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Yap is a wonderful place to live and work. The people are the friendliest I have encountered in the islands, both pacific and Caribbean. To say they are laid back would be an understatement. As an expatriate, my cultural or linguistic mistakes are graciously accepted and seldom corrected. Our location also presents some unique challenges and frustrations but one day at the beach cures all.
What are your own personal favorite
foods ?
This is a tough question. I love almost everything, firstly my
childhood memories of
Jamaican food influence my tastes greatly but I love classic French
cuisine, Thai, Indian, Japanese, Cajun, African, Vietnamese, you
name it. If I had to pick one thing I would have to say Curry, a
real good coconut flavored curry with real spices not curry powder. Mangrove crab is the most incredible in existence, period. Forget about Dungeness, King, Blue etc. etc. It is like comparing fillet mignon to a Big Mac. The meat is tender, sweet and succulent, I can't get enough of them. Wahoo is a wonderful, versatile game fish, great as sashimi, cured Swedish style with dill and cognac, grilled, in a curry, in soups, breads, or as Fish and Chips, flaky, tender white meat and juicy unless overcooked.
Local Greens: Kangkung, local spinach, taro leaf and others are
available and delicious. Taro leaf from a particular taro plant
makes a very nice soup. Other produce includes Gingong (a tangerine
flavored lemon) that makes superb lemonade and an excellent beurre
blanc for fish. Breadfruit, yam, tapioca and other starches. Of
course taro root is a staple here but most people think of poi when
they hear taro and for most people poi does not inspire gastronomic
delight, understandable. There are several varieties of taro
available, none of which are exciting on their own and are
traditionally served here boiled in water or with coconut milk. I
have tried several ways to bring a little flavor and moisture to
this tuber with some success and some failure. I'll keep trying. You often create intimate, moonlight dinners for honeymooners. What would be on the menu ? The menu has never been the same twice. One memorable menu request was simply " hot tub food". Basically the couple wanted finger food they could pick at while in the Jacuzzi. They had: sashimi, sushi, chicken satays with peanut sauce, prawns poached in court bouillon with spicy cocktail sauce, curried seafood bouchees, blackened sashimi, tuna poke, rack of lamb roasted with herb crust and cut into individual chops with a fresh mint yogurt dip and hummous bi tahini with pita bread. We had to remove them from the hot tub with a crane the next morning! You prepare pupus (hors d' oeuvre) for the resort's cocktail hour. Can you give us some examples ? This is where my taro experiments are unleashed on the unsuspecting public. Boil, cool and grate yellow swamp taro, bind with eggs and flavor with any meat, fish or seafood, lots of onion, garlic, ginger etc. Shape into balls or patties, roll in breadcrumbs or grated coconut and fry - served often with a spicy dip of some sort. Other pupus we have done include the Yap Wrap which is grated raw tapioca mixed with spicy pork, wrapped in banana leaf packets about 2 inches square, 1/2 inch thick, baked in the oven till tapioca is cooked. Tuna poke is also popular, a spicy Hawaiian style marinated sashimi.
What are your house specialties ? Blackened sashimi is probably number one, this is on our web site: www.mantaray.com . Our grilled catch of the day is extremely popular, char-broiled with a lemon beurre blanc. Yapese Fish Chowder ( or seafood) is rich with coconut cream. Spicy chicken or seafood packet baked with rice in banana leaf, sort of an island style papillote. Strangely enough, for a Jamaican/Canadian living in Yap, our curries are a specialty- We roast all the whole spices to make garam masala on which our sauces are based. They are nothing like commercially prepared powders or sauces. I was flattered when a guest from Bengal asked for the recipe! Taro Roesti was a big hit topped with sautéed kangkung, grilled tuna, char-broiled prawns and a passionfruit beurre blanc. Mangrove Crab Ravioli with saffron cream sauce is yet another house specialty I have created.Yapese bouillabaisse is flavored with all the classic seasonings and finished with thick coconut cream, served with rouille (saffron, garlic and cayenne mayonnaise) and toasted French bread. We make all our own breads here and get a lot of compliments on the breads and pizzas.
Coconut lemon chicken is a boneless chicken and vegetable dish in a
creamy, lemony coconut sauce. This is new this week and has been
well received. We have some house special drinks, fruity and innocent looking with a kick. Manta Fever, Yapese Sunset, Yapese Sunrise, Manta Shake, Coconut Cocktail and coming soon our own Manta Brew from our on-board microbrewery. In addition there are the typical Pina Coladas, Daiquiris and other mixed drinks and a small selection of wines. The only drinks influenced by me are the Yapese Sunset and the Manta Shake; previous and current bartenders created the others. The Yapese Sunset is built around thick mango nectar with dark rum, Mailibu, Triple Sec and grenadine. The Manta Shake is similar to a Mudslide with Baileys, Kahlua, Grand Marnier, coconut syrup and chocolate syrup, blended with ice. Are there any particular challenges involved creating dishes on the island ? Supplies, quality and regularity are the number one challenge. Training a restaurant staff, who has never been in a restaurant before, is another tough challenge. The Island must give you plenty of opportunities to barbecue. What are your favorite things to cook on the grill ? This is a bit of a problem for me. The owner is a Texan and, as you must know, Texans created barbecue, period. Thursday July 26, 1996 was a bad day; midnight fire gutted the kitchen, which was just renovated and fully equipped. Next morning we served continental breakfast to a full house. For the next five months I barbecued EVERYTHING including breakfast, lunch and dinner. Omelets, toast, bacon, burgers, fish, steaks, and chicken. You name it we did it on the BBQ, which was also a smoker so we smoked everything for 151 days straight. Since moving back into the kitchen I guess you could say I have been a little less than eager to do a lot of BBQ. The best thing to come from this is that I was taught to smoke brisket, by the Texan owner! I do love Jerked Pork and Chicken and that works extremely well in the smoker, fish (wahoo, marlin etc.) are also great done in the smoker, of course when the brisket is falling apart and tender after 16 hours it is quite delicious. On top of the grill, using local hardwoods, the steaks and fish are wonderful, fish wrapped in banana leaf with a little butter and white wine is very nice, skewers of beef, chicken or seafood are also very good. For me personally, there is not much that beats a good New York steak, medium rare, just a little smokey and a baked potato that has been kept warm in the smoker and taken on some of the lingering flavors.
Do you give an option to the divers to Divers are basically instructed to touch nothing, take only pictures and leave only bubbles. They do not go out spear fishing or lobster hunting. Fishermen on the other hand can bring back a portion of their catch, which we prepare for them; the rest is released to preserve this delicate resource. What different kinds of seafood is caught for you off the coast Yap ?
Wahoo, Mahi Mahi, Tuna (yellowfin, skipjack, Big eye, dog tooth)
Rainbow Runner, Jack, Snapper, Lobster, Mangrove Crab and sometimes
freshwater shrimp.
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bring back their catch of the day, and for you to prepare it later ? ♥x .  |