Spencer Williams, Contributor

Until recently, I enjoyed going to Starapples on Hope Road. I'm not sure what has ensued or when, but this reasonably priced place was at one stage quite consistent in quality. Is there new ownership? Has the chef gone on holiday? Perhaps the manager ducked out of work for a day? Whatever it is, please go back to how you were a year ago.

This cosy restaurant offers a broad selection of local cuisine, meat and fish, a few pastas, and salads. However, the last time I went there, half the menu choices were not available. They were out of all the variations of lasagne, some of the main Jamaican dishes, most of the side orders and not one vegetable was in sight! Was the chef still sleeping? Did all the food suppliers let them down? No one had a car to quickly pop up to the supermarket? This was in the middle of the week, and I am pretty sure that everywhere was open!

All went wrong

Having already been seated, and though there was little left to choose from, I decided to stay anyway. Surely nothing else could go wrong? Well it turns out that I was wrong!

The sweet potato fries were not crispy and all but two of them were dry and uncooked. A good little remedy to this would have been to soak the raw potato sticks in water to remove the excess starch, and then drain well and pat them with a kitchen towel to eliminate the dampness. Flash fry them in hot oil for about a minute, remove and cool a little before immersing them back into the oil to finish cooking. The oil should be about 350F, or 180C. If you don't have a cooking thermometer, throw a cube of bread in, and see if it sizzles and starts to turn golden brown. But please DO NOT stick your finger in to test it. TRUST ME on this one..the outcome is not a cute sight! Anyway, to make matters worse, the fries didn't even come with any kind of sauce - tomato or otherwise - which didn't help the 'dry' situation!

The saltfish fritters were tough and there was more batter than anything else. I had to struggle to get a hint of saltfish on my palate, but my tongue more than detected the heat of a scotch bonnet. So serving pepper jelly with this was just not right! Dem a try bun up me mout or wah? A homemade tomato salsa would have at least improved the package. Tomato is a superb remedy for pepper 'heat'.

Slight improvement

The chana and aloo curry (chick peas and potato) was good, albeit a fraction too bitter, a clear indication that far too much turmeric had been tossed in. The handyman in me would add a spoon or two of tomato paste or ketchup. Big up to this little red fruit! I say 'tomahto' you say 'tomayto'.

Both orders of oxtail came cold, each contained about two beans, and the meat was not tender. Easy things to correct wouldn't you say? Firstly, leave it cooking for longer until the beef is falling off the bones. Open another can of butter or broad beans and throw into the pot (perhaps the supermarkets were closed after all)! And don't serve food unless you have checked the temperature with a metal skewer or a meat thermometer. Really, it's as simple as that.

But the rice and peas was nice; moist and full of flavour.

So please, throw away those bad apples and get back to being the star place you once were! It's a great little spot to chill and dine.