Caribbean Archives

Did you know Calabash Caribbean Bistro serves brunch? Every Saturday and Sunday, you can get a taste of their brunch menu from 10am – 3pm.

I was invited to a preview of their new brunch menu to see what they were offering up. Since I am still on the hunt for the best brunches in town, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

Calabash Bistro is well know in the community for their deep roots in the local music and art scene. They always have events in their downstairs area.

The main dining room is upstairs but all the events happen downstairs in their basement. It’s a pretty cool space.

Pistachio Lassi ($7) is a traditional Indian drink made with yogurt, fresh fruit & spices. I’ve never had pistachio lassi before since I usually get a mango lassi. It also contains mint, rosewater, honey, cardamom, and pistachio. It was really good and I would definitely get this again.

You can really taste the depth of flavours and it works really well together.

Coconut dumplings can be found in their menu and it’s really good. They remind me of donuts but not too sweet.

The exterior is crunchy and the inside is warm and soft.

Your choice of mango or guava butter is served with it. Both the butters were really good and tastes so much better than regular butter. hahaha.

Escovitch Fish ($14) is a traditional Caribbean breakfast with pan-seared fish, tangy Escovitch sauce, fried plantain, fresh cucumber and rice & peas. The fish was nicely cooked and the tangy sauce complimented nicely, unfortunately, the rice wasn’t very good.

Passion Fruit & Guava Mimosa ($7) has Pares Balta organic sparkling wine, passion fruit juice, and guava. It was paired with the Escovitch Fish dish. It was nice to have a different type of mimosa than the regular.

Oxtail Stew Brunch Bowl ($13) has two poached free-range eggs, rice and peas, fried plantains, and a coconut rundown hollandaise. The oxtail stew is full of flavour and it is a bit spicy. It doesn’t look spicy, but it is. The combination of the runny egg with the stew is yummy but I still didn’t like the rice in this dish.

Calabash Dark & Stormy ($10) is their most popular drink and a lot of people say this is their favourite drink. It has ginger-infused Goslings rum, house-made ginger beer, Angostura bitters, and ginger syrup.

Salara French Toast ($12) has fresh-baked salara, fresh-cut fruit, house-made banana cream & spiced mango maple syrup. It’s a sweet brunch item and is very different than the traditional french toast.

Coconut Jumby ($11) contains El Dorado 3 year old rum shaken with coconut water, agave syrup, muddled lemongrass, mint, and lime zest.

All their drinks were pretty strong and definitely worth the price. It was definitely a boozy brunch. Overall, the food was ok, but wasn’t for my tastebuds. It’s all a personal preference since I do find it weird having rice for breakfast.

We Rate Calabash Bistro: