Grenada: Caribbean Restaurant Review – BB’s Crabback – Field to Plate
Caribbean Restaurant BB’s Crabback – Field to Plate:
We are frequent visitors to the Caribbean island of Grenada and a restaurant Mr R and I try to visit often is BB’s Crabback.
What Ealing in West London has lost – Grenada has gained! Brian Benjamin or BB as he is known to his friends and customers alike had a small restaurant in Ealing, London with his wife Anna and their young family. At the time London was not ready for a Caribbean restaurant, unlike today when the food scene is very international and eclectic.
So Brian returned to Grenada and opened BB’s Crabback 11 years ago in St George’s the capital of the Caribbean island of Grenada. This Caribbean restaurant has become a ‘must visit’ restaurant when you are on the island. Most of the tables sit snugly by the balcony right on the water offering views of the caranage all the way down to Port St Louis marina.
While you look at the menu the sound of the gently lapping waves and the off shore breeze help whet your appetite for the exciting meals on offer.
The walls have been signed by customers from celebrities and locals to tourists from all over the world!
What you may not know immediately is that as much of the produce is locally grown wherever possible. The meat is grown on local farms and fishermen land the fish catch each day. They never shop at the supermarkets preferring instead to visit local butchers and fishermen. However all of the fresh fruit and vegetables on display as you are enter are grown in Brian’s garden at his home! He takes ‘field to fork’ very seriously indeed – if it’s not fresh he doesn’t want it!!
Each morning the restaurant staff phone BB at his home to tell him what they are needing for the day’s cooking. BB or one the family then collects what is needed and drives it into the restaurant. It is all seasonal and it was mango season on my last visit with coconuts, pineapples, bananas, lettuce, peppers and watermelons among the other fruits and vegetables available.
You really can’t get food much fresher than this. The drinks are made from fruit brought in each day from the garden and the dishes prepared and cooked to BB’s high standards.
What we had for lunch:
S0 let’s get down to what we had for lunch the day we visited this exquisite Caribbean Restaurant:-
A lot of the dishes are named after Brian’s children or grandchildren, for example, King Prawns Seretse – son, Meaty Mia – one of the twin daughters and Ava‘s Pancakes – the other twin.
For starters both Mr and I had the BB’s signature dish ‘Crabback’. It is fresh crab meat baked with exotic herbs, wine and cheese sauce and served in a crab shell with warm bakes (little deep fried dough balls).
For my main course I had the King Prawns Seretse (Shrimps) – king prawns cooked in butter with lobster sauce, served with fresh mangoes. This was one of the most delicious dishes I have ever tasted. I would never have thought lobster and wine would go so well with mangoes! I ate so slowly wanting the taste to last forever!
Mr R ordered the Meaty Mia – Fresh breast of home grown chicken, marinated in herbs and spices, cooked in coconut oil and served on a cushion of sweet potato and Caribbean ham mash. There wasn’t much talking during our meal time – we were all too involved in our amazing meals.
The rice comes attractively served in a hollowed out piece of bamboo and served with a pot of homemade hot sauce – be ready for an instant addiction!
We were too full to have pudding/dessert and vowed to come in another day just for that!!
Sitting right by the water, listening to the gentle lapping of the waves and eating delicious and fresh food is the closest to heaven you can get on this earth!
Here are some more posts I have written about my time in Grenada. Click on the link if you would like to know more!
