REVIEW: Cocktail Kitchen, Barbados

Nestled conveniently in St. Lawrence Gap is a really cute little restaurant called Cocktail Kitchen. We went there for my mom's birthday dinner and the food and cocktails were all excellent to say the least. On top of that, the service was superb and we were greeted by the friendliest waiter ever who brought all of our food and drinks out at the perfect times.

So whenever I go out to eat, I almost always get calamari as my appetizer if they have it on the menu, and this one was perfection. Perfectly crispy on the outside and the squid was not rubbery on the inside, which sometimes is the case when it isn't fresh or has been overcooked. The garlic aioli was the perfect compliment.

We also got the Garlic and Ginger popcorn shrimp which was equally as good. Good flavor, perfectly crispy and the ginger flavor was in no way overpowering. However, as with most seafood dishes, they tend to be very stingy with the portions and for the price we could've gotten more shrimp and calamari.

My mom and sister both went with burgers for their mains which they loved and I went for a fish dish which was amazing. There were quite a few different flavors on the dish but they all worked so seamlessly together. 

Catch of the moment: Blackened fish w/coconut & coriander sweet potato purée, charred spicy pineapple salsa & coriander emulsion.

By the caption, you can tell that there was a lot going on but it worked. If you don't like a lot of sweet flavors in your meals then you may not like this because the only thing on the dish that had a savory flavor was the fish and it was more of a smoky flavor than anything. The sweet potato purée went so well with the coriander emulsion and the pineapple salsa. 

I ate what I could and took the rest back to the hotel and polished it off for breakfast the next morning :) 

The CK Burger: homemade beef burger with mozzarella, bacon, balsamic onion compote & tomato salsa. Served with fries.

I think the next highlight for me was the drink that I ordered. I'm going to recreate it at home one of these days because it was that good.

Mango Chow: scotch bonnet infused vodka, mango purée, fresh lime wedges, sugar & coriander.

If you're from Trinidad then maybe you can understand why I chose this drink, especially if you're a chow lover like myself. It didn't taste exactly like chow because of the sugar (chow is usually acidic and tarte) but it was close enough and it was delicious.

Definitely get one (or 2 or 3) if you visit Cocktail Kitchen.

*chow - fruits like sour cherries, mango, pineapple, pickled in a spicy vinegar juice often seasoned with hot pepper sauce made from scotch bonnets or scorpion peppers, salt and shadon beni (culantro - cousin to cilantro). The longer it soaks the more flavorsome and spicy it becomes.