Marlena's Island Cuisine

Within a small shopping complex that is wrapped behind and adjacent to the main road in Kingston, this small, modest and unassuming eatery has just recently opened up. Going regional, it offers diners fare that would be found in the Cooks Islands. Some places you just find and here about, and are so different they are worth going to for that alone this is one of them. Taking out the novelty factor, Marlena 's Island Cuisine still has a number of strong legs to stand on. This place is not only popular with the local residents, but it has grown quite quickly into a place that is constantly buzzing with clientele. From an initial glance, this merely looks like a takeaway place. That being said, it does do a lot of take away orders, however if you choose to eat in it is fully stocked with plates, cups, cutlery and everything. This is another place that does well with what it has got, being merely a small square in an industrial area shopping district. All the tables are outside on the footpath. Most of it at this point was one lady behind the counter doing a lot of the work. She was a really gregarious gal who had fantastic work ethic. She really knew her stuff, could discuss what each item was and explained about the cuisine. This is the classical counter service, with the food being delivered straight to the table. Surprises a plenty, such as that, are in store coming here. So, how to describe Islander cuisine? It is definitely one of the simpler cuisines on Earth. A lot of it is slow cooked stews using local produce, taro and cassava are frequent ingredients, or lots of meats and salads. Expect plenty of offerings of seafood, and meat is commonplace so this is probably one place to skip if you are vegetarian. The offerings of the menu are all pretty simple offerings: some basic breakfasts, a few salads, sandwiches and whatnot. It will vary from day to day what they have, so check regularly. Most of the available options are in the bain maries shown, but orders can be done fresh. In the briefest description, this is wholesome fare that is reminiscent of cuisines from the Pacific Islands. Meals here are substantially sized, and could well fill you up for the rest of the day. Heck, they even seem to encourage having variety on your plate and for quite good value. Even after all of this, there is a really good dessert menu. On Thursday and Friday, a few house specials are made available. While you are spoiled for choice here, you don 't get inundated by all the choices it works out well. One mid morning, I was awoken with my dining buddy hell bent on getting here to try out the food. Consider it a weird transition between brunch and lunch, with enough in my stomach at the end to have had both meals. Yes, if it has not been mentioned yet: bring an empty stomach along with you. Starting out, it was the usual coffee orders. I cannot remember what bean that they used with this coffee. Nevertheless, it was a doppio in which I ordered. This was a perfectly alright cup of coffee. Think everything that is needed for a good espresso, and that what was in here: it tasted good, it was the right temperature and it went down a treat. My dining buddy got for his first order a couple of small dishes. One of them was a chicken curry, and the other was a dish called rukau . This was a coconut cream based dish, mixed with a lot of taro and corned beef. The chicken curry was a good one, a bit like the standard kind you think of with the term chicken curry . The spice in it was mild, it had a colourful mix of vegetables including capsicum, and the meat was tender thigh meat. This was a decent, passable curry with a lot of flavour. What really won the day was the rukau. Think akin to a sagwala; heck, my dining buddy was thinking it was spinach in the stew until the waitress told him it was taro. This is a pleasant and simple dish; traditionally it is wrapped in banana leaf, and a mixture of onion, corned beef, taro, and coconut cream is mixed together before being baked in the ground. Some meals you just feel like you ought to try it out at home, and for me this is that kind of meal. The meat is tender, the taro was infused with plenty of spices, and the coconut cream made it smooth. For my order, I got a small bowl of mussels. These were stewed in a coconut cream that was mildly spiced, and it also had the addition of octopus. When it came out, I was in awe at how big it was. And I had to remind myself again that I ordered a small bowl. First, the broth was creamy and infused with all kinds of herbs and some mild spices. Then, the bits of seafood both the mussels and the octopus were tender, sweet and like butter. These are two, for lack of a better description, gamier than normal bits of seafood in general, and I think how they present them here could be a good introduction to them. Divine, and like something people talk about from New England. To go on the side, I got a big order of fries. These were overall quite good. A few might have needed a bit more cooking, and maybe a little more consistency between the overall thickness would do it a lot of justice, however they are on to a good start with them. Readily seasoned with plenty of salt, and piping hot, they proved to be a pretty substantial. Here 's hoping to plenty more of these. After this, it was time to go in for some desserts. These were all very simple, used lots of fruit and the range, just the range is something to be seen. My dining buddy has always been a big fan of trifle, so that was what he got. From a couple of spoonfuls, the whole concoction blended together really well. I got a bit of custard, some sponge cake and a few bits of fruit (peach? . This definitely convinces me how good trifle can be. The one that I got was a banana poke. While this is not traditionally seen as a dessert on the Cook Islands, it was presented as such here. Often it is had as as side dish, not unlike rice or bread in many other cuisines. This is another one that struck a cord, probably because of how different it was to most other fare I have had. So, how to describe what the banana poke was like? It was like jelly, a little tougher in texture to break up, but think of a warmer version with actual fruit used instead. This was put in a bed of custard, and it was simply delicious. I loved the texture of it, the flavour was not overbearing. Actually, on second thoughts this was more like a Turkish Delight and I think it even bests it. Yes, I just said that. After all of the food that I ate, this was proving to be a bit too much at the moment. Taking home the rest of the poke, I had it later with some ice cream and it was just as tasty that way. I really recommend it, and will try the pumpkin variety when it is in stores next time. Marlena 's Island Cuisine might be one of the biggest surprises yet. At most, I expected it to be a decent, maybe filling little place, but the food really took me by surprise. Masquerading as a general take away, I feel it is no exaggeration to say that it provides restaurant quality food, and even down to the service. In full, honest to the heavens above, sincerity, this is one place that I will give the fullest recommendation to try out I can hazard a bet you have not tried many places like it.

Takes u back to Raro starting with the Mayonnaise our new spot to eat now lol Love the food

Thank you for being across the road from us...loved your rukau!! Didn't get there early enough to try other foods as they were all sold out. Will definitely be back.

Love it. They were closed and still let me in... Delicious! !!!

Amazing food just the way we used to eat back in Fiji. Great service, clean and well presented. I recommend this highly to all my friends.