A Sampling of Restaurant Week 2014

Every year I do a post on Restaurant Week whether I go with friends or coworkers however this year is a little different. The organizers of Restaurant Week reached out several lifestyle bloggers and brought us on a tour of the Restaurant Week experience to be had this year. This was a special treat, a night of wine, great food and chatter with friends. Always great to link up with my favourite fellow bloggers.

The group of us seen here started out at CPJ Deli where we were introduced to Finlandia Vodka and St. Remy Brandy, sponsoring spirits of Restaurant Week 2014. We got to make our own cocktails while nibbling on CPJ’s pulled pork sliders which were SO delish!

I skipped the cocktail and had brandy on the rocks with a wedge of lime. Fruta makes me fat :p

Our next stop was Northside Kitchen’s new location in New Kingston where we got loud and rowdy and were treated to gifts and great food. Jamaica Yellow Pages, a sponsor of Restaurant week, hooked us all up with power banks to charge our phones on the go. How’s that for a practical gift? They know just what a blogger needs.

Jamaica Yellow Pages Power Bank — I’m sandwiched by Yanique Lambert from Fontana Beauty Vibes and Stephen Charoo from Recollections of a Foodie

The food was awesome, particularly because we were just here for appetizers but decided to let us have a little taste of their entrees on offer for Restaurant Week as well. Lobster, Phoenix Wings, Sushi, Cream Cheese Crab Sticks:

Gimbilyn was ur next stop where Wine Lady Debra Taylor from Select Brands, another Restaurant Week sponsor gave us a crash course in wines which was much appreciated. It was quite an interesting talk. I learnt about light versus medium and full-bodies wines, that it was ok to chill my red wine here in Jamaica since it’s so hot, that I don’t like moscato anymore at all (too sweet) and that even though I’m a malbec girl I should try out some cabernet sauvignons on her recommendation. Here she is awarding Stephen a gift of wine for correctly answering trivia:

I had the salmon from Gimbilyn which was good, the chicken florentine was also good however I hear the pork was the best. The roaste beef was turned back so take that how you will.

My salmon dish.

The roast beef and chicken florentine dishes. But hey my cab sav was great and everyone enjoyed their moscato!

The last stop of the evening was Redbones for dessert. I of course had the double chocolate cake. I love a chocolate cake that is rich and moist. It was perfect and the espresso cream was heavenly!

The other two choices were bread pudding and sweet potato pone, both of which made me happy that I had chosen what I had, and I love a good bread pudding so…take that as you will. We were also treated to an assortment of Tetley teas and Orbit gum to complete our evening. Both of whom are also Restaurant Week sponsors. First Global Bank took the opportunity to burn the bill, which is their Restaurant Week promotion where you could experience the same if you’re the lucky customer.

It was a long but lovely night of laughter, wine and food. Have you tried anywhere for Restaurant Week as yet? It goes until Saturday so get on out there and try a new restaurant! See the full run down of restaurants, menus and pricing here.