Sadly there is no beach in St. Louis. There is, however, sometimes hail.
Fortunately for us, it started hailing after we were safely seated and ready to eat. I was craving soda, and the waitress recommended the champagne kola. I asked, rather naively, "Is there champagne in it?" She laughed and said no it's just a popular flavor of soda.
I love unique soda flavors, so I was sold. The champagne kola was light, sweet, with a faint fruity flavor. Deeelicious. Anna was eventually tempted enough and ordered the pineapple flavor of the same brand. I tasted hers, and it was fantastic. Soda WIN.Anna ordered the oxtail stew. This thing was soooo flavorful and seemed like it'd been cooked for days. Incredibly tender and good. And I don't even like beef that much!
I thought those round things were potatoes, but according to the menu, they're buttered beans. Whatever they are, they were definitely tasty.I wanted to try something completely new, so I got the ackee and saltfish, which apparently is the national dish of Jamaica and often eaten for breakfast. Very promising!
This dish was definitely... interesting. Ackee looks like and has the texture of scrambled eggs, but it tasted like a soft vegetable. The salted fish and onions complemented the ackee well, but as a general matter, I think I'll order something else next time. I'm really happy to have tried it, though!As for the accompaniments, the cabbage was pretty good. (I love cabbage. Definitely one of my top vegetables.) Anna and I would have preferred it to be less sweet, but it was still enjoyable. The 'rice and peas' - which is actually rice and beans - was pretty solid as well.
On the way to the restroom, Anna noticed that they were making everything fresh in the kitchen. Makes sense because our food did take a while to come out... but freshness is definitely worth it!
The star of our meal, I think, was dessert: banana rum fritters. Think of those three words together. How could it not be the best thing in the world?
On the menu, the description is "sliced banana marinated in rum and sugar, battered and fried." In other words, this dessert is absolute heaven. That's really all you need to know. It came piping hot, perfectly crispy, and the banana inside was so nicely soft and sweet. The rum also gave it a great kick. If I didn't like Anna so much, I would have pointed in a far off direction, said "look there!", and devoured all the fritters myself while she wasn't paying attention. But I guess I am not that cruel. ;)By the time we were done with our meal, the summer thunderstorm was over, and a double rainbow greeted us on our way out. Life = so good.
whoa brave with the ackee - though it looks good (egg = automatically good vote from me), but will totally trust you on that.
ReplyDeletewhat looked REALLY good were those banana fritters. seriously. i want a dozen right now before bed. and then another dozen when i wake up.