Enjoying their first course at Kabana Restaurant and Garden Bar are (from left) Susan Strachan, Peter Johnson, Myrton and Kristen Smith and their daughter Gabrielle. They were participating in Kingston Restaurant Week at the restaurant at 12 Hope Road, St. Andrew. - CARLINGTON WILMOT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
AMID THE hustle and bustle of a typical Wednesday evening on Hope Road, the Kabana Restaurant was the epitome of quiet dining.
The restaurant, which opened in January of this year, hopped on board the Kingston Restaurant Week (KRW) train. The restaurant provides guests with a quiet dining experience, and Wednesday night was more of the same.
Guests started rolling in around 7:00 p.m., usually in groups of four. Speaking to Gary Daley, supervisor at Kabana Restaurant and Garden Bar, a lot of the persons he saw strolling in were first-timers, with quite a few children. No, Kabana isn't exactly a family restaurant but they do seem to get many families dining. And that was evident.
But the number of new guests means that Restaurant Week was having the desired effect. Of course, the easiest way to spread the news is word of mouth.
"I've been to Kabana before and I love the atmosphere," says Susan Strachan. "You get a feeling of the countryside with the banana trees; you don't get to see many of those in Kingston," laughs Peter Johnson, who has also been a fan of Kabana long before Restaurant Week came about. But for this occasion, they invited their friends Kristen and Myrton Smith and their baby daughter Gabrielle to dine with them, emphasising Daley's point.
By Daley's own admission, Kabana doesn't offer much in terms of entertainment except for the background music and the cool, relaxing ambience, aided by the waterfall. But that's all the guests seemed to need as they enjoyed their meals while others, just metres away, were stuck in traffic.
And with the increased publicity garnered from KRW, plus their first anniversary not too far away either, the expansion continues, including an interior dining room to go with the more open air feel of the thatched roofs.
Hopefully, they'll still make it a good place that the entire family can enjoy.
