Chaud: A decade of exquisite dining

And chef/owner Khalid Mohammed says it is the greatest feeling to still be relevant after so many years.

Let’s Eat visited Chaud, located at Nook Avenue, St Ann’s and Mohammed recounted his journey into the culinary field.

As a child he was surrounded by great cooks, including his mother, who is “phenomenal”, grandmother, aunts and uncles, the latter of which do a very good curry duck. The young future chef began cooking in the late 1980s and did not imagine that it could lead to him becoming a chef.

At about age 18 he started his own catering company called Bon App?tit providing lunches to business places. After doing this for two years his father realised that he was serious about the culinary industry and suggested he attend culinary school.

He enrolled at the French Culinary Institute in New York City and did his Grand Diplome (culinary programme) and the pastry programme in 18 months. He graduated as valedictorian and lectured at the school.

After he left the French Culinary Institute, Mohammed worked at several restaurants around New York and in Florida, and remained working in the US for five years before returning to Trinidad in 1999.

He then worked two and a half years at Crews Inn and five years at Battimamzelle, where he built his reputation and used it as a stepping stone to Chaud. He explained that Crews Inn was big with a certain kind of food and he was getting his proverbial feet wet and learning the culinary scene. Battimamzelle was a smaller restaurant with about 40 seats, similar to Chaud, and suited him better. At Battimamzelle he really developed the kind of cuisine that he cooks now.

“Without even trying over the years people see me as the local chef who uses local ingredients with an international kind of thing, and that is what I am now. But I didn’t set out to do that you know? It was just obvious, because if you in Trinidad you have to try to use local ingredients.” He continued: “It’s as simple as food grown closer to the plate will always be better.” He said there is a feeling that foreign and imported products is better and makes the menu more interesting, but he uses local products to elevate his food.

Mohammed first opened Chaud, which means “hot” in French.

It was a term he discovered while studying at the Queen’s Park Savannah in 2006.

This was followed by Chaud Creole (formerly at the current location) and Chaud Caf?, a wine bar and brunch cafe located at One Woodbrook Place.

Chaud Creole was strictly local food with local products, but it was not as successful as anticipated. Mohammed believes it was because people did not want to pay for food they could cook at home. Last January he moved the original Chaud from the Queen’s Park Savannah to the St Ann’s location and said while it was not as popular for lunch, it is much better logistically for serving a la carte as well as catering, which is as big as the dining business.

On the cuisine, Mohammed said the restaurant is focused on fine dining, which doesn’t equate to expensive but means properly presented, good technique and the best ingredients. He explained that when he returned from New York he wanted to cook at the same or a higher level. On the service he said he tries hard with the house staff and he also travels and keeps abreast of cuisine and techniques so they are not stagnant. As a result the food keeps evolving.

One of the techniques adopted is molecular cuisine, where science is used to create new dishes.

For our meal my photographer and I had a crab cake with pineapple salsa, avocado and chive oil, which was moist and spicy; a brand new dish called shrimp in “aqua diablo”, which was a comforting and wonderful mix of flavours from raw and fried banana and cashews in spicy cooking liquid; the guava BBQ grouper with roasted garlic yam in a coconut pumpkin sauce, and a callaloo fondue which was a roller coaster of sweet and smoky flavours; and finally a sweet and crunchy lemon tart with a tart yogurt sherbet and strawberry pearls made with the molecular cuisine.

But Mohammed said he is partial to the steak tartar or a red snapper dish.

He stressed that the biggest part was procuring the best ingredients, adding that he uses a lot of locally grown produce which he purchases from local farmers. “People could tell through the food that we are thinking about the food and constantly developing it,” he explained.

On the most requested dish at Chaud he said that at Battimamzelle his signature dish was guava BBQ king fish, which is now the guava BBQ grouper at Chaud. For the past 15 years it is the one dish that dinners rave about.

Chaud has won numerous awards, and he (Mohammed) has also won awards, including gold with the TT national culinary team.

He has customers who have stayed with him since his days in Battimamzelle, some dining once or twice per week, and he thanked them for their support over the years.

He said that to be a restaurant that people still choose from night to night is a privilege as chef.

In the 10 years Chaud has been in existence other restaurants have opened and closed, but the restaurant is still a favourite. Mohammed said it does not feel a decade and he is still excited to be in the kitchen and takes part as much as he did when they first started.

“I’m still rearing to go.”