The Trinidude

I first met Michael back in cooking school, nearly a decade ago now. Despite being born in England, he’s Trinidad through and through. Trinidad is one of those countries where it’s difficult to figure out the proper name for someone who comes from there. Italy? Italian. France? French. Connecticut? Connecticutter (a bit more interesting.) But Trinidad? Trinidadian? Trinadese? So we’ll call Michael a Trinidude. This Trinidude has the ultimate Caribbean laugh, that deep belly laugh that comes out as an accent to pretty much whatever he says. His O’s last longer than if they were covered with Honey Nut, packaged by General Mills, and stuck in the basement for a few years.

So, seeing him 9 years later, as the hot-shot pastry chef of Bibendum, a fine dining French restaurant in London’s posh South Kensington, it makes me realize: I’m glad I stayed friends with him. Because friends get free food, or more specifically, free desserts.

Now don’t get me wrong. Mikey’s a fantastic guy, and I would doubtlessly be friends with him even if he wasn’t a chef. But when I gave up the pastry track after 3 days, and he stuck with it, I knew that he’d end up with a ton more pastry skill than I ever would. So is it wrong to reap the benefits of someone’s skill, when you still see it with the awe and magic that comes with your own inexperience, and is something that it no doubt deserves anyways?

I stopped by to see him today at Bibendum, and typical of a chef on a Saturday afternoon, he was literally up to his elbows in prep for his chocolate walnut torte, which I was lucky enough to try as an ending to my own light lunch. 9 Duchy of Cornwall oysters were as meaty and briny as the waiter described, and I have to admit a touch of respect for a place that offers only a well made mignonette and sliced lemon with their oysters, instead of the gloppy and ubiquitous cocktail sauce that does little more than make the over-cooked shrimp at your holiday party barely edible. In lieu of champagne or a pale ale, the home-made ginger beer was a nice peppery compliment to the shellfish.

And then the torte. It was a dense chocolate, with some sparse chopped walnuts floating throughout. A soft banana ice cream sat on a small bed of what I can only guess was raw chocolate nibs, and was creamy, but with enough body to please a man who has subsisted on only gelato for the past 8 months.

Overall , it was a very enjoyable experience. The layout of Bibendum’s oyster bar allows covered, open-air seating, and is great for people watching. It does a good job at representing a lighter, more casual companion to the fine dining restaurant upstairs, and Mikey and his works lend itself to helping create such an overall positive experience.