Go local: Try the Bake and Shark from Port-of-Spain

By Rupali Dean

Delicious local and sumptuous try these local foods when you are travelling

Kaya toast

Served with easy boiled eggs and robust coffee syrupy with sugar and vapourised milk this makes for a humble and decadent breakfast or snack. The sandwich is made of thinly sliced, soft white bread and cooked over an open flame without any oil or butter, with the crunchy ends trimmed off and slathered with a generous amount of soft butter and kaya jam, a slightly sweet jam made with coconut, caramelised palm sugar, and eggs permeated with a delicately nutty savour of Pandan leaf.


Image: The Kaya Toast menu

Bake and Shark

Maracas Bay is a meandering quarter of an hours drive from Port-of-Spain, Trinidads major city. Breezy seashore sprinkled with soaring swaying palms, opposite which are a sequence of sweeping shacks where resident fishermen bring in and break down the catch of the day. Captivating though the sight is, the tempting aroma of the Bake and Shark sandwiches wins hands down. True to its name it comprises a Bake, a kind of bread and a filet of shark which is fried. The condiment station takes it to another level. The ' shado beni chutney', similar to our coriander is quite the star. The best way to do is pile it on as per your selection and then dig into this juicy, stimulating jumble of flavours which interestingly donft override the fish.

A tofu meal

Fresh tofu is the best in Japan than anywhere else in the world, and Kyoto is reckoned the place to eat excellence tofu. This is possibly credited to the skill, superior temple and court swayed ethos and the eminence of the local water. One can experience soy’s amicable ideal, at any one of the trickle of the many outstanding tofu restaurants offering fresh tofu in an assortment of forms. Velvety as pudding, nimble, solid and chewy, the yudofu set meal, which somewhat changes according to the season, comprises a pot of tofu boiled at your dining table, tofu on a stick which is fried, vegetable tempura, a yam soup and pickled vegetables.


Image: Tofu meal

Beaver’s tail

It is so popular that U.S. president Barack Obama too did not leave the city without trying this one out on his visit to Ottawa. As the name suggests the shape is quite like the national symbol aka a beaver’s tail and it is typically a pastry prepared of dough similar tasting to a doughnut, fried in canola oil, served steaming hot with a selection of a gamut of toppings which could be cinnamon, sugar, maple butter, Nutella, chocolate bananas and lots more. It is said that every winter, the canal that tracks over centre Ottawa freezes and turns into the world’s lengthiest skating rink wherein these stands are released precisely on the ice, and people skate up to buy their Beavertail.


Image: BeverTail's

Tredlnik

You would find this all over the streets in Prague, particularly near the tourist attractions like the Charles Bridge Area and the main square. For those in-between hunger pangs there is nothing like these delicious Tredlniks. Here the dough is draped around rotary wood or metal bars called the tradlo and baked till its golden brown in colour. Then it is turned in sugar, cinnamon, and nuts. Not overtly sweet, the essences of the nuts and first-rate cinnamon simply stand out.


Image: Tredlnik

(Rupali Dean is a well-known senior food writer based out of Delhi)