Spicy Doubles, is set up in a tuck shop situated in Irvin Hall at UWI, Mona. They clearly were not ready for the rush of Restaurant Week and SuGa readers with their meagre servings, counting food items and all, like shrimp in a ‘Chiny’ shop. The food was good but not worth the price.
SuGa Readers have been dining up a storm and found that Gimbilyn was fully equipped with staff to tackle Restaurant week with very little wait time and a floor supervisor overseeing the area and checking on waiters as it should be.
Staff was pleasant and even the Chef came out to address diners regardless of the pressures in the kitchen. Commendable that he had things under control to escape the heat a little.
Staff was also well-trained in offering suggestions from the menu and selection of wines.
Reviews came in that the Shrimp salad was tasty but had a small serving in comparison to the Pepper Pot soup. However, if you ordered a Shrimp salad followed by Grilled Pork chops, they were sure to make up for it, as they were thick portions.
The Tucker Chicken Florentine with layers of creamed callaloo, cheese and tender Chicken breast topped with panko bread crumbs and parmesan cheese looked and tasted delicious. The Grilled Salmon with Tamarind and Ginger Glaze was good and their signature Bread pudding was divine.
Kudos to Gimbilyn!
A few weeks ago at about 8:30pm, I finally visited Asia’s Café, found in the middle of York Pharmacy on Half Way Tree Road. The restaurant will be opened for a year this December 15th. The news spread fast upon their opening since they are open 24/7 and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner options, sandwiches, salads and various pastries and beverages. It’s also convenient for patients visiting the pharmacy and nearby 24/7 doctor’s offices. The seating area is small so it’s usually order-to go.
For such a small establishment, I noticed a huge menu with affordable items. There were Breakfast items such as Eggs etc., Soups, Salads for $600JMD, OMG Burger for $550JMD, dishes such as Shrimp/Jerk Chicken Pasta and Chicken Lasagna ranging from $700-800JMD, standard Box lunch dishes such as Fried and Roasted Chicken, side orders such as Garlic bread, Potato wedges and Potato salad ranging from $70-$220JMD. They also offer both hot and cold Beverages, as well as Milk Shakes with different flavours for $450JMD. There is a good variety of pastry for $250JMD each including Brownies, Muffins, Banana Breads, Cookies, Cakes, Bread Puddings, you name it. Everything seemed more than reasonable except for some regular Chicken and Turkey Sandwiches that any mother could make and send their child to school with for $550 and $600JMD! Oh no. The same can be found in Mega Mart for $250JMD.
My friend and I ordered the Conch soup ($170JMD tx incl.), Roasted Chicken ($550JMD tx incl.) and Pineapple Jerked Chicken wrap ($550JMD tax incl.). The server came to us a few minutes after, telling us there was no more Conch, but we already made the order and we were ready to grab and go. While we waited, I scanned the room and saw some diners with a large ‘box lunch’ serving of Shrimp Pasta. The Penne looked dry. I braved it and asked one of the ladies how she found it and I said it looked a little dry. She responded, ‘It is awful! Not nice at all, it neida dry nor wet’. We laughed and she then shared her sentiments with the server who told the chef. He said he would redo their order, which was a decent response instead of the ‘I’m sorry to hear’ that can’t buy soldier lorry response. Hopefully there was some improvement.
Although the staff was neither pleasant nor hostile, they said all orders take 7-10 minutes and they stuck to their word, because my food was ready in no time. I saw a quick turn over with other customers as well.
The soup was a bit too salty and ofcourse lacking conch. The Roast Chicken was good but the rice and peas was dry. The Jerk Chicken wrap was tasty and spicy.
Asia’s Café is definitely a good place to get reasonable, decent food on the go, but they should leave the elaborate things to fine dining restaurants, hence reduce their menu size and improve on the quality of remaining items.
Asia’s CaféÂ
Ph#: 876-929-3568 / 876-929-5961
Address: Located inside York Pharmacy, Half-Way Tree, Kingston
Date of visit: 7/11/14
NB. Ratings fill 5 stars maximum
Parking: ★★★☆☆
Ambience: ☆☆☆☆☆
Decor: ★★★☆☆
Comfort: ★★★☆☆
Service: ★★★☆☆
Speed: ★★★★☆
Food quality: ★★★☆☆
Serving amount: ★★★★☆
Value for $: ★★★☆☆
SuGa Endorsement: ★★★☆☆
SuGa Lifestyle has kept readers up to date for the past year on Restaurant Ratings and Reviews, Recipes, Health and Fitness, GW ART, Charities and What’s Hot, for instance with popular Sports events or tournaments. Restaurant Reviews continuously proves to be the most popular posts amongst readers.
Conceptualizer, Gabrielle Williams has traveled across the United States, the Caribbean and as far as Japan, where the local cuisines and fine dining options are a must stop. On most weekends, regardless of which parish or country she may be in, she can be found satisfying her fancy of exploring the culinary talents on offer at the restaurant of her choice.
Gabrielle also had the pleasure of being a Table Talk Observer Food Awards Judge for 2014. She will unhesitatingly give restaurants, chefs or caterers fair recognition for their good work, objectively highlighting those that have been inconsistent, mediocre or low in quality and by offering suggestions for general improvement.
What is considered as a simple website with a slow start and hardly any promotion, has attracted over 7600 hits and readers each month from as far as Spain, Bulgaria, Israel, Italy, Malta, India, Algeria, Thailand and Uganda to name a few and sustains consistent readers from the USA, Canada, Barbados, UK, Cayman Islands, Brazil and ofcourse, Jamaica.
SuGa Lifestyle is happy to receive the continued support and feedback from its readers, whether it’s from Facebook, WordPress, LinkedIn, Google Groups, Twitter, word of mouth or other sharing avenues and looks forward to being a part of the journey of Jamaica rising as a Foodies Paradise.
Keep on reading SuGa and continue to make us the Go-to website to keep you in the know and aid in deciding on your dining destination. Thanks SuGa Readers!
SuGa doubted the value for money for Regency’s Lobster Mac and Cheese served with garlic bread and a choice of Dessert shots. But SuGa Readers have spoken, finding it surprisingly satisfying with big chunks of lobster, topped off by tasty dessert shots. The men may need some more protein but this Nyam and Scram option definitely seems to be a good one for the ladies.
Feedback on the Oasis on the Oxford was no bueno for Nyam and Scram yesterday. SuGa’s source had her heart set on the Curry Goat and Roti option but was surprised and disappointed to hear that what they have is on the menu board outside, not including that Restaurant Week option or the others, after specifically asking for the Curry Goat as well. She was told the meal still came with a drink as advertised so decided to proceed with ordering something else.
She found the Manish water, Stew Pork mixed with Fried Chicken and Rice and peas to be tasty, but was disgusted with the complimentary drink that tasted like artificial Lime juice and water.
For an establishment that does catering and events, they should know and do better.
My my, Dinner at Evita’s Italian yesterday evening was certainly a treat as expected and definitely value for money. The service, ambience and food were all exceptional. SuGa Endorsement for Restaurant Week: ★★★★★
Good feedback has come in from other SuGa recommended restaurants as well, such as Black Orchid at Eden Gardens with no long wait, good food and value for money and Suzie’s Bakery’s yummy Jerk Chicken Pasta.
Continue to enjoy Restaurant week SuGa Readers and please keep the feedback and pics coming!
Enjoy and tag @Sugalifestyle in your Restaurant Week outings on Facebook!
Take advantage of seeing over 50 Exhibitors, Hair & Make Up demos, Free Spa treatments, Free Health screeningÂ
and other activities.
Tandoor’s menu is filled with delicious, traditional Indian dishes. Probably too many though. There is even an Asian Fusian selection. Way too crammed and not easy on the eyes. Perhaps some images and more colour could be added for some enhancement. The waitress was polite and very attentive, however she could have assisted more with making suggestions from the menu. But with so many choices, could you blame her?
The ambience and decor need to be worked on majorly. The restaurant felt outdated and the colour scheme was mundane. The Indian show that was on the television by the bar on high volume wasn’t helping either. Where was the music channel?
There were only two other diners last Saturday night. This reminded me of my recent visit to Japanese Restaurant Cocoro. An indication that no matter how good and authentic the cuisine with decent service is, marketing and a revived ambience, thus giving a holistic dining experience, is important in such a competitive culinary atmosphere.
With that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the Aloo Stuffed Paratha (Indian bread stuffed with potatoes – $295JMD) and Bhuna Gosht (Lamb pan roasted with garlic ginger tomato bell pepper & traditional spice – $1795JMD). The Bhuna Gosht was bursting with flavour and extremely spicy. Imagine I ordered medium spicy. The lamb was also roasted well, tender to the taste. Two thumbs up to the chef.
Tandoor Indian Restaurant
Ph#: 876-929-3568 / 876-929-5961
Address: 11 Holborn Road, New Kingston. Kingston 10.
Date of visit: 8/11/14
NB. Ratings fill 5 stars maximum
Parking: ★★★★★
Ambience: ★☆☆☆☆
Decor: ★☆☆☆☆
Comfort: ★★★★☆
Service: ★★★★☆
Speed: ★★★★★
Food quality: ★★★★☆
Serving amount: ★★★★☆
Plating: ★★★☆☆
Value for $: ★★★☆☆
SuGa Endorsement: ★★★☆☆