Tiki Village has been a familiar name on the restaurant circuit since 19howlong. Matter of fact, they boast about being a pioneer of the Chinese food revolution in Trinidad & Tobago. The fact that they’re still around with staff members spending countless almanacs in their employ, says they’re doing something right. So when Trinicooks extended Tiki Village’s invitation to EAF along with Trinigourmet, Cuisine Corner, TriniChow, Franka Philip and Laura Dowrich-Phillip for the launch (or re-launch kinda) of their Asian Buffet and Evening Tea events, ain’t nobody sayin’ no to dat!
The first round was the Taste of Asia Buffet. Nice variety. Starting with the Foo Young Kai Nip Soup. A seasoned broth with chicken and veggies.
Well, a Chinese buffet in T&T will get level cut-eye if it didn’t feature some fried rice. #amirite?
Jasmine rice too.
For the veggie fix, Chow Say See. Nice.
Doh feel now way about the name of this one. Tiki Hot Chicken. It’s not blazing hot. Jus a nice flavor with a lil sting.
Garlic shrimp is also in the line up for a lil seafood option.
Still in the ocean realm, pimiento fish for the fish lovers.
Interesting beef offering. Mongolian beef. Honestly can’t remember having it before this. If i did, I’ll blame my lack of knowledge on poor branding.
Another ‘of course’ item… wantons of the chicken variety. Good call for a buffet.
And still there’s an Asian salad bar with a fresh veggie salad…
a more slaw-ish, carrot salad…
And one with noodles. So real choice there too.
And, like all good buffets, the fun spills over into dessert items.
Various sweet treats of different varieties.
Like the crowd favorite… carrot cake.
And cheese cake cups.
So basically, you walk along the line and select what you want in the portions you want. And you can take yuh time, because you can make multiple trips. Good stuff.
And a good time was had by all.
Round two was afternoon tea. It’s sort of a tradition that people seemed glad to have back. As we were settling down, stories of tea with friends and tea with family came up. Great! Seemed like a decent group to share our first experience with. It’s a vibe though. Mellow and relaxing. Everything they say tea is supposed to be.
Well Baidawi is a tea man, so he was all up in the box asking for Earl Grey and if they have this and that. I was more like “sooo… what yuh recommend?” The point is, they have a decent selection of Twinings to choose from.
Part suggestion and part stick-to-what-yuh-know resulted in a mint tea on my side. Right! So now we in a gear. On to the eats!
Out came the tea platter with savory and sweet goodies. It’s a nice assortment of tasty bites. At this point you remember it’s Tiki Village, so there’s an Asian twist to tea here.
Carrot cake starring again.
The open-faced fish wantons were noteworthy. Probably the most unique thing on the menu.
They came hard core Asian with the chicken pot stickers. Very nice in the mix.
You always hear about cucumber sandwiches as part of a tea menu. Hence the open-faced, Asian cucumber sandwich. A clean, refreshing lil bite.
When we got to the vegetable tart, we realized that Vegetarians won’t be at a loss here. Nuff non-meat options, with enough flavor to strike a workable compromise with the meat enthusiasts.
Then there was this row of mango cheese cakes and rich chocolate cakes. Very well done. And coming from a non-desserter, that’s good praise.
So the moral of the story is, Tiki Village has two more things to add to your schedule. They’re worth checking out.
You can experience the Asian Buffet every Thursday from 7pm.
And enjoy Tea @ Tiki on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 to 6pm.
