Golden Spoons Review: Lauren’s Café

(CNS Foodie): Lauren’s Café is tucked away in a corner of Buckingham Square. It is well known for its breakfast offering but we went there one night for dinner. The inside is small with tables around the edge; there is large seating area outside but this does not appear to used in the evening. My dining partner remarked that it reminded her of an American diner without the booths. The décor is very fresh and bright – turquoise and white walls with white tables and chairs.

We were welcomed by the host, seated at a comfortable corner table and left with the menu.  Drinks first – there is not an extensive wine list but it seems to cover all bases with very reasonable prices for bottles. We chose a Malbec at CI$34, which was very easy to drink: medium bodied, light and slightly fruity.

The food menu, as with the wine, was not extensive (personally I dislike menus that are like books) but had enough choice to keep our interest.

To start, I decided on the crab cake ($13.95) and my partner chose the beet and goat cheese salad ($11.95). For our mains we both thought the wahoo sounded good so we ordered one blackened with a risotto ($28.95) and the other with a marisco sauce ($31.95).

The beet and goat cheese, which arrived first, comprised three discs of beet interspersed with two discs of goat cheese, with scattered nuts and drizzled with a balsamic reduction. My partner thoroughly enjoyed the mixture of the creamy cheese with the sweetness of the beets and balsamic reduction. My crab cake arrived shortly after and was drizzled with a spicy mayonnaise. The crab cake was spicy and firm, but unfortunately the delicate taste of crab was overpowered by the spiciness and so was undetectable. I could see it but not taste it.

On to our main course. My wahoo arrived first this time. The accompanying mushroom and spinach risotto was absolutely delicious – full of the flavour of mushrooms offset by the different texture and taste of the spinach. The two pieces of wahoo were beautifully blackened – the first piece was cooked well and flaked easily but unfortunately the second piece was slightly overcooked which left it dry in the middle. My partner’s fish were slightly overcooked as well and dry in places, but the marisco sauce provided some help in that regard. She thought the creamy tomato sauce was delicious, quite sweet with flavours of crab, and the juiciness of the shrimp enhanced the sauce’s texture.

Although we were full after our mains, dessert was offered and accepted (in the interests of providing a complete picture we decided we should sacrifice our comfort and let our belts out a notch to accommodate). We chose the bread pudding (the bread is made in-house) with caramel. It was divine – soft and sweet and just delicious. We shared the dessert and it was just the right amount for the two of us.

On the non-food front, I checked out the toilet which was large and clean.  However, the door did not feel exactly solid and given that it is just next to a dining table a little bit worrying, as the room was clearly not soundproof.  Overall, I liked Lauren’s but it is a café and not a restaurant, meaning the lights are too bright for any sort of romantic ambience and small things like paper napkins and slightly (not enough to be interesting) mismatched plates remind you it is definitely a café.

However, the price was not café-like. The whole meal for two with a bottle of wine came to CI$144.61 (including 15% gratuity) which I thought was a little steep. The food was tasty and, apart from a few small niggles, good; the service was attentive (though not smooth) but if I am paying that much for a meal I expect a bit more in the way of “restaurant experience”. Lauren’s Café felt like a friendly place to eat good food casually but the price did not reflect this.

Tags: Café style, Lauren's Café, Seven Mile Beach

Category: Dinner, Golden Spoons Review