Kia's Across From The Beach - Review Page 3
Garden Café
The Garden Café occupies a small gazebo next to the road. The view isn’t exactly turquoise sea and white sand but, nonetheless, it can be interesting watching Tobagonian pass by. With just six tables, the restaurant has a genuinely intimate and cosy feel.
Owner and manager, Karen Buckmire, is a Canadian of Trinidadian extraction. Not only does she understand and appreciate the type of ‘international’ cuisine that overseas visitors expect, she has combined that wonderfully with local delicacies and favourites to achieve a fusion that goes down well with both Trinidadian holidaymakers and overseas visitors. The menu is small, with just four or five entrees to choose from, but everything we tried was hot, well-cooked and well presented. On top of that, Karen’s bubbly personality has rubbed off onto her staff. It is one of the very few local establishments where we were always met with a genuine smile and friendly word. Service may be something of anathema to most Tobagonians, but clearly not at Kia’s or the Garden Café.
The Garden Café is open from 7am for breakfast and from 7pm for dinner, 7 days a week. During the busier months of the year, the restaurant is also open for lunch, with a house speciality of Mexican food; ideal for a lighter lunch. Currently the restaurant is unlicensed so cannot sell alcohol. However, patrons are welcome to bring their own beer or wine and won’t suffer corkage charges.
Beaches
While the name Kia’s Across From The Beach may be subject to a touch of poetic licence, it cannot be denied that the property is only 125m from the car park and main entrance to Store Bay and marginally less than 350m from the golden sands. So, it is a walk of less than 5 minutes, assuming you do not get into long conversation with the ticket touts who will undoubtedly try to sell you a tour to Buccoo Reef as you approach the beach.
In the opposite direction, the white sands of Cable Bay or Swallows Beach at the bottom of the Pigeon Point peninsula are just 0.6km away; a walk of about 8 minutes. The Pigeon Point Heritage Centre ‘proper’ is a mile up the peninsula. It is a hot, but interesting, walk with beautiful beach and interesting views all the way – but be sure to take a bottle of water!!! There is a small admission fee for entrance to the Heritage Centre.
Conclusion
Crown Point is undoubtedly the centre of tourism in Tobago. The area is packed with guest houses. The problem is that the standards of accommodation and service offered are highly variable, to say the very least, and it is easy for visitors to arrive and find that their much-anticipated holiday accommodation is considerably less than expected.
Kia’s Across From The Beach first caught our eye when regular reader reports indicated that the property was finding considerable approbation in the eyes of the visiting public. Detailed enquiries followed by inspections in 2008 and 2010 confirmed the situation: this was a property worthy of inclusion in the myTobago Recommended list.
Kia’s offers modest self-catering or bed and breakfast accommodation from attractive and well-maintained premises located centrally to the numerous facilities of the Crown Point area. The accommodations are simple, but clean, comfortable and affordable. Best of all, the property is owned and managed by a friendly and hospitable hostess who understands the meaning of the word ‘service’ and has passed the ethos to her staff. We enjoyed our stay and have no reservations including the property in our list of recommended guest houses for Tobago.
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