Nassau, Bahamas Food #2: Bahamian Soda

This is the second post from my trip to the Nassau in The Bahamas. Restaurants were discussed in the last post, but today I'm talking about beverages. The Bahamas seem to get many variations of sodas that we don't get in the US, which are always interesting to try.

Barritts Ginger Beer was pretty prevalent. All the vending machines and shops seemed to carry this. It was like a ginger ale, only less sweet with a much stronger ginger flavor. I liked it a whole lot. Someone else who tried it found it disgusting.

Schweppes Grapefruit Soda was another soda that I was unfamiliar with. I normally think of Schweppes Ginger Ale, but didn't see any of that being sold in the Bahamas. This was nice, tart, and delicious. I'd take grapefruit soda over orange soda any day.

Bahamas Goombay Punch was in all the fountain drink machines in restaurants along with the standard Coke products. It was non-carbonated and tasted sort of like pineapple.

Goombay Fruit Champagne. Similar to the Goombay Punch, only this one was carbonated. Also pictured was a box of Coconut Cream Biscuits. It felt very British with the imported cookies from the UK. Except for the fact that I was eating them at a table in a dive shop right after getting off a snorkeling trip...

Miss Vi's Cook-Up in Orlando, FL

I tried food from Miss Vi's Cook-Up a few weeks ago during the Orlando Fringe Festival. They were set up in Loch Haven Park as one of the festival's food vendors serving Caribbean foods. Of the nearby vendors in the area, Miss Vi's food smelled the most delicious making my decision to eat there easy.

I tried the Oxtail. The meat was stewed with carrots and served over rice & peas. Cabbage was served on the side. The oxtail was nice and tender, with the meat easily falling right off the bone. The jerk sauce had a very nice flavor with added to the rice below.

I did enjoy the oxtail. It was a little messy to eat with the bones in a festival environment, but it was otherwise delicious!

Mobay Bakery at Orlando Farmers Market

The Orlando Farmers Market that happens every Sunday at Lake Eola Park is one of my favorites in Central Florida. On my most recent food excursion to the farmers market, I had lunch from a booth serving Jamaican food called Mobay Bakery.

I tried their curry chicken. The chicken was normally served with rice, but they were out so they gave a beef patty instead. The curry chicken tasted good, although the chopped up bones in the chicken pieces did start getting annoying after a while. The beef patty was good (and better than rice in my opinion)!

Kafe Kalik in Orlando, FL

I ate dinner at Kafe Kalik in the Premium Outlet Mall (no more Prime Outlets?) on International Drive. This Bahamian fusion restaurant had most of the stuff you would expect from a Caribbean themed chain restaurant, although their sushi bar did seem a little out of place.

My meal started out with a side salad. Nothing about it screamed Bahamas to me...

I had the Curry Shrimp for my main course. This large portion of shrimp, carrots, onions, potatoes was drenched in a spicy curry sauce over jasmine rice.

I enjoyed my meal. The shrimp tasted good, the portion was large, and they did a nice job with the presentation too. My only real complaint was that we never got the bread that was supposed to come with our meal. I'd gladly go back to Kafe Kalik next time I'm at the outlet mall!

Papi's Cuban & Caribbean Grill in Atlanta, GA

On my last evening in Atlanta before heading home, a collective decision was made that we should find some Georgia style barbecue for dinner. The problem was, nobody we asked could recommend anywhere that served smoked meat besides Shane's Rib Shack. A chain would defeat the purpose of having barbecue in Atlanta, so somewhere along the line we started looking for alternatives for dinner and came across Papi's Cuban & Caribbean Grill on Ponce De Leon Avenue.

The daily special at Papi's caught my eye. It came with a choice of steak, chicken, or fish with black beans, rice, plantains, salad, and bread. I ordered the fish which turned out to be tilapia. The fish was lightly fried and had great flavor. Beans & rice were tasty and the plantains were good as well. For $7 and change, this was a really good value for the amount of food that was included. I guess you don't need to be near Miami to find good Cuban food...

While the food was good, I should mention the horrible service at Papi's. The two specials at our table came out about ten minutes before the remaining sandwiches. No silverware was brought until after the sandwiches were served, so my food was getting cold by the time I could actually eat it. The drinks didn't come out until all the food was on the table which was kind of backwards.

Overall, Papi's had good food but bad service. Oh well...

Cuban Sandwich from Adita's Cuban Bakery

I ate a Cuban sandwich from Adita's Cuban Bakery in UCF. This particular location seemed to be connected with a Chick-Fil-A, but I think there may be another Adita's Cuban Bakery just outside of the college on University Blvd. My first and only time eating a Cuban sandwich down in Key Biscayne wasn't a good experience, so I was hesitant to try another Cuban Sandwich.

I'm glad I did though, because this sandwich was really tasty. They used really tender pulled pork, ham, pickles, mustard, and cheese, all on a roll. The whole thing was grilled on a press, and was really good. I think I'll need to go find their other location and see if their sandwiches are just as good there.