I've been sitting on this review from Mr. Music for over 2 months. Need to blow the cobwebs off this machine, and see what we can do here. In any event, Taste of the Islands brings us back alive. And this is our first Caribbean entry - and we've been going at this for 8 years!
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Today Mr. Music found himself in Plano at Taste of the Islands with some friends. This is a Caribbean restaurant / bakery / grocery store that has a small quaint room for lunch time and a larger room with a stage for reggae music on the weekends. On Thursdays and Fridays they have a buffet which is a great opportunity to try different things if you’ve never had Caribbean food! They change things up from day to day, but today they had steamed rice dotted with pigeon peas (a bit like black beans) or plain steamed rice. They served yellow curry potatoes, seasoned spinach, spicy cole slaw and seasoned green beans for veggies. There were several meat choices including my favorite, goat curry as well as curried chicken, jerk chicken, stewed chicken and fried fish (with a seasoned corn bread batter). Everything was very tasty and very fresh. It wasn’t crowded, but steady enough for them to be constantly bringing out freshly made food. The curry dishes all had a little heat to them; the Indian influence was very apparent. Make sure you get a fresh homemade roti (on request only). Roti is like a tortilla-like flatbread from India; the whole wheat batter is heated on a grill. Order it early as it is made on the spot and takes a few minutes but the warm, flaky bread enhances the experience with the curries and gravies immensely! You really only need one for every 2 or 3 people as they are huge! I read that in the Caribbean they are often used to make a wrap by stuffing it with some savory dish and that is exactly what we did! Yum! You can shop while you eat because all the spices, canned goods, bakery items and even frozen meats/dishes are on shelves/coolers that surround the tables and are easily seen from your seat. The staff was great; very friendly and attentive. The one thing that I want to make sure to communicate is that it was a little more expensive that I expected; I think it was $13, but it was worth it to me. I’ll be back!
Today Mr. Music found himself in Plano at Taste of the Islands with some friends. This is a Caribbean restaurant / bakery / grocery store that has a small quaint room for lunch time and a larger room with a stage for reggae music on the weekends. On Thursdays and Fridays they have a buffet which is a great opportunity to try different things if you’ve never had Caribbean food! They change things up from day to day, but today they had steamed rice dotted with pigeon peas (a bit like black beans) or plain steamed rice. They served yellow curry potatoes, seasoned spinach, spicy cole slaw and seasoned green beans for veggies. There were several meat choices including my favorite, goat curry as well as curried chicken, jerk chicken, stewed chicken and fried fish (with a seasoned corn bread batter). Everything was very tasty and very fresh. It wasn’t crowded, but steady enough for them to be constantly bringing out freshly made food. The curry dishes all had a little heat to them; the Indian influence was very apparent. Make sure you get a fresh homemade roti (on request only). Roti is like a tortilla-like flatbread from India; the whole wheat batter is heated on a grill. Order it early as it is made on the spot and takes a few minutes but the warm, flaky bread enhances the experience with the curries and gravies immensely! You really only need one for every 2 or 3 people as they are huge! I read that in the Caribbean they are often used to make a wrap by stuffing it with some savory dish and that is exactly what we did! Yum! You can shop while you eat because all the spices, canned goods, bakery items and even frozen meats/dishes are on shelves/coolers that surround the tables and are easily seen from your seat. The staff was great; very friendly and attentive. The one thing that I want to make sure to communicate is that it was a little more expensive that I expected; I think it was $13, but it was worth it to me. I’ll be back!
- Mr. Music review
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