Restaurant on Englishmans Bay

[Donna Baylis]

I hope I'm not repeating information here but I haven't seen any reports about the great cafe/restaurant on Englishmans Bay, the name escapes me ( but as anyone who has been ther will realise there is only the one!) We had a fantastic lunch there consisting of all local food, our 2 girls fancied the flying fish & fries which was delicious & we chose from the homecooked selection in the display cabinet, it was definitely up there with some of the best food we had whilst on the island & the atmosphere sitting on the 1st floor of this open air cafe looking through the trees at Englishmans Bay was truly amazing.

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Donna

You can only be refering to Eula's - as you say, it is the only one at Englishman's Bay. Nice to hear that someone enjoyed the catering there.

I'm afraid that Eula's family is a VERY sore point with me. Whilst I would love to wish her well, she and her family must get their house in order before Tobago has no visitors left to dine at Englishman's Bay. I'll say no more!

[Dr Stefan Rustscheff]

I would also like to add to Steve´s concerns. Since I am not familiar with what one is allowed to state on this website I can only say: stay away! The family, in my opinion, certainly does NOT deserve the patronage of anyone, tourist or local alike. Eula and her family have levt a permanent black stain in my soul. I will state no more, unless Steve so wishes.
Stefan R

[Caron Pople]

Hello Donna,

I'm pretty certain we were holidaying at the same time staying at the Rex Turtle Beach. We also went to Englishman's Bay during our stay and I'm sure we both discussed the café in question. Although our family did not eat there, we bought drinks and, whilst waiting to be served, our mouths were watering at the sight and smells of the food. I have looked at Steve's photograph of Eula's café and I'm not too sure it is the same one. The cafe I'm referring to (and the one that I think we discussed) was painted white and appeared a more substantial building. Or maybe Eula's has had some renovation work done.

Donna, I've read you are thinking of going back to Tobago in October – you're obviously suffering (as we are) with post Tobagonian blues. Perhaps if you do go back you could check the name of the café.

Cheers!

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Stefan

Poor Donna – she just wanted to say how much she enjoyed her lunch.

I was naturally thinking of you - and a number of other Castara and north-coast property owners - when I responded above.

I leave it up to you to decide what to say here. The only constraint is that everything must clearly be within the law, so therefore must not be libellous or defamatory.

To be honest, I had hoped that nobody would ever mention Eula’s; it was much easier on my conscious to ignore the situation rather than to make comment. The petty crimes of her boys may seem trivial in the face of much more serious crime, but the fact is that they were instrumental in demonstrating that Tobago has an increasingly severe problem throughout the island, not just in the urban areas. The actions of these boys directly contributed to the serious downturn in tourism that the island is currently experiencing. The good news is that real action IS taking place now but only time will tell how much real damage has been done.

As editor of the site, I am in a difficult position. I desperately want to be fair and not condemn anyone out of hand. I am an extremely blessed parent who brought up four children without any of the strife that so many parents suffer. However, in this modern world it is extremely difficult to be responsible for the actions of your children, particularly when they are young adults. I would dread to think that my livelihood was destroyed or damaged by the actions of my children – or that I personally contributed to damaging another parents business because of the actions of their children.

Is it wrong to condemn Eula for supporting her children? I hope that I would continue to support my children, no matter what they did.

I can only say that as a kid, my fear was not of getting into trouble at school or elsewhere, but of my parents finding out that I had got into trouble. They were wonderful, loving parents who did a great job and I thank them for teaching me about family honour; a characteristic that most Tobagonian families still hold dear (far more so that in this country).

Before my recent trip, I would not have replied to Donna’s post. I gave Eula the benefit of the doubt and accepted that it would be wrong to condemn her for the actions of her children and certainly had no evidence that she endorsed/encouraged the activities of their offspring. As a result, I kept my mouth shut.

Sadly, my recent trip changed all that. I was forced to suffer the aggressive attitude of the son currently awaiting trial. Worse still, I received conflicting reports on the family’s attitude towards the situation. I certainly saw the boy in a car with his mother, so find it difficult to support those who say that the family were horrified by the actions of the boys and chucked them out of the family home. The worst thing is that this little scum-bag spends his days alternatively smirking at, or giving attitude to, visitors on the beaches. Only the family can decide whether they are going to rob or feed tourists. They can’t have both!

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Caron

Good to hear from you.

Yes, it is the same. I didn't visit Eula's for reasons that will be obvious above. Howeveer, I am told that the building was extended late last. In fact I think somebody said it is now a two-storey building.

I have had a number of letters and emails about this cafe. It has even been claimed that the cafe is built illegally on land belonging to someone else. However, more serious are the concerns expressed regarding the quality of the building work (claiming its an accident waiting to happen) and claims that the building has NO running water or drainage. If this is true, I would certainly have reservations about eating there, no matter how good the smells. Hopefully somebody can confirm or refute these allegations.

[Donna Baylis]

Hi Everyone,
Oh Dear! I had no idea of the stories behind the family that run this establishment. We had done alot of reading before we travelled to Tobago but obviously the history of this was not well documented. Will be avoiding this when we return, thanks for the information.
Hi Caron, yes we certainly are suffering the same withdrawal symptoms!

Donna

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Donna

Its so difficult to strike the right balance and to know when to keep your mouth shut. There's not a night that I don't go to sleep pondering and even worrying about what I say, or should say, on the site.

No, you haven't missed anything on this - at least not on myTobago. Nothing has been said and probably nothing would have been said. However, the actions of the family are not helping their case and whilst I haven't been 'looking for' an opportunity to say anything, I equally am not going to look the other way and then be accused of hiding information which should be in the public domain so that visitors can make their own minds up as to whether to visit the establishment or not.

