Afrodish is a restaurant that offers delectable Carribean cuisine.
PHOTO BY RAVEN SCHLEY | THE SIGNAL
Verdict:
Afrodish’s savory, yet exclusive cuisine
brings authentic Caribbean style
to the streets of Atlanta.
The wide array of ethnic cuisines gracing the streets of downtown Atlanta can be overwhelming at times. Lunchtime decisions become life decisions and choosing someplace that’s affordable yet insatiable becomes a challenge. Proximity to campus becomes another factor, and Broad Street becomes the knee jerk reaction.
Although Broad Street bears a diverse collection of multicultural restaurants, the Auburn Municipal Market is a widely overlooked lunchtime eating hub. Alas, nestled among the fresh produce and caramel covered popcorn samples is “Afrodish,” an independently owned Caribbean and African-style eating establishment.
Afrodish is modest in appearance, one of many niche restaurants lining the walls of the Auburn Market. Despite the restaurant’s different look, the food it offers packs more flavor than many competing establishments.
Afrodish offers the staples of traditional Caribbean food, including jerk chicken, curