Dinner With G Goes To Shakers

Outside of the yuletide season, June and July do to your wallet what Moses did to the Red Sea; “Split in de middle, Heh!” So I put the Dinner With G August dinner to a budgetary vote; The Chopping Board Kitchen at MOJO Bar or Shakers Bar & Grill. A social media landslide sent us to Shakers for August.

The Shakedown on Shakers

Shakers is a quaint little Bajan “diner” located in Browne’s gap, a stone’s throw from the South Coast main road; in Bajan parlance that’s just “below” golf club road behind “the chicken” place. A well known stop to visitors and an all but overlooked destination to locals.

Shakers is like a giant neon sign the lights, voices and action stand out instantly. With this hive of activity you can tell they’re no newbie to the food scene. Shakers stands out visually too, a Bajan rum shop smattered here and there with foreign influences. It’s the personification of a “Bajan-Insert Foreign Nationality Here” accent. If you’re coming on a busy night, be prepared to park where you can, the onsite parking is limited.

Dinner, We Be Shook

Shakers describes themselves as an “Upscale” Rum Shop. The menu is exactly what you’d expect to find: Chicken, Fish, Steak… fried, BBQ, Grilled… Chips, Salad, Coleslaw… you get it. A simple menu at a reasonable price.

Shakers Snacks ($7 to $37) are the perfect start to a devilishly high calorie evening. Try the Shakers Platter, a mix of selected snacks that covers three F’s: Fun, Filling and Fried.

Mains ($22 – $60) at some point starts to feel like a Steak Safari; the “SALLY” steak, the “ALAN” steak or the “SHAKER’s” steak. Like that weird movie from the 70’s about the Dionne Quintuplets (showed on CBC once) you expect to hear “step right up folks!” as you try to tell them apart, only minor garnish details separate them. As with any exhibition some are awed while others are shaken. In the end it’s usually not what you expect and quite lackluster after all the fuss. If you’re a steak connoisseur better to opt for the Lamb or Ribs.

Other popular options were the Fish dishes or in our case the only other option, Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Show (10 points if you get this reference) aka the Chicken. Booked to capacity on their last night before a month long hiatus, the chicken was unavailable by the time we ordered.

Honorable mentions go out to the Sandwiches/Burgers ($22 – $24), Sides ($2 – $5) and for the healthy folk Salads ($20 – $50) but remember where you are as most vegetarians have discovered salads at casual dining restaurants are not that exciting.

Finally to the Dessert. Did you know they put their Mudslide on the Dessert menu but depending on how you like your drinks this may be a sliding pass.

Shake My Head

Shakers is a mixed bag and yes I’m going to use as many “Shake” references and variations as I can. When you put in a large group of people you’re going to pour out a series of varied reactions. For some they’ll never go again (there was a Lemonade disaster). For others it was hey the price is right, I’m full and happy. I’ll sum it up with this: managing expectations is very important. Not saying I set the bar low but honestly I set the bar at price point and that’s something I was very happy with. An “upscale” Rum Shop with decidedly little less than 100% Bajan esthetic leads one to certain expectations.

In Conclusion

I can see why it’s the joy of tourists everywhere while being under the radar for locals. It has nothing to do with the taste, in both cases it’s price and location, location, location. Hidden from us but expertly positioned for them. Locals I won’t say look elsewhere in a climate where food prices are getting higher and portions smaller it’s still nice to find a place where you can have a sit down meal in a restaurant atmosphere that’s affordable, filling and not Bubba’s. If you don’t know it, I’d say give it a try. It’s nice to shake thing up from time to time.