olive Oil – 2 Tbsp
Conch Meat, chopped – 1 pound
Garlic – 2 Tbsp
Onions, diced ½” – 1 ½ cups
Celery, diced ½” – ½ cup
Tomato paste – 3 Tbsp
Chicken Broth – 1 quart
Thyme, fresh – 2 tsp
Oregano, fresh – 1 tsp
Carrots, diced ½” – ½ cup
Clam juice – 2 cups
Potatoes, diced 1 – ½ cups
Tomatoes, diced 1 – ½ cups
Salt and Pepper to tastePREPARATION:Place the oil in a pot and heat until very hot.
Add the conch meat and sear for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the garlic, onions, celery, carrots, and potatoes and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add all the remaining ingredients, mix well and bring to a boil.
Simmer until the potatoes are tender.
Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve hot with croutons or crackers
and then for my main i had a seafood risotto.
it was ridiculously rich and i’m pretty sure it had oodles of butter, cream & cheese in lieu of actually following a proper risotto method… but hey, what can you do except eat it?
it was really tasty and among my table of 12 people, agreed to be the best main course served up.
but yes, helloooooo richness.
all in all i was pretty happy with the food choices at beaches. i wish i had more freedom to explore the a la carte restaurants and more time of course, but 3 of our 4 dinners were buffets as part of our evening activities, so we didn’t have much say in those.
the breakfasts were underwhelming, but the all inclusive breakfast buffet never wows me. the best they had to offer was the omelet station and their chocolate croissants were appropriately sinful.
i was also pleased to see an actual espresso coffee machine in the french village cafe to get my americano in the morning. they also made a damn fine iced coffee. and actually the plain regular coffee was quite good too. jamaican blue mountain coffee is just so delicious.
overall better than the food choices i’ve seen at other all inclusives and i definitely give the thumbs up for incorporating the local cuisine into the offerings.
