Golden Spoons Review: Star Island

CNS Editor | 21/11/2016

(CNS Foodie): Star Island on Cayman Brac is not a dinner venue. If you arrive for dinner you will likely find yourself at the only occupied table watching a series of customers collect take-away orders in an otherwise empty restaurant, which doesn’t make for the best ambience. Arrive at lunch time on a weekend and you will find a bustling eatery with full tables and a pleasant laid-back family feel.

However, you would be well advised to arrive early if you wish to partake of the specials advertised outside. Arrive late for lunch and the fresh fish has gone, along with several of the sides and any other popular dishes. Having been so advised, my partner and I duly booked ourselves in — possibly an unnecessary precaution — for lunch.

Star Island has an extensive menu, so extensive that it is immediately obvious that it cannot all be freshly cooked on the premises. On the wall is a painted menu of Oriental dishes like a fast food restaurant. The menu brought to the table included a mixture of local cuisine and American meals like burgers and sandwiches, dishes aimed at children or unadventurous tourists perhaps. The specials board looked more interesting, including salt fish and ackee (all gone, sadly), conch fritters and steaks, liver and onions, beef, chicken in gravy,

Star Island, West End, Cayman Brac

We started with the delicious conch fritters, which were really the highlight of the meal. After that my partner chose chicken whilst I went for the stewed beef. Both were offered with choices of salad, coleslaw, potato salad, plantain, rice and beans or white rice. There may have been more choices but the waitress ran through them so fast I might have missed some. The drinks on offer were all soft. We had fresh lemonade and iced tea. Both chicken and beef were substantial portions served with a thick gravy and both were tasty but unassuming. The chicken was slightly dry and needed the gravy. The beef was tender and moist. I think I got the better meal.

Key lime pie and strawberry cheesecake were the desserts on the menu but it seemed we were not expected to have dessert as the bill was brought over the moment we had finished the main course. We asked for dessert and the bill was removed. As these seemed to be the only things on offer, we chose strawberry cheesecake. What arrived was chocolate cheesecake, which failed to convince us of being freshly made. Tantalisingly, there were coffee machines on a dresser at the back, but no coffee was on offer.

We left feeling we had been well fed with local cooking. The bill was small — obviously no alcohol helped to keep it reasonable. Main courses at $8 is pretty good going, and the desserts are not tempting. For a family lunch or low-key local meal out, it seems to be the place to go on the Brac. I would happily eat there again.