In the past couple of years, Providenciales has seemingly hit the turbo button on growth and development, so it’s nice that some bits and pieces of the simple life have remained untouched. Seaside Café is one of those simple, little treasures that provide the perfect setting when you just need a quick lunch or a quiet night out; casual dining and good food.
Set right off Grace Bay, just behind the wild grass sprouting off the sand dunes, you can wander into Seaside Café with the sand between your toes and sea-salt still crusting on your face. They are opened for breakfast, lunch and dinner and have the magical ability to turn a very casual lunch-on-the-beach setting, into a romantic, cosy-casual evening restaurant. The table cloths and candles come out and the poolside turns into a waterfall with pepper lights twinkling in the gardens all around you.
The open plan kitchen shows off a meticulous preparation area, despite the challenges of the seaside and open air. With light-hearted, hard working spirits in the day time and quiet, quick efficiency at night, this kitchen professionally creates your meals with flare and skill. Jamaican Chef – Mark Clayton – brings a taste of all the islands to his menu, while offering international delights you will easily recognise.
Having had lunch here many times, we decided it was time to try the evening dining for this review. We found the setting charming, with good music in the background and friendly, helpful staff all around. As you would expect from a restaurant now being run by Bostonian Jon Tosi (formerly of Sharkbite fame), the selections are very user friendly, with nothing important being lost just because the setting is a casual one. The house wines are very good, and grander fare is on offer as well. The menu has everything from lobster to lamb, and the staff know that service will always be the final deciding factor. They are fast, attentive and efficient… oh not to mention friendly.
Seaside Café’s menu begins with all your favourite island appetisers: Island Salad, Seafood Ceviche and perfect for warm Caribbean evening, a cool Gazpacho Soup. There is a nice selection of salads too, because you do need to fit into that bikini tomorrow. We recommend you make a quick appetiser selection in your mind, order a bottle of wine, then take your time mulling over the entrees…you’ll need it. In the mean time enjoy the bread; it’s excellent, but also not good for that bikini. But what the heck, you ARE on vacation.
There is just so much to choose from on the main course side of the menu and they are ALL worth a try. There is a Bronzed Tuna – hand cut Ahi, dusted with light brown sugar and flash seared rare; Mahi-Mahi Tropicale – Cajun seasoned and blackened topped with fresh mango salsa; a hand cut, 8-ounce Filet Mignon done to suit you, served on red onion confit and sun dried tomato crostini with a wild mushroom merlot sauce… and Shrimp Scampi and Stuffed Chicken Breast and so on and so on and so on…
And when you are done thinking about those, there’s the nightly special just to add fuel to your already confused inferno of a brain. On our night out, the Jamaican Steamed Red Snapper caught my fancy and I was done with my selecting – finally. After a few more minutes, we were all ready and the orders were placed.
The Ceviche at Seaside Café is not the usual tuna or conch; it’s a wonderful combination of conch, scallops and bits of grouper, all marinated in fresh citrus juices and served in a red cabbage “bowl”. How they managed to get all those different seafoods to be so tender and succulent is just beyond me. It was superb. Chef Mark does a Curry Conch appetiser that is very original and flavourful without being too spicy. The Gazpacho was crisp, cool and refreshing and the Crab and Corn Cakes were pan fried and served with a red pepper coulis – tasty and full of crab.
Having taken such quality time with making our main course decisions, we were anxiously ready to try them out. We did not have to wait too long, as the kitchen is speedy and the service is too. When in season, South Caicos Lobster Tail is a must for all our visitors. Seaside’s version was very tender, served with drawn garlic butter, and accompanied by equally tender vegetables; truly al dente.
That Jamaican Steamed Red Snapper was perfect! A healthy sized fillet of fish, steamed in coconut milk with lots of onions, ochroes and sweet peppers. The Jamaican Rice and Peas side was wonderful – not heavy or greasy with a good balance between the tender red beans and the rice. One of my dining companions tried the Indian Sesame Grouper, as it sounded unusual and exotic; he was right. A grouper fillet, encrusted in black and white sesame seeds, pan seared and served up with an Eastern sauce. Good sesame flavour and some unidentifiable flavours, that were definitely Eastern.
Always a good choice for an island dinner, the Fresh Atlantic Salmon Fillet in this restaurant is very creatively done. It’s rolled in coconut flakes and finished with a butter-cream, rum sauce. The combination of seafood, sweet cream and rum-kick is a must try sensation. My companion loved it.
Holding true to café style dining, Seaside Café is one of the nicest, simple casual dining places in Provo; all you need, without any of the fuss. They have remained consistently delightful over the years, by offering just what their guest really want – good food, great ambience, fast service and casual comfort. The dessert menu sticks with this theme, with all your mouth tempting favourites. You know…the stuff you just can’t say no too.
A huge slice of Chocolate Cake that you can have a la mode; Homemade Ice Cream in all your childhood best flavours; Brownies a la mode; Key Lime Pie, Rum Cake and Cheese Cake. This Dessert menu, along with one of their nice cups of tea or coffee may be just the way to end a good day…no fuss, no jacket and sometimes not even shoes required. They have been known to do special romantic dinners for two, right out on the beach in the sunset, so you never know…
This restaurant is attached to a popular resort, so reservations for dinner during the high season may be a good idea. Seaside Café – casual dining done very, very well.
By Karyn Williams-Sykes
Reprinted from "Where When How - Turks & Caicos Islands"
January/February 2007
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