All Entries Tagged With: "Caribbean"
Seattle Spring 2009: Pam’s Kitchen
As much as we had always wanted to make a visit to Pam’s Kitchen, for various reasons we had not. Pam’s Kitchen had always been on our list of to-visit places in Seattle. This time we made it a point to make Pam’s Kitchen our priority.
Pam’s Kitchen is known for their Rotis from Trinidad and Tobago.
Pam’s Kitchen is located in the intersection of University Way and NE 50 Street in Seattle. Along this row are actually a lot of hole-in-the-wall type of eateries of almost every major cuisine. We counted among others Filipino, Chinese, Greek, Hawaiian, Japanese, East Indian, Pizzas. All of them looked very good from the outside.
Walking into Pams’ Kitchen, there were an unmistaken (and somewhat overpowering) aroma of spices and curry. Service was very quick and friendly. They gave us two tall glass of water the moment we got settled. The place was not very big and we can see around us that their customers looked like students mainly. Definitely no families here that night.
Strangely, we noticed a rather prominent sign hung from the ceiling that says “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone”. We wondered what that sign was all about and if they have rather rowdy customers here before.
They have rather unique drinks. Suanne had the Peanut Punch (Milk Base) which costs $3.75. This is not like anything we ever drank before. It tastes like watered down peanut drink with milk. It actually tastes like peanut butter. Am thinking that perhaps one could make this by blending a few spoonful of peanut better with milk. We like this.
For me, I had the Sorrel which is described as Caribbean Hibiscus Petals, spiced boiled and sugar sweetened. It has an obvious floral taste and smell to it. It is also kind of like chai tea with herbs and spices. We find the taste quite unique and yet familiar. Although it is described as sweetened, it is also a bit sourish. $3.50.
The drinks were a great start to the main meal.
When in Pam’s Kitchen, one just have to have Roti. There are two main selections you need to make when ordering Rotis:
- Decide on the meat: Chicken ($10.50), Beef ($11.50), Lamb ($13.50) or Goat ($13.50)
- Decide on either Paratha or Dahlpuri.
Suanne chosed the combination of lamb and paratha. The lamb was spicy but not very hot. Meat was tender to the bite. It was very well made and flushed with flavour. The drawback was that it was rather dry’ish and that we wished they had more curry sauce to dunk the roti with. We also liked the mash potato and chick pea server on the side … it looked deceptively mild but was spicy hot. Nice.
I read from the menu saying that they hand wash all the meats thoroughly with lemon juice.
Seattle: Paseo Caribbean
One of the must-visit places that I had on my list was Paseo. I did some brief research before the vacation and found that everyone is raving about this place. I could hardly find anyone that had anything negative at all despite the various shortcomings like parking, tables, etc. As a matter of fact, everything is bad except for the food. The food is so good that everyone overlook these shortcomings.
Locating the place was difficult. We have an address but Paseo did not have a sign in the store front at all. There is not even a number posted on it. We took a couple of drive up and down the road and each time the GPS announced “you have arrived”, we looked around and did not see any restaurant at all.
Paseo, after all, is just a shack. We had not expected that.
Paseo is sometimes described as a Cuban and at times a Caribbean restaurant.
We only found this place after the third day. When we first came by at night, we could not locate the place and left. On the next night when we finally figured out the location (by counting address numbers!), we found out to our chagrin that it was closed. Paseo closes on Sundays and Mondays.
The place is a shack alright, not quite what we expected. He he he … it is certainly not what one would call a family restaurant. We felt kind of out of place here.
The place is so small that they had only six very tiny tables in the entire place. Also, if there is a queue, the queue will snake out of the outlet even if there are 6 people in line.
They accept cash only, so be forewarned. After all, this place is a no frills place. All they care about is good food.
The first order was their Cuban Roll Sandwich. Although it was snugly wrapped in paper, this had got to be the messiest sandwich we had ever had. It was awesome because it is also extremely juicy and moist and had oozings all over our hands and plates. The sandwich too was crusty.
Oh, you know how cheap Paseo is when you see that they serve their stuff on plastic Chinese plates!
We also ordered the West Caribbean Bowl. It is like some chilli rice. I am sure it is great for some but we found this like some weird combination. We did finish this but I won’t say that we love this.
The 1/2 Chicken Dinner Platter was much better. It was no big deal really … just chicken and rice with some of the most colorful vegetable combinations we ever had.
The total bill came up to $30. For a shack like this, it seems expensive but we’re not complaining.
When we were done, we were expected to clear our own table. We just need to chuck everything through the hole on the counter. If you want a drink of water, you could help yourself with the cups and tap just next to it.
We could come back for their sandwiches again but not the other stuff.
