Fanatic Kitchen Studio
Cook, relax, learn, enjoy!

Fanatic Kitchen Studio, Trinidad and Tobago, is a culinary traveller's dream. Albeit, foreign travellersare welcomed, it provides a unique experience for residents who wish to explore another country’s cuisine from home. You can hang with friends, whilst enjoying tapas, wines or cocktails, in a stunning, contemporary ambience; and learn cuisine. You can concoct dishes with a renowned chef, and enjoy a meal with him or her afterwards.

Fanatic is the brainchild of Donna Wyke-Reece, Executive Director, Publicis Caribbean Ltd. advertising agency. Though her high-powered career is in advertising, her formal training was in hospitality management. She was sent to Tobago as part of that training program to work in management with an Italian owned hotel; since that experience she felt that she would one day create a “service”, that was not a bar or restaurant, but rather an area where people can play, relax, enjoy great food and maybe learn something in the process.

Donna’s experience as a culinary traveller - through Europe, North and South America, and Latin America - has augmented her ideas, which have culminated in the most innovative kitchen set-up in the country.

She believes that the Fanatic concept was expanded during a trip to Italy seven years ago. She and a group of friends, stayed at a villa with a hotel attached - owned by the then boyfriend of one of the friends - situated in the Tuscan valley, forty minutes outside of Florence. “He had a fabulous cellar for wine tasting, and table chef dinners, where we dined with many local chefs."

The property was situated in a small village, so part of the experience was to go out to the markets and hand pick fresh produce. She says, "The chefs taught us how to make pasta from scratch, and the various sauces that go with it; after helping to prepare the meal, we'd all sit and eat together. This was an awesome experience that I knew I wanted to create in my own country somehow, sometime.”

Though, it was New Orleans’ food culture, which fostered her passion for leisure cooking. She says, "I learnt a lot from home cooks there. They like to eat; they are very passionate about food, just like us “Trinis”. Every Sunday is a family and friends cook-up, with shrimp boil and crab boil; the seasonings are very special, and very creole-like. I’d incorporate "Trini" creole into Louisiana creole. Their dishes comprise a lot of beans and rice, like ours. And their gumbo is the equivalent of our callalloo."

Fanatic has teamed with innovative chefs to bring an array of scheduled activities including individual cooking workshops and demos; you can also book a date for a “lime”, party, corporate (for team building or cooking challenge) or any type of gathering.

The intimate experience allows participants to truly learn and understand cooking techniques. Sessions range from one-time creative menus - with fish, chicken, meat and ethnic foods - to a short series on cake-icing, baking, knife skills and specialty vegetarian meals.

Here’s a glimpse at Fanatic’s July to September line-up (though menus constantly change): Sunday lunch with chef Jason Peru, featuring Chicken Roulade, Herb Spaetzle with sautéed rosemary, butter and thyme and lemon ricotta fritters; Fanatic Thursday with tapas, wines from Cru Limited, and special cocktails; Fanatic Wednesday featuring Italy Mama Mia – learn to make pasta from scratch, or concoct stir-crazy risotto.

There’s also a modern learning set-up: There are individual induction burners for guests - the stove heats only upon contact with pan - with anti-burn safety mechanisms. Cameras are located next to the main burners; thus, a close-up of what the chef does can be projected onto a flat-screen for detailed viewing.

Nigel Nanan, of Innovations, a Fagor factory representative, collaborated with Donna on the project. He was at hand to give us the tour: “This area was an operating theatre before. We gutted it out, and did the flooring in concrete. Essentially, we merged both domestic and commercial kitchen equipment into one space.”

Thus, whilst the island has a stainless steel base with quartz countertop, the kitchen features a domestic range, and both domestic and commercial extraction hoods and convection ovens, professional fryer, self-closing cupboards and drawers, induction burners, and a unique backdrop glass painted in red.

Fagor’s sleek, compact design is eco-friendly by nature. It boasts combined washer / dryer units and side-by-side ovens. “Donna wanted the best of what we had,” he told us. “The only kitchen facility that’s comparable (locally) is at the Prime Minister’s residence.”

Donna is proud of her creation, and adamant about doing her part to facilitate culinary tourism: “We (Trinidadians) are still very weak in marketing our twin isle Republic as a culinary destination." She is currently working with an international company - that’s marketing to small groups and individuals - as well as a local tour operator, and various hotels, to facilitate a unique experience for this niche product. "My part would be teaching the visitors about our cuisine.”

But for Donna, cooking is primarily leisure and a big stress reliever. Her main goal is that guests have a relaxing experience at Fanatic: “You must feel relaxed, warm, welcomed; but above all, you must have an overall great experience.” Once that happens, mission accomplished.