Kabawa — Restaurant in New York

I had a quick 24 hours in NY and my friend informed me we had dinner reservations at Kabawa. I live in Texas so this restaurant was not on my radar and, I happily chose not to research as I wanted to be surprised. All I can say is WOW! This was one of the best dining experiences I've had in a long time!

From the moment we entered Kabawa everyone was curteous and kind! Every single person I encountered. We were a bit early to our reservation so we went next door to Bar Kibawa. What I loved is if you start there with cocktails, someone will come get you when your table is ready. Also, whatever you order transfers to your final bill so need to close out.

We had seating at the bar which, I think is preferred as you get to interact with the staff preparing the food. Did I mention how kind everyone is? The menu is prix fixe with multiple options for each course. Kabawa is Caribbean cuisine meets fine dining. I opted for: pepper shrimp, goat, and birthday flan. My friend ordered: breadfruit tostón, black bass, and the sorbet of the day (coconut).

The presentation and the flavors were PHENOMENAL. And it may not sound like we ordered a lot but there were delicious surprises along the way so bring your appetite.

Again, everyone was kind! Jody our server, Denzel in the kitchen, and the gentleman from Haiti (forgot his name) that made sure we ate to our...

The kitchen area is very clean and you can see they are cooking. The people seem like they have enthusiasm for their jobs; they care about their food.

For the food, the starter - the fried cassava comes with roti and 4 different sauces to eat with it was amazing. It has a very nice texture and tastes like mochi. I ordered BREADFRUIT which is an octopus starter. I like the taste - it was refreshing. For the main course, I'm very surprised by the COBIA which is a blaff covered with sauce that has the taste of sweetness and comes with a little bit of soup with bay leaf sauce as decoration. The entire combination of the food was amazing - a bit of sweetness and saltiness that matches my taste.

Before the dessert they gave us tamarind for refreshing, which I liked and also appreciated before the dessert. Lastly, for dessert I had the sorbet of the day! I was very impressed as I thought it was just a normal sorbet, but it is coconut flavored and comes with actual coconut! I like the flavor and how they presented it!

One thing I think they can do better is that because I assume not everyone knows about Caribbean food, when the waiter places the food I think if they can explain more about the ingredients for me to have more understanding of the food and culture, that will be great. Other than that, everything else is great - I had a good time...

The decor, atmosphere and service were wonderful, but the food was largely underwhelming; the food flavor profiles weren’t developed complex or layered as flavors typically are in fine dining cuisine. With the exception of the flan, none of the food I ordered left me yearning for the next bite.

The meal starts with buss up roti and bammy paired with an assortment of four sauces. This was tasty, I enjoyed the sauces.

For my first dish I ordered the breadfruit toston and my husband ordered the pepper shrimp. Both dishes were ok.

For my main I ordered the cobia and my husband ordered the goat. The cobia had a sweet glaze on the top and was resting in a broth. The glaze was the prominent flavor note on the fish and the broth didn’t add depth of flavor when accompanied with the fish. I tried the goat and it was too spicy. I can handle spicy food, but the sauce was just hot, the flavor didn’t develop with each bite.

I ordered flan for dessert and my husband ordered the coconut sorbet. Honestly, my dessert was the only highlight of the meal; it had a beautiful creamy, silky texture. The sorbet was quite sweet and had some slight...