Culinary oasis Kingston Kitchen excites palates

If food is as much about the moment, occasion and company as it is about the taste, then patrons were already in for an incredibly delightful treat from the moment they entered the culinary oasis, better known as Kingston Kitchen, on Saturday night.

Associated with God’s perfect timing and faithfulness is the number 14, which also marks the year of this event’s stagings. With so many dishes to choose from, and so little time to sip and savour, families and friends took the opportunity to get better acquainted with flavour in the most tasteful way.

M Catering got off to a festive start, offering food lovers memorable servings of sweet chilli chicken bites, sweet chilli fish and barbecued pork belly, available with sides such as black sesame jasmine rice or noodles. The Porridge Shoppe pulled out all the stops in sharing their signature flavours: cornmeal, hominy corn, roasted peanut and cashew almond.

Super Spicy Doubles drew a crowd, with many lining up for first and second servings of one of the Caribbean’s most beloved dishes. One Pot Noodle Bar had food lovers falling in love with curry, courtesy of the Singapore noodles. And CPJ rolled out a shrimp pasta that had many spreading the word of its mouthwatering taste.

Jabba’s Seafood and Grill showcased bite-sized munchings with shrimp skewers of shrimp, plantain and lobster fritters. Allie’s Oh Mason paid homage to Jamaican cuisine with her tantalising take on the curried goat with jerk chicken flatbread pizza, topped with ripe fried plantain. But this wasn’t the only one in store. The yardie flatbread from All Spice brought mango chutney and avocado into the culinary chat, bringing in favourites like ripe plantain and curried goat into the mix as well.

And for those who are lovers of a good barbecue, Sherriff’s BBQ Ribs was definitely on their must-have food list.

To keep that buzz going, Worthy Park took centre stage, performing showstopping numbers of bubblies, spirits and creamy mixes. Lady Bee Mixology was also on hand to add refreshing sips to the night’s event. Adam Wanliss recounted how lovely the sorrel cocktail was and how genuinely surprised he was by another flavour made with ginger and Scotch bonnet pepper. The animator also made his way to Happy Fries, where he enjoyed the bacon, cheese and spicy ketchup combination, which he revealed was pretty good.“But before I took a bite out of any of the dishes on display, I had an iced mocha from Deaf Can,” he added.

Enterprise Risk Management Specialist, Andrea Cox, made her way over the Mystic Thai, where she tried the butter chicken, basmati rice and roti. She was pleasantly surprised by the rich taste. From there, she made her way to Soup King and ordered a seafood soup. “The seafood soup was piping hot and really good, savoury to the taste. There wasn’t much meat in it, but the team had announced that it was mostly broth left before I purchased it. I wasn’t disappointed though,” she explained.

Then she made her way to her third stop of the night, trying something new at the Street Vybz Cafe. “The shrimp taco was flavourful and cheesy, just the way I like it.”

On the sweet side of things, Chef Flour Girl had taste buds in a frenzy with chocolate mousse and chocolate chip cookies. Turning heads was the red velvet cupcake infused with coconut cream cheese filling with a ‘tupse’ of rum from Alex’s Creations. Forget the Fork Pastries had others forgetting the time it took for them to decide on their orders. From the infamous carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate cupcakes to the irresistible pecan pie and chocolate cream pie. And how could we leave out the decadent scoops of creamy goodness from, you guessed Devon House Ice Cream? The line reflected the pure love that many continue to have for this island’s staple dessert.

krysta.anderson@gleanerjm.com