Mango Tango.

After my last post I suffered a week of snuffly cold, followed by a busy and decidedly non-gourmet weekend that involved drum and bass dancing and an all you can eat Chinese buffet.  (Not both on the same evening).  The squash lasagna was very good but it didn't ward off the plague.  For the boys birthday on 29 March I was still feeling a bit rank, but there was no way I was going to miss eating out at Mango Tang.
http://www.mangotang.co.uk/ 
Mango Tang opened around June last year and does "contemporary Caribbean cuisine"; a new concept in Derby.  I was worried I might have somewhat over hyped it in my own head, but fortunately the food really was as good as I had hoped.  The decor is maybe a tiny bit strange, a lot of brown, a lot of Egyptian themed bits and bobs going on, reggae music piped in.  The restaurant is set in one huge room, and on a Tuesday night with only four or five parties dotted around the room the lone waiter could have done with some Rollerblades to get around.  However he did a sterling job, nothing was forgotten nor did we have to wait long for our food, and what food it is!  I really couldn't fault anything either of us had. 

 We commenced with an appetiser of jerk seasoned flat bread, mango chutney and plantain and sweet potato crisps, washed down with a large glass of Shiraz (for me) and a very large bottle of Red Stripe (for him).
My starter was Salt fish fritters with sauce chien (dog sauce?) a dish apparently known as "stamp and go"!  The fritters were light and crispy and the sauce was a moreish blend of chilies, shallots,coriander and allspice in a red pepper vinaigrette.  The boy went for crab and yam cakes with a garlic, orange and lime salsa.  Nice as mine was, I had total starter envy.  Those were some delicious crab cakes.

For my main I went for prawns with jerk butter, served with rice and peas, fried plantain and a jerk gravy.
The boy had a jerk snapper fillet.  I sipped my Shiraz whilst he moved on to a bottle of Jamaican Dragon Stout, apparently a great complement to jerk.
We skipped the pudding (having technically had two starters) safe in the knowledge that we had a big wedge of Jamaican cheesecake waiting for us at home from Mamuska, the Cheesecake Shop in Nottingham.


It is a real novelty eating Caribbean food like this in restaurant surroundings; my previous experience being from a stall at a festival or carnival, or at home, cooked ourselves with varying degrees of authenticity. 
I would really recommend the food but perhaps prices were a little on the high side. We got fifty percent off the food bill thanks to our Tastecard.  However for a special occasion it is worth it, I'll look forward to going again.