Canboulay taste of the world

The restaurant in question is “Canboulay” and Newsday chatted last week with owner, general manager and head chef Damien Nandalal. We pass the bar and television screens showing Olympics as we are escorted to our seats.

The lighting is muted and there is general cosy atmosphere.

Nandalal described the menu at his six-year-old restaurant as “Caribbean international fusion”.

“A taste of all worlds,” he added.

For our meal we had crunchy sweet potato fries, tasty and spicy shrimp and lamb wantons, Canboulay burger which features a half pounder patty, pepper jack cheese, bacon and mushrooms which was a beautiful collage of flavours, and also a platter with chadon beni shrimp, Canboulay wings with home-made tangy barbecue sauce, fried shark and jerk lamb. Everything was tasty and full flavoured.

He explained that Canboulay is a third-generation, family business which began with his grandparents and Nandalal’s Hot-o-Hot Roti Shop on the Southern Main Road (they had a massive bottle of pepper sauce atop their home) and then his parents had Hilltop’s Restaurant and Fung’s Caf? at the corner of Keith and Mucurapo Street. The business burned down due to an electrical problem but they would rise again as Joe’s Meating Place commonly known as Joe’s BBQ, a favourite of Naparima Boys’ students in the 1980s.

Next it would be Damien’s turn to take up the mantle.

After completing St Benedict’s College he attended the Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute (TTHTI) where he got his associate degree in food and beverage management, was part of an exchange programme to Assiniboine Community College in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, and had an internship at the Royal Crown Revolving Restaurant in Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, Canada.

He returned home in November 1999 and after working at the Trinidad Country Club for some time opened Canboulay in 2010.

It started off with a skeleton crew opened only weekends but expanded to Mondays to Saturdays.

On the name of the restaurant they wanted something that not only represented the “callaloo nation” but also the bringing together of many cultures, adding that Caribbean people today represent many influences including British, Spanish and French.

Nandalal said the food features local herbs, spices and ingredients and they also use local fruits in drinks at the bar. The rum punch we were served contained passion fruit, mint, dark aged rum really packed a “punch”.

He said their burgers are very popular including their very tall “San Fernando Hill” burger.

They do quite a variety of dishes: steak, lobster, Italian pastas, seafood, soups, hearty salads, freshly baked ham all year round, all the way down to callaloo soup. He said that Canboulay gives customers value for money in a decent environment.

Nandalal pointed out that with a steak you can get saut?ed buttered cassava or sweet potato fries which brings in the Caribbean element with local provisions.

He said the customers are purely returns and they have never advertised but spread by word of mouth, attracting people from around the country.

The clientele ranges from government ministers to man just popping in for a takeout for lunch. Nandalal explained that families can come and dine because the music is not too loud and young women can feel comfortable to lime by the bar.

Within a few weeks he plans to launch a new menu with 11 varieties of burgers and all the other dishes they have added but not previously included on the menu.

In homage to Joe’s BBQ they will be introducing Joe’s Chicken Sandwich with a quarter chicken.

He said that food should not just fill hunger but have memories attached to them.

For more info or to make reservations at Canboulay: 653- 2138.