Caribbean Wave: Delicious Guyanese Style Caribbean Food!

In our quest of a Guyalicious Restaurant review for this Inaugural Issue of Carib Graphic’s “We Tings” bi-weekly newsletter, Lyn Balram and I ventured into Scarborough to the Krish Khadiran owned Caribbean Wave at approximately 6:45 pm on Monday August 20. I’d actually called Krish earlier in the day to make the necessary arrangements for the review.

Krish’s eagerly expressed and enthusiastic willingness to accommodate our proposed, relatively last minute, review of some carefully selected items from his 100+item expansive and ultra impressive Caribbean Wave Restaurant Menu offerings actually came as somewhat of relief for me. There’d been a bit of bad history between him and myself as a result of an initial Caribbean Graphic review I’d conducted back in 2012, which had included some unflattering comments about his Caribbean Wave fishcakes.

Needless to say, the fishcakes were one of the first items to be reviewed this time around. After the customary greetings Lyn and I were very quickly summoned to the task at hand. The first offering was Caribbean Wave’s Spicy Shrimp, which had been suggested by Krish, much to Lyn’s delight. She now considers herself somewhat of a connoisseur of that particular dish, having sampled so many varieties of it at the now countless number of Toronto Caribbean owned restaurants that we have patronized.

Thankfully the review got off to a most positive start, Both Lyn and I were as impressed with Wave’s Spicy Shrimp as Krish had suggested we would be. The shrimp was impressively moist with a serious spicy kick in full keeping with its labeling. It was also very attractively garnished with green and red sweet peppers as well as some diced onion. These simultaneously added appealing colour while providing marginal relief to the experienced heat.

“Really Good,” was Ms. asbestos tongued Lyn’s conclusive evaluation.

This while I was far too busy taking huge gulps of my Grace Pineapple pop with ice in attempt to mitigate the fire that was now raging on my tongue.

As such it was therefore somewhat of a huge relief to move onto the four generously sized fishcakes that had been presented at the same time as the Spicy Shrimp. To my even greater relief my first few exploratory bites thankfully yielded far more noticeable evidence of the salt fish than I’d controversially experienced during my initial and only previous visit some six years ago.

My expressed relief led to a very open and frank discussion between Krish, Lyn and myself about the entire, somewhat unfortunate circumstances of that previous visit. We also openly speculated on the possible reasons as to why some samples of Caribbean Wave’s fishcakes may at times actually contain more evidence of fish than others. Our collective conclusion was that in the mixing of the potato filling with the fish the Chefs may at times encounter some difficulties in maintaining the requisite consistency in the respective quantities of each.

The Spicy Shrimp and Fishcakes were both accompanied by ample servings of y Caribbean Wave’s in house produced “souwah!” So too were the very next sample offerings: the fried Bangamary and Shark.

Except of course for the expected differences in both taste and texture, there was actually very little difference in terms of their respective suitability as appetizers. Or as our fellow Guyanese would say “Cutters!” Both were sufficiently delightful in taste to render undisputed qualification as “must try” items from Caribbean Wave’s expansive menu.

After the four appetizer tastings it was onto the relatively more serious business of sampling some of Caribbean Wave’s numerous entrées. At Krish’s insistence we were served portions of Caribbean Wave’s Chili Chicken, Curry Duck and Oxtail. The respective portions of which, even though we’d insisted should be very small were almost intimidating, not to mention ultra impressive, in their size.

Prior to the introduction of the entrées Lyn had also tried one of the two Eggballs she was offered. As delightful as the first proved to be. the second remained untouched as evidence of her expressed comment that it was “ a very big egg!”

The proffered entrees, the Chilli Chicken, Oxtail and Curry Duck were all sufficiently distinctive in taste to support the labeling that Caribbean Wave’s menu is indeed “Guyanese Style Caribbean Food!” The Chilli Chicken in particular has a taste quite unlike any other either Lyn or myself have ever tasted. Both the Curry Duck and Oxtail were “falling off the bone” tender and again sufficiently delightful in terms of taste.

Lyn and I were also both impressed by Caribbean Wave’s Dhal. She had hers as a same plate addition to the Curry Duck and plain rice, while I chose the far more conservative approach of sipping mine from a Styrofoam cup.

Having experienced a most memorable and delightful experience in the company of Krish and his staff which included a tour of his impressively clean kitchen as well as the next door bar facility, Lyn and I eventually made our exit almost two and a half hours after we’d arrived. Our Caribbean Wave dining experience, her first and my second, was thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommendable.

As if to punctuate the very high service standards Krish has established and seeks to maintain at Caribbean Wave, we actually witnessed while we were there a group of twelve, exclusively white Canadians being greeted, seated, served and billed well within an hour. That in addition to Krish’s provision to myself of a parting take home portion of his Caribbean Wave Mixed Fried Rice that was amazingly ordered and brought out well within five minutes capped an evening that was indeed enjoyably memorable.

Located at 875 Milner Avenue just off of HWY 401’s Morningside Exit, south of Sheppard Caribbean Wave is now in its 14^th year of operations. Kirsh and his twelve member staff would be delighted to welcome you, whether as one of his 90% repeat patrons or as an entirely new customer.

You should also visit Caribbean Wave’s website: https://www.caribbeanwave.ca/

As I’d suggested at the conclusion of my first far more controversial review however, “Don’t just take my word for it, go see for yourself all that Caribbean Wave has to offer!”