Tag Archives: Caribbean Hut

Island In The Storm

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Ok, it wasn’t that stormy and it was Caribbean Island food rather than an actual Island but that doesn’t change the fact that it brightend a dreary day.

A couple of weeks ago I saw the Caribbean Hut when I was out buying a gift and knew I had to check it out. It’s a good 25 minutes from the house but less than 10 from the office so I decided it would be a good weekday lunch spot.

As the title suggests it was a dreary day with the cold rain just starting to fall so called it in to get there and back relatively quickly. I got the chicken combo that let’s you choose chicken prepared 2 ways. I went curried and jersey.

I also got a couple of oxtail dinners for a coworker to take home. So when they double bagged it I assumed it was leak protection, and it was, but also because of the weight. Man that was a ton of food.

I easily made 2 meals out of this and could have really split it into 3 and still had a filling meal each time. So they were aces on the quantity. I actually dove on the vegetable first because they were 80% cabbage and I like cabbage a lot. Tasty and well seasoned. The rice and beans were ok on their own but really were a delivery system for the gravies.

I had the curry chicken the first day. Let me just say the cleaver weilder who chopped the chicken was not concerned with the niceties of butchering. The only concern was relative chunk size, consequently there were surprise bones in almost every bite. I chose to look at the positive outcomes which were it forced me to eat slower and chew more thoroughly than is my want, lest I get a jagged shard of chicken bone lodged someplace fatal. I don’t need to have that in my obit.

Interestingly the jerked chicken was much less a victim of hack-n-slash so the element of danger was gone but they did add a little bit of heat that was lacking in the curry for me. It did taste good and was a messy joy to eat.

Even though the early going was fraught with peril the flavors were good, the portions gracious and the employee I dealt with was grateful for my business so I’ll go back. But first I have try the sushi burrito from the place next door.

To the Islands Mon

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Jamaica

Today was such a bright and beautiful day it felt like a great day to hit the islands even if the temperature wasn’t quite tropical.  With that in mind Jamaica became the country and Caribbean Hut restaurant the representative for the food.  There are two locations in the Charlotte area and the closest to me is off Woodlawn and I mean off.  Google maps pinned it but couldn’t quite figure out how to get there.  It ran me past the location, indicated I should do a U-turn and then just gave up.  The pin was an island on the screen Google couldn’t navigate to.

Fortunately for me the JROTC training kicked in and I was able to figure out the map and successfully arrive in the parking lot.  The Caribbean Hut shares the lot with some interesting company, including a restaurant named Chubz, and the Gentlemen’s Club that I don’t believe is a habitat for gentlemen but I could be mistaken.  In any case I reached the destination and it looked promising.

I walked in and was greeted by the sounds of Mr. Bob Marley, whose likeness also graced one wall.  The staff and several of the restaurant patrons had accents than pegged them as being from the Caribbean if not from Jamaica.  As I’ve said more than once it’s a good sign to me when people from the culture eat at the restaurant.

The menu wasn’t huge but did have a nice variety of items including some combos that came in small and large.  I went with the small oxtail and curry goat combo that also came with rice and beans, vegetables and plantains.

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I have never had oxtail at all or goat this way, which is of course why I got them.  I liked them both but preferred the curry goat overall.  The goat was cooked in a mild green curry that had a nice flavor and the meat was cooked tender and had a rich taste.  If you are a health nut and you’ve never had oxtail keep it that way.  The oxtail was about fifty percent meat with the other fifty percent being just about equal measures of fat, gristle and bone.  I know some of you are saying “Yum” and meaning it while others probably fought back a gag reflex but let me assure you it was actually quite good.  The meat was very tender and flavorful and the brown gravy was just a bit sweet and tasted like it had some of the same spices used in jerk seasoning in it as well.  The rice and beans had just a few beans in it but did have other seasoning that went well with both the curry and oxtail.  The vegetables consisted mostly of steamed cabbage with a can of veg-all thrown in.  The cabbage was cooked thoroughly and not overdone so it was nice.  The plantains were cooked with a slight glaze on the outside and soft on the inside while staying firm enough you could push food on to your fork with them.

They had a selection of other Jamaican foods and drinks including meat patties, island sodas and Red Stripe beer.  I can definitely see giving the Caribbean Hut another shot to try some of the other menu items.

They don’t have a website but here’s a link to their Facebook page:

Caribbean Hut Facebook

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