[Donna Baylis]

Dear Steve,

Thanks for passing on the information, the last thing we would want to do is support people whose actions are detrimental to the majority of Tobagos kind & genuine people & also the tourist industry. We'll definitely be trying somewhere else next time!

Donna

[Steve Wooler]

This thread seems to have stirred a hornets nest.

I've kept my feelings on the subject very much under check, because its a subject I feel VERY strongly about and which could easily cause me to go off the deep end. What I didn't realise how strongly many people, both on and off island, felt about the matter.

Since I replied to Donna's innocent report about 10 hours ago, I have received eight email from readers on the matter. Four of them were from Tobago business owners. I now feel a LOT better for airing a matter that has bugged me for many months.

It would seem pretty definite that Eula's Restaurant in Englishman's Bay does NOT have any running water or drainage. Readers must make their own minds up as to whether they are happy to consume food prepared under those conditions. The busier the restaurant gets, the worse the potential hazards, I would have thought.

Five of the eight correspondents commented and complained about the noise and fumes from the generator that is kept running constantly. At least it shows that they have a fridge, so something is positive. However, I understand that the noise of the genny can be heard across the beach and even into the bay. More disturbing, however, is the reports of the 'attitude' of Eula and family members when the matter has been mentioned. Apparently there are similar problems with an aggresive 'home-made' (I don't think so) ice-cream vendor on the beach as well.

A couple of my contacts claim to receive common complaints from visitors about the high price of food at Eula's - at least in comparison to other local restaurants along the north coast. It is claimed that she is very much taking advantage of the 'captive market' despite the fact that she hasn't got the resources to provide a safe and healthy service. One local correspondent (not a competitor in any way or form) closed with the comment "So it seems that the whole family is robbing visitors one way or the other...". Had that comment come from a visitor, I would have place no store in it and would certainly have not repeated it here. However, these are the comments of reputable, established Tobago businesses who CARE about sustainable tourism and who do not want to see Tobago ruined.

Why are the THA allowing such blatant abuse of food hygeine standards to go unchecked? Do they want Englishman's Bay to go the same way as Pigeon Point. WAKE UP TOBAGO! Please don't ruin your beautiful island by allowing your most precious assets to be abused like this.

[Steve Wooler]

I don't know whether the ninth email counts as it was offering to donate a prize for the competition: a meal for 2 at Eula's plus free babysitting service by her boys.

We shouldn't laugh, because its far too serious a subject, but thanks for the light relief (as the bishop said to the actress).

[Gill O]

We visited Eula's during April, when I had some icecream. That night and the next day I had quite a bad case of "traveller's tummy". I didn't think that much more about it until I read these posts. My husband also said how intrusive the noise of the generator was, and we moved right to the far end of the beach to try and get away from it. Very sad because it is such a beautiful place.

[Kat Blomfeld]

Three of our party went down with severe gastroenteritis after an island tour, which included lunch at this restaurant. It was so severe that the hotel had to call a doctor. Our holiday rep asked where we had eaten. She said she was not surprised and had heard other similar reports.

[Nikos]

We were regulars at Englishman's Bay both times we visited the island, but never had lunch at Eula's. Just beers, which were cold, so they do have a fridge. Actually the very picture on my avatar is taken there. The ice-cream vendor did charge us a lot of money for a couple of ice-creams the only time we bought from him; unfortunately it was our first day ever on the island and we didn't realise we paid too much.

[Andy D]

I have eaten at Eula's twice now,the second time was just last week,i had no idea about the situation there and have to say that the food was actually quite good.
As for the sons of said woman i didnt see them so can't coment on their behavior,good or bad,i will think twice about going there again though having read previous posts.I did notice however that the upper floor felt quite bouncy under foot suggesting that the build quality is rather suspect, and although i didnt think too much about it at the time it could well be an accident waiting to happen.
As for the icecream seller, he shouted at me for a sale as i walked past but i declined.

[Donna Baylis]

We bought ice-creams from the man mentioned in other posts & did think they were very expensive, as for his manner he was never rude just very enthusiastic. We obviously had a lucky escape with Eulas & the ice cream man.

[Peter & Mary]

Please add two more to the Eula-tummy list. We went to Englishman's Bay on our first full day on the island. The noise of the generater was horrible. Although the food was quite nice, we thought it quite expensive. But, we did both have upset tums the next day. We thought it might just be the change as we had only arrived the day before. Now I'm not so sure.

[Mandy]

We had a lucky escape then last September when we went to Eula`s, my son was hungry but after seeing the food preparation area I thought better of it.

We had a drink and then left, shame thought we were all hungry and its a great setting for a restaurant.

Their were a lot of people eating their and there was building work being done so the noise and dust etc was unbearable.

[James_Cox]

We had a lucky escape as we only ate Bread from the ladies cooking it on Castara Beach, They were 6 of us and the Bread and cheese was great but again we were in Tobago for 1 day only from the cruise ship Artemis.But next time we will stay longer as we liked what we saw.
james

[Steve Wooler]

Hello James

Can I please clarify that this thread has been discussing food hygiene (and other) issues at Eula's Restaurant in Englishman's Bay. Nobody has suggested that their is an issue with the clay oven breadmaking facilities in Castara. In fact, one of the highlights of staying in Castara is the bread and pastries (I'm drooling just thinking of their scrumptious coconut pastries) from the clay ovens. I accept that the facilities are limited, but bread-making is a totally different matter to fresh food preparation and far from seeing any issues at the clay oven (or the several others in vallages around the island), I consider them a wonderful demonstation of Tobago village life and hope they continue for many years to come.