Would you like Chicken, Fish or Shrimp with your Speyside Sulk?
Speyside is on the opposite side of the island to the main tourist hub of Crown Point and it does feel quite far removed from it. It goes about its business - from what we could tell, this involved fishing, goat herding (and racing) and minibus driving with a bit of tourism thrown in - at a leisurely Caribbean pace and everyone seems mildly surprised when tourists turn up. Maybe this was because we did not come to the village on one of the organised tours (who all did exactly the same route and had exactly the same stopping points). Or maybe it was because we came to visit in the rainy season (meaning a couple of short downpours a day) rather than the main tourist season covering the Northern hemisphere's winter months. It was nice though to just wander the few streets of Speyside and not be accosted about tours, taxis, souvenirs or other services every couple of minutes. We did get chatting to a few locals about how things work in Tobago, which was entertaining and informative (and quite surprisingly, some of the stories we heard from a guy in Speyside about some diver mishaps and an escaped rober did match those we heard in Crown Point and Castara - everyone does know everyone and everything in Tobago).
The downside of this peace and quiet was that it was sometimes a bit difficult to find things - like restaurants that were open. After some searching, we did find a few restaurants but as they were all serving the same dishes, there was not much to choose between. We did try them all anyway and we soon learnt that what we had overheard a Dutch lady say on the first night was true: 'The chicken is dry everywhere'. And so was the fish, which was more surprising as we were right next to the sea. It became a bit of a sport to compare the side dishes that came with the main protein provider. Invariably, this would be macaroni pie (How did that dish make it over to the Caribbean? Or does it originate there? And why is it so universally popular?), a baked potato and a salad of some sort. Ocassionally it included exotic exceptions like baked beans (Another intriguing choice - Did they somehow form the view that this is the dish of choice amongst tourists?). It was all a bit dull (and dry) which was a bit of a disappointment after the great food in Suriname, but one has to eat and it was all perfectly edible.
Another puzzling aspect to Speyside was the way services were provided: with a sulk. It was as though every waiter and waitress really did not want to be there right now and especially not serve these annoying beings called customers. It was quite extraordinary: To place your order, you were invited to do so with a grunt or a grumpy 'yes?'. Food was then plonked literally in front of you and taken away as fast as possible. As we were both reading Bill Bryson's Down Under book in which he explained a similar level of service in Darwin as 'the Darwin stare', we decided to honour the version we discovered with the term 'the Speyside Sulk'. There were exceptions - the aforementioned breakfast lady as well as a young trainee at our hotel who we fear will have her friendliness soon trained out of her.
But Speyside's location was beautiful, the hotel room and the views from it great, and we'd come here to dive rather than have the gastronomic experience of a lifetime, so we did not mind.
The downside of this peace and quiet was that it was sometimes a bit difficult to find things - like restaurants that were open. After some searching, we did find a few restaurants but as they were all serving the same dishes, there was not much to choose between. We did try them all anyway and we soon learnt that what we had overheard a Dutch lady say on the first night was true: 'The chicken is dry everywhere'. And so was the fish, which was more surprising as we were right next to the sea. It became a bit of a sport to compare the side dishes that came with the main protein provider. Invariably, this would be macaroni pie (How did that dish make it over to the Caribbean? Or does it originate there? And why is it so universally popular?), a baked potato and a salad of some sort. Ocassionally it included exotic exceptions like baked beans (Another intriguing choice - Did they somehow form the view that this is the dish of choice amongst tourists?). It was all a bit dull (and dry) which was a bit of a disappointment after the great food in Suriname, but one has to eat and it was all perfectly edible.
Another puzzling aspect to Speyside was the way services were provided: with a sulk. It was as though every waiter and waitress really did not want to be there right now and especially not serve these annoying beings called customers. It was quite extraordinary: To place your order, you were invited to do so with a grunt or a grumpy 'yes?'. Food was then plonked literally in front of you and taken away as fast as possible. As we were both reading Bill Bryson's Down Under book in which he explained a similar level of service in Darwin as 'the Darwin stare', we decided to honour the version we discovered with the term 'the Speyside Sulk'. There were exceptions - the aforementioned breakfast lady as well as a young trainee at our hotel who we fear will have her friendliness soon trained out of her.
But Speyside's location was beautiful, the hotel room and the views from it great, and we'd come here to dive rather than have the gastronomic experience of a lifetime, so we did not mind.
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