With another day in Trinidad and Tobago ahead of me, I set out bright and early for a Trini food tour at 7 a.m.! Doubles are the ultimate Trinidadian food. They consist of a fried flatbread called bara, which they top with chana and chutneys. They can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
My friend David from Foodie Run TT and I would be going on a doubles tour of Maraval, just 20 minutes outside of the capital, Port of Spain. Then, we’d link back up with my good friends Chef Jason Peru and Candice Mohan for more food!
We started at Captain’s Doubles, a Trinidadian food truck in the area. I loved their spot. They fry the bara up fresh, and they also make aloo pies and cheese pies, which they also stuff with chana.
The bara is actually dry and crispy around the edges because they fry it at a super high temperature very quickly.
These doubles were a little spicy and sweet, and the bara was light, doughy, and a little crispy. And it’s not too filling! It was phenomenal. Then, I ordered an aloo pie. You can specify how browned and crispy you want it. Ours were perfectly golden brown!
I loved the mozzarella cheese inside. It was so gooey and pungent, and also sweet and spicy! It would have cost us 6 TTD/$0.88 USD each for the doubles and 8 TTD/$1.18 USD for each pie, but Captain gave them to us on the house!
Next, took a break from Trinidadian food and drove one minute to Adam’s Bakery to get some coffee. There are lots of coffee shops in Trinidad. They have a bakery and a supermarket, where they sell lots of Middle Eastern and Indian dishes.
I ordered an espresso, and David had a cappuccino. We met the barista Matthew and the owner, Adam. Adam’s has been open since 1992!
My double espresso was really tasty and a little bitter. It was exactly what I needed to wake me up! Then, we went to Nick’s Cafe and met up with Jason.
At Nick’s Cafe, they made hops bread, which is a bread bun sandwich filled with chana, cheese, coleslaw, peppers, chicken, and other fillings. There was a huge line going out the door!
The chana and cheese is the traditional version of this Trinidadian food. It was huge! I loved how loaded it was with the chicken, coleslaw, and chow mein.
There were some bones in there, so be careful. But it’s so good, with tons of different textures.
Jason had the traditional chana and cheese one. It was like a chana slider, and the cheese was nice and thick! I also liked the pepper and fluffy hops bread.
We also got one with liver and gizzards! It was my favorite one. I loved that they’re all really inexpensive!
Jason also got a stewed chicken hops, which was amazing, and I chased it with some icy grapefruit juice. It was so cold, sour, and fresh!
Next, we headed to A&J Premium Ice Cream, where they sell 117 unique ice creams, including charcoal, ginger-turmeric, pepper, scorpion pepper, pepper-chocolate, pineapple chow, and more!
I wanted a spicy one. I sampled a spicy pineapple chow ice cream that hit me later, and a hot and delicious pepper mango that I loved. It was so pungent and balanced and creeps up on you!
The spicy darkie was dark chocolate with pepper, but not as spicy as the others. Next was the scorpion pepper ice cream, which was nice and milky and had a spice that crept up on me and hit me in the throat!
The ginger-turmeric was very gingery and really amazing. Then, they built me a cone with three unique flavors: the Voldemort, the Unicorn, and the Blue Moon.
It was a the Blue Moon was creamy and butter, and I loved the cotton candy flavors of the multi-colored unicorn. The Voldemort was a delicious coffee! It was a great way to end my Trinidadian food tour!
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