Nicole’s Table - A Window Into Antigua
The Caribbean is not the ideal destination for solo travelers. Not only was it a little lonely to be on a beach alone, but being a single traveler meant many activities were just out of the question. For instance, I have been eyeing a guided tour to the island of Barbuda, but the tour operator requires a two-person minimum to make the reservation for the only day available. Among all the special excursions or activities that piqued my interest, a cooking class at Nicole’s Table is the only one that would take reservations from a solo traveler. The only other time I did a cooking lesson was our 2019 trip to Thailand; it was much more fun than I ever imagined.
The Asian-inspired rum-marinated chicken was the entree of the afternoon menu.
After booking, I was contacted by Nicole’s husband, Adam, who told me the reservation platform made a mistake. Since I was the only person signed up for this class on that particular date, accommodating me was just not financially feasible. Adam offered an alternate date so I could join a couple for the class. It just happened that the new date was just before my flight back home. While I was slightly disappointed by the rescheduling, I was happy to participate in the course. According to various podcasts and blogs, Nicole’s Table is not only the best cooking class on the island but also the single best cultural experience visitors could have. Well, I certainly had very high expectations.
The Cooking Class
I can’t say that I had the greatest affinity toward Caribbean cuisine before this recent trip. The only other time I visited the region was a 2013 trip to Puerto Rico, and I struggled with the food there. Who knew food in the tropics in tropical paradise could be so horrible? Given the various similarities between Antigua and Puerto Rico, I wrongly assumed that there is such a big difference between Puerto Rican and pan-Caribbean cuisine. I was very glad not to see mofongo on the menu. I still had nightmares about that dish ever since Puerto Rico.
An amazing view of Saint John and the Caribbean from Adam and Nicole’s house.
Having already spent a few days in the country, I have come to get a good hang of a typical Antiguan menu. Interestingly, many traditional Antiguan dishes, such as goat water or fungee, are conspicuously absent. These traditional dishes are primarily home meals, not often serviced in restaurants. Similarly, Nicole’s course menu is considered pan-Caribbean rather than Antiguan. Nicole further adapted the Caribbean to modernize and add some personal twists. A case in point is my course: “Cooking with Rum.” Despite being the most celebrated spirit in the region, rum is rarely incorporated into regional cooking. Nicole skillfully incorporated the complexity of rum into some of Antigua's popular home dishes.
It was given the task of preparing the wet ingredient of the cake. There is 3/4 cup of rum in the cake batter alone.
For this course, I was joined by a young American couple staying downstairs at Nicole’s Airbnb apartment. Nicole and Adam’s place sits atop a hill northwest of Saint John's. From their veranda, guests have an awesome view of Saint John, the Caribbean, Saint Kitts & Nevis, and the British overseas territory of Montserrat. But for me, the real beauty of their home is their open-plan living space, with soaring cathedral ceilings and breezy interiors. In the middle of the space is a beautifully handcrafted worktable. It dawned on me that this is where Nicole’s Table got its name.
Like most cooking classes, students were given the recipe book at the beginning to make personal notes. Today's menu includes an appetizer, an entree, three sides, snacks, and desserts. Except for rum cake, all the other dishes were relatively simple and perfect for a weeknight meal. As much as we would all love to learn big, complex recipes, perhaps it is more sensible to master simple dishes. It may be silly, but my most interesting experience was learning to make tostones for the first time. Even though I used to live in a predominantly Dominican and Puerto Rican neighborhood in New York City, I must confess that I have never picked up plantain or ever once thought about making tostones. I did not even know that there was a proper way to peel plantains.
Scotch bonnet pepper was absolutely delightful. I never realized how sweet they are.
Making the potato soup and the bean and rice.
A plateful of freshly made tostones.
For today’s course, Nicole was assisted by Connie, who is from the country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and she was the real workhorse in the kitchen while Nicole was speaking with us about the ingredients and the recipe. For a cooking course, I have to say we did not spend all that much time in the kitchen. Instead, there were substantial conversations about the various drinks, including Nicole’s rum punch. But for me, the most “interesting” drink is her freshly brewed “roselle tea.” I immediately recognized Roselle from Saint John’s Saturday Market, which I visited two days ago. Red Roselle is an edible flower that is commonly grown in tropical regions around the world. But it was not until I got home a few days later that I realized Roselle also goes by the Chinese name of Luo Shen Hua (落神花). Growing up in Taiwan, I drank plenty of iced roselle tea!
A vegetable stall at Saint John’s Saturday market.
Interestingly, Nicole's butter rum cake was the dish we were most involved in making. I was amazed by just how much rum there was in the cake batter alone. More rum is in the sauce that will be poured over the cake. Now I understand why this course is more expensive than her jerk chicken workshop. I am not too much of a drinker, but I certainly had my fair share of rum punch in the past few days. I felt like I had more alcohol on this trip than I had all year.
Rum Tasting
Speaking of rums, it was only fitting that a rum-tasting session is a part of “Cooking with Rum.” After finishing some prep and quickly sauteing vegetables on the stove, we were invited to gather around a table on the veranda. Adam, a great connoisseur of all sorts of rum, presents the rum tasting. Born and raised in Rhode Island, he is lively and sarcastic. It dawned on us that everybody at this table was born or raised in New England and has an immediate family. As it turned out, my classmates were from Easthampton, less than half an hour away from my in-laws. I even discovered that one of them used to work at the storied Storrowton Tavern & Carriage House on the grounds of the Big Eastern State Exposition in West Springfield.
According to Adam, rum is the most popular drink in the Caribbean and reflects each island’s culture and national character. He organized our tasting by region, starting from the French island of Martinique. Reflecting the French approach to food and wine, distillers in Martinique are very exacting when selecting their ingredients. They use only pure cane juices in their rum and tend to produce the lightest rum on the market. White rum tastes pretty much like vodka and is quite sharp and medicinal. The second bottle, Depaz “Très Vieux VSOP, is amber in color and much more fragrant and complex. It is both elegant and complex.
Just the first part of the rum-tasting session.
Moving on to the English rums, they have a fuller taste because of the underlying flavor of molasses. Rum is said to be integral to the administration of the British Empire in the West Indies. In particular, rum is often associated with the Royal Britsh Navy, of which the sailors are typically allotted a pint of rum a day as part of their salaries. It was remarkable how they were able to go into battle with so much alcohol in the system. Many distillers still produce semi-official rum in the style of the British Navy. The bottle of Pusser’s “Gunpowder Proof” Rum is produced in Guyana and has an alcohol content of 54.5 percent. Traditionally made with pot stills, English-style rums tend to be dark and quite alcoholic.
Among the world of English-style rum, Jamaican rum seems to be a standout for how strong it is. The alcohol content of some Jamaican rum is north of 90%. Adam was quick to point out that their rum is a perfect reflection of Jamaicans’ fiery temper. In comparison, Antigua’s own rum, English Harbor, is quite mellow and well-rounded, like the Antigans themselves. Despite the popularity of rums in Antigua, Adam says that relatively few dedicated rum bars or distilleries are open to visitors. Given the importance of tourism for Antigua, it is a missed opportunity to celebrate its rum heritage. Adam seems the man for the job as the chief advocate of Antiguan rum!
These are my top two favorite rum from the tasting session.
It was time for cake.
Among the long lineup of English rums, the most unexpected is the one from Newfoundland, Canada. I would never associate rum production with a frigid place like Canada. Adam pointed out that the United States used to have a thriving rum industry until the American Revolutionary War. Rum is still not produced in the United States in any significant quantity today. Interestingly, Antigua’s rum production is intrinsically linked to the United States, as the oak barrels used in Antigua today come from the bourbon industry in Kentucky.
The last batch of rum in today’s tasting is the Spanish rum, perhaps the most well-known in the United States because of the dominance of the Bacardi brand in the market. Spanish rum is typically produced by column distillation and is generally not aged for an extended time. As a result, the color is somewhere between the English and French rum. Spanish rum is often labeled “Ron” and has slightly less impurity than English rum. Spanish rum is exceptionally popular as it typically has a smoother and well-rounded finish on the tongue. In case you were wondering, here are all the rums in Adam’s lineup:
French Rum
Depaz Agricole Tres Vieux VSOP (Martinique)
Rhum Clement Agricole Blanc Rum (Martinique)
English Rum
English Harbour - Aged 5 Years (Antigua & Barbuda)
El Dorado - Aged 15 Years (Guyana)
Newfoundland Screech (Canada)
British Navy Pusser’s Rum - Gunpowder Proof (Guyana)
Spanish Rum
Barceló Imperial Rum - Aged 10 Years (Dominican Republic)
Flor de Caña - Aged 12 Years (Nicaragua)
Mamajuana Spicy (Dominican Repulbic)
Overall, we tasted six different types of rum from the lineup. As a non-expert, my favorite would be Rhum Clement Agricole Blanc Rum from Martinique and El Dorado from Guyana. Truthfully, I can’t say there is a gulf of difference between the best and the worst. I am actually curious how they might compare to my trusted bottle of Malibu mango-flavored rum back home. It showed me just how woefully ignorant I am about liquor in general. That said, I did enjoy the rum-tasting session and learned about the history and all the regional variations. Funny enough, the session's highlight was Nicole and Adam’s banana-infused rum. The thought of banana rum may sound repulsive, but I could tell you it was actually not bad. Apparently, Adam was also disgusted by that rum until the pandemic lockdown changed his mind.
Family-Style Meal
As we wrapped up our rum session, food arrived at the table. If I were to be honest, Nicole’s cooking course is more of a dining club. Honestly, all the dishes in this course are pretty basic, and it has relatively few techniques. Nicole and Connie pretty much did the majority of the actual cooking, so I did feel a little guilty about our skipping out on the cooking part. The meal was served family-style. Ultimately, spending time with them and getting their perspective on life in Antigua made this a wonderful afternoon.
The family-style dinner was served on the veranda.
To learn about their life story was a privilege. Nicole was actually from the island of Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory. Her families were victims of the infamous 1995 eruption of Soufrière Hills. Half of the island was covered by ash and is now designated as an exclusion zone. She talked about the experiences of revisiting her family home and seeing so many items get left behind. Adam and Nicole met in Baltimore. He was working in the mayor’s office in Washington D.C., and she was working as a chef at Mount Vernon Stable. They eventually moved to Antigua to get closer to Nicole’s family.
Hoping to spend more time with family, Nicole eventually quit her job at a five-star resort to set up her own business from her home. Nicole’s Table seems like such a wonderful business idea to capture a piece of Antigua’s booming tourism economy. Their attached Airbnb unit made it a great business. They put their heart and soul into their home/business, from the water collection system to the handmade furniture. Sitting around the table with them made me feel like a temporary family member.
Nicole’s famous rum cake, which is apparently copied by chef Ainsley Harriott of Britain.
Over our lunch, I asked Nicole why finding traditional Antiguan dishes such as goat water or fungee was so difficult. I was surprised by just how little she thought of these dishes. I found it hilarious that her dad made fungee and fed it to their dogs. There was a disconnect between traditional food and favorite food. Perhaps Nicole did not have a taste for fungee because she grew up in Montserrat. Who knows? Regardless, all the food we had (and we made?) was delicious. The rum-flavored potato soup was an absolute surprise. Who knew dropping a tablespoon of rum into your soup would be magical? But for me, the absolute highlight was the scrumptious rum cake. This cake recept was allegedly stolen by celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott, who learned it from Nicole.
Even though they often say it was impolite to talk about politics at the table, I could not help asking them about the politics on the island. In particular, I was very curious about the islanders’ opinions on the Queen’s passing and the republic referendum promised by the incumbent prime minister Gaston Browne. It was fair to say that they are not fans of the prime minister. While they genuinely love the country, they have deep concerns about political corruption and the ineptitude of the political parties. As much as I enjoyed all the food, the highlight of my day was talking to them about Antigua. I was so glad to spend an afternoon with them and have a window into Antigua.
