One wouldn’t think that a career in fast food would inspire a person to do and be more, but that is exactly what happened to Chef Allan Bachan who is now the owner of the catering and private chef service, Hungry Nature TT.
With his passion for food Bachan, 36, wanted to experiment with colours, textures, and flavours. He wanted to produce what he liked and give clients a taste of well-known dishes with a gourmet twist.
So, in 2018, after working in kitchens for over 16 years, he decided to go solo.
He said three points brought him to the name Hungry Nature – all humans get hungry so they are hungry by nature, nature inspired many of his dishes, and he wanted to use as many fresh, local ingredients as possible.
“I try to bring a gourmet select to the poor man’s pocket because not everyone could go sit down and eat a steak for $500. I don’t run a restaurant with overheads and whatnot so you could come by me and have that steak and I will only charge for my ingredients and time. So I can give the poor man the opportunity to eat something fancy and nice and pretty without paying that pretty cost.”
He went further in 2020 when he created a branch of Hungry Nature TT called In The Middle. At the “gourmet sandwich adventure” he produces burgers and sandwiches with various toppings, sauces and add-ons.
Where else can you go for a eastern lamb burger with roasted feta cheese and a balsamic dressing? Or a pulled goat sandwich?
[caption id="attachment_961790" align="alignnone" width="789"] Chef Allan Bachan serves up a dish of safron and pimento rice, pan-seared red snapper with cucumber and papaya salsa at Flower Pot beach, Claxton Bay. Photo by Marvin Hamilton[/caption]
“Sandwiches are one of the most comforting things you could eat. It’s very personal – you get to hold it, take control of it, eat it how you want.”
The Pointe-a-Pierre native is in the process of re-branding and rebuilding the menu. In the meantime, sandwiches could be ordered through Hungry Nature TT.
He also makes and sells a popular pepper sauce called Izz Dat Sauce, and a Fire Coconut Chutney with surprising flavours and spices.
Bachan told Sunday Newsday the first meal he ever made was rice and curry chicken, which he learned to cook from his great grandmother at the age of eight.
“She said, ‘You see when you get older, don’t let no woman buss style on you. If your wife wants to go and leave and don’t cook nothing, you don’t worry. Come let me show you how to cook.’”
[caption id="attachment_961781" align="alignnone" width="768"] Chef Allan Bachan’s Crayfish deluxe.[/caption]
He continued to cook through secondary school and grew to like it, so decided to make it his career. As soon as he finished secondary school at the age of 17, he started to work at a grill place at Grand Bazaar.
“I was young. I was driven by freedom. I wanted to do certain things for myself so I wanted to make my own money.
“And in a commercial kitchen there’s so much pace and speed and action. And I am a very high-energy person so between the cook
