Mooching round the market, post-zumba hunger finally gave me the excuse to try a place I have…read morestared in the window of a few times.
The Caribbean Café may not look much from the outside, but much like many of the places in the market, the effort goes elsewhere, and I'm not arguing with what this guy has chosen to focus on: fresh-cooked food, conversation, and atmosphere (which, despite the rather modest premises, is far from lacking.
You can feel the buzz as you walk into this place. The owner is chatting away to the people at the tables, keen to know about them, inform them, and just generally make them feel at home, so they can linger over their food. Nevertheless, he somehow manages to juggle this with quick service, and within minutes, I'm sitting with a perfectly presented plate of goat curry, my choice of salsa and salad, and my rice option (charmingly sand-castled into an upended cone!), while he freshly fries my side order of plantain (only 50p!), and serves a couple of people popping in for takeaway with other food I wish I had room for.
At one point, I find myself alone, and rather than feeling awkward or imposed on, I enjoy chatting away to the owner about our jobs, backgrounds, upcoming events he'll be involved in, and of course the food (it's hard to say which of us loves it more)! He is happy to give me a free taster of his jerk chicken, and to recommend a place I can buy my own plantains.
By the end of my meal, I don't want to leave. I want more. More of the tender meat and flavoursome (but not too spicy) sauce, more steaming hot plantains, and more friendly chatter. And the good news is, he caters for the reggae evenings at Outlaws Yacht Club, and he'll soon be doing breakfasts... so there is more to come, and as I leave, I find myself promising to be back with friends, because this is the kind of place and the kind of person that I would be proud to introduce my friends to!