Take the water taxi or drive to the ultimate evening getaway – ‘Upstairs’ Restaurant at Kaibo and gear up for a culinary adventure on the shores of North Side. Take a chiffon scarf and feel alluring and adult. Think James Bond with a culinary twist.
Upstairs Restaurant is where Old and New World cuisine meet. The elevated restaurant, with its wrap-around porch, offers far reaching views of the North Sound. Open three years ago on the site of Cecil’s Cajun-style restaurant, Upstairs is garnering a sizeable reputation for its exciting take on fusion Caribbean cuisine thanks to the artistry and talent of British chef Laurence Tham.
Michelin appeal
The gastronome may be young but he has already earned his stripes, firstly as part of a Michelin starred team, headed by Executive Chef Phil Thompson, at the Auberge du Lac in leafy Hertfordshire and more recently still by creating the Upstairs Restaurant’s Caribbean dishes with flair and creativity. He sources local produce and ingredients where possible to lovingly create an island taste experience.
And if this was not impressive enough, Chef Tham also brings the subtleties of Oriental cuisine and spices thanks to his multicultural heritage. All this he has distilled and is showcasing the restaurant’s revised menu, worthy of the destination restaurant that the eastern districts deserve.
A well-kept secret, Chef Laurence has only been on island a couple of months, and his arrival to North Side is the Islands gain.
Those with a penchant for nouveau Caribbean dining in a relaxed yet upscale island milieu and already in the know about this dynamic culinary wunderkind may be put out that Grand Cayman’s best kept culinary experience is now out – but who cares. Good food in this breathtaking waterfront locale should be shared – and liberally.
With a nor’wester spoiling our plans to whizz over to Kaibo on the restaurant’s water taxi; we drove up from George Town and viewed the Eastern districts at night, which was in itself a novel experience.
When the weather is good we will be leaving the behemoth at home and sharpening our appetite with a 15-minute ride across the North Sound in Kaibo’s water taxi service from SafeHaven.
Casual elegant ambience
Soaring ceilings, white muslin curtains fluttering on the trade winds and mammoth ceiling fans and trendy low-key lighting announced our arrival at our destination but I sensed that our real journey had only just begun.
That special element that restaurants often get wrong was oh so right at Upstairs. The mix of Buddah-bar-vibe-cum-Iberian-chill-out music was subtle, grown up and definitely set the scene that we were now far away from the ordinary 7 mile stretch.
We were greeted by co-owner Daniel Petts and escorted to our waterside table out on the expansive closed-in veranda. Overlooking the beach with its lofty palms trunks swathed in ribbon lights, we settled in for the evening at the best seats in the house.
A more tropical backdrop is hard to imagine. From our lofty vantage point the beach with its towering light fringed palm trees and Kaibo’s picturesque marina rested before us.
Five-course meal
We started with an amuse bouche courtesy of the chef. It was a light and creamy concoction of shredded conch atop sliced cucumbers. Suitably impressed, we moved on to the appetisers.
I had oxtail off the bone, beautifully prepared in an Appleton rum and black pepper reduction and coated with crispy breadcrumbs with a side of Caribbean coleslaw and crispy leaves. The melt-in-your-mouth quality of the dish and its unusual presentation was a novel departure from my previous experiences with the hearty Caribbean staple.
We chose a bottle of Trivento Reserve 2008, a beautifully smooth Argentinian Malbec from the restaurant’s extensive wine list. With its soft, fruity notes it was the ideal accompaniment to our meal.
My guest chose moist crab cakes served with baby neck clams, mussels served over wakame salad, beautifully arranged on slate with the appearance of a shoreline at low tide. I had sashimi grade seared tuna dressed in ginger, soy and sesame, which was piquant and zesty.
For intermezzo, we were served scallops in an orange and coconut water sauce with orange segments and pomegranate seeds. The savoury flavour of the shellfish was complemented by the citrus bursts of the fruit and made a intriguing and mouth-watering combination.
Our party ate oven roasted duck breast and confit duck leg served with sweet potato mash, sautéed greens and five spice jus, a generous dish of Imported Prince Edward Island mussels tossed in a light coconut curry served with aromatic vegetables and cilantro, and a tenderloin (centre cut black Angus,) with pot roasted shallots, garlic and sugar snap peas in a gorgonzola brulee with red wine port jus. It would be hard to choose a favourite from such a feast but I have to plump for the mussels which are the best I have sampled on Island, and apparently made by Tham’s dedicated kitchen team who he insists he could not be without.
Served alongside the gorgeous feast is the showstopping waterfront ambience. Tham is particularly proud of the grouper. Oven baked black grouper filets are served with cashew nut crust, sweet potato, creamed callaloo and a white wine and mushroom cream.
For desert we chose a lusciously light combo of crème brulee and vanilla panna cotta both served with a helping of seasonal fresh berries.
A restaurant of that calibre lives and dies not only on the quality of its food and ambience but on the temperament of its servers. Mervyn Laihow deserves recognition as a rare professional server, and was as entertaining as he was knowledgeable. Claire Pettinati, co-owner, poured drinks and communed with regulars at the granite bar inside, she manages the marketing and special events at this versatile beach location. What is her intention with Kaibo? To create a locale of island chic.
I certainly felt grown up and chic when I received my glass of Ron Zaccapa XO from Upstairs’ extensive rare rum menu, which boasts 30 rums from the Caribbean’s finest estates. A tour of the rum menu will warm from the inside out, and if that doesn’t keep the chill off your back then borrow one of the restaurant’s many soft pashminas: I did. A romantic stroll on the beach, sandals in hand with waves lapping on the shore, rounded out our culinary adventure. My only question is how soon can I return?

Upstairs Restaurant is open from 6pm Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Make the dining experience a real adventure: Take a water taxi. Leave the car in the lot and watch the moon under water, as you skim along the North Sound in Kaibo’s 28ft Formula water taxi. Book to reserve a trip on the craft, the round trip is $25 per person. A short walk up the wooden jetty, sans heels, and across the warm sand takes you up to the staircase for Upstair’s Restaurant. From there the continue on a journey that excites all the senses.

Just to echo Don’s comments, we are HUGE fans of Kaibo, both the region, the Yacht Club and all the events you put on. I am really pleased we were able to include you in the Telegraph supplement and you can be absolutely assured that, especially through my personal experience when David and I holidayed with the kids there last June, we encourage everyone to visit Kaibo and try to include it in as many journalist itineraries as we can. As I am sure you know it is a game of slowly, slowly catchy monkey in spreading the word and persuading people to explore beyond 7MB but it is very much part of our strategy. We very much rate what you offer and consider it a credit to the ‘real Cayman’, and just what many of our British visitors are looking for. There has been some great coverage, especially from the kids press trip I did last year – if you haven’t seen it all let me know and I will dig it out.

We often include Kaibo in our quarterly newsletters so make sure you send me news every time you come up with a new idea and we will put it in. You will see we included Kaibo in the last newsletter, which is attached.

Best wishes,

Susie

As you might know your restaurant and Kaibo itself is a warm favourite of our London office staff and especially our PR team, Susie and Laura who were instrumental in pulling together the various journalists for the Telegraph supplement. We do try to get a word in about the restaurant whenever we are out on the road giving trade and consumer presentations and also through our visiting journalist programme.

By copy of your e mail to Susie and our London team, we will appraise all of your vision and latest news.

With best wishes and thanks again.

Don McDougall
Regional Manager Europe
Cayman Islands Department of Tourism

Best wishes

Anne

Thanks so much for a fabulous evening on Friday. Your servers were so great everyone has said what a great time they had and a great venue. Received a lot of compliments on the bbq too – all said the food was really good.

Thanks and hope you all recover quickly from us!

Best regards and see you out there soon.

Sue