There aren’t many places in Baton Rouge where you can get bold curry shrimp, tender oxtail, spicy jerk chicken and flavorful curry goat all in one spot.
Enter Royal Taste of Jamaica. Jamaican couple David and Miya Suarez opened their shipping container restaurant at Millennial Park in March 2020. They first started their catering business in September 2018. After hearing that their customers wanted more ways to access the authentic Jamaican cuisine, the Suarezes decided to open up their first physical eatery.
“Everything really is a taste of Jamaica,” David says. “Nothing is from a box. It is all made from scratch.”
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The menu is inspired by David’s upbringing on the island. It features authentic Jamaican classics like goat, oxtail and jerk chicken. He is a self-taught cook and refers to his skills as a “natural gift.” And a gift it is. Customers have so far traveled from New Orleans, Atlanta, Texas and Mississippi to get a bite of Royal Taste of Jamaica.
“I put love in the pot,” David says. “We cater to kings and queens.”
On the main menu, the restaurant serves oxtails, curry shrimp, curry chicken, curry goat, jerk chicken, jerk burgers, rice, mixed vegetables, cabbage and brown stew chicken. The food is packed with flavor. Each dish stands out just as much as the next.
The jerk chicken is spicy enough to make your nose run and juicy enough to make you go back for more. The curry chicken paired with mixed vegetables is the go-to Jamaican comfort food. The oxtail is fall-off-the-bone tender and marinated to perfection. No matter what you order, it doesn’t seem like you can go wrong.
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Royal Taste of Jamaica is still getting settled at Millennial Park. In the future, the team plans to add more dessert items and baked goods to the menu. They also plan to add more color to their shipping container with a painting of their logo on the outside.
“Everyone treats us like family,” Miya says. “It’s been a beautiful surprise.”
Royal Taste of Jamaica is at 3813 Florida St. Check with its Facebook page for opening times.
