Bites & Beverages at Buzz Bar

Bites & Beverages at Buzz Bar C3 Centre

I took a drive down to the south lands to check out the scene at Buzz Bar in the C3 Centre, Corinth Road, San Fernando. Up until I got the invitation to check out the spot I was totally unaware that Buzz Bar opened up another branch so this was quite the surprise. If you’re familiar with the location in One Woodbrook Place then you know the Buzz Bar vibe, music, drinks flowing and people liming. The C3 location takes the vibe and energy of the Port Of Spain bar experience and adds a casual dining element that takes it into the realm of a sports bar & restaurant. The ambiance is good and there was enough buzz happening at 4PM on a random Thursday which led me to believe that people in south either work flexible hours, leave work at 4 on the dot and teleport to their favorite watering hole, or just don’t work at all on a Thursday.

As it turns out, the chef running the kitchen at Buzz Bar is Jeremy Lovell who we met a few years ago while he was working with the late Chef Raymond Jospeh at Centro in The Courtyard, Marriott. I had a chance to catch up with Jeremy and found out what he had been up to over the past few years. In addition to continuing to work as a chef he has also been serving in the role as captain of the Trinidad & Tobago national culinary team for the past two years and this year will be his last year. He reflected on the competition last year where for the first time, they entered with a full student team to compete and while challenging, was also an opportunity for him to learn and grow as a chef and team leader.

Chef Jeremy Lovell

Now, to be perfectly honest being involved in food blogging is careful balancing act for me because I have mixed emotions about the whole process. Who am I to tell you what is good and what isn’t? I can cook and I know what tastes good to me but if I’ve learned anything over the years is that taste is completely subjective and you should probably experience things for yourself to form your own opinion. I can also accept the fact that my taste can be “weird” at times so take everything with a pinch of salt.

An Eclectic Menu

Right off the bat my fears were eased when I realized that the menu wasn’t just burgers, fries, chicken fingers and alfredo pasta, which is something that I dread when going into new spots to try food. I was glad to see offerings on the menu that were a great mix of local and international cuisines like the Crispy Golden Pork Belly, Taki Chicken Bao, Trinbago Curry Bowl and Rum Glazed Fried Plantain. It is a pretty extensive menu with a variety of choices so naturally I asked Jeremy to pick his faves for us to try.

Crispy Golden Pork Belly

The Crispy Golden Pork Belly with Roasted Geera Bell Pepper Sauce is the right kinda cutters if you having a few beers.

Buzz Loaded Fries

The Buzz Loaded Fries drowned in Barbecue Pulled Pork, Crispy Bacon and Triple Melted Cheese is not something I would typically order because I tend to go for clean flavors. I don’t really like too much different things happening in a dish at the same time but I have to admit this was moreish. I thought I would have taken one or two forkfuls at most but the longer it stayed on the table, the more I ate. This is another good appetizer if you hitting the drinks and need a little foundation to work with. A few friends can share and enjoy this.

Trinbago Curry Bowl

Jeremy is known for his love of local spices and flavors so he did not hesitate to recommend the Trinbago Curry Bowl. Tender cooked chicken in local spices and curry sauce served with warm pita bread and steamed jasmine rice.

Buzz Signature Burger

Honestly I don’t even know how I had room to eat more than one bite of this but I managed to throw down half. David had the other half and I must say, the Buzz Signature Burger is definitely a very delicious burger. I swapped out the side of fries for a Pear Cole Slaw and as a rule of thumb had the burger done to the temperature of medium which they actually nailed perfectly. This burger could easily be my go-to meal at Buzz Bar… I would tell them hold the cheese though, but that’s just my personal preference. I’m not a cheeseburger kinda guy.

Handcrafted Cocktails

We made sure to leave a little room for cocktails and Buzz Bar takes pride in creating special handcrafted cocktails. I mean, with a name like Buzz Bar you would expect them to take their cocktails seriously.

Again we went with their recommendation on the best cocktails to try. The Herbivore is at the head of the class and everyone’s favorite. This cocktail infuses the local herb, Chadon Beni with sweet basil, Smirnoff Apple Vodka, Triple Sec and Citrus Juices. Pure refreshing vibes with a great balance of sweet and tart flavors all brought together with some good old local herbs.

The Herbivore

Last but by no means least on the line up was the Champagne Watermelon Mojito, a twist on a classic mojito with fresh watermelon puree added to a vodka mojito and topped off with bubbly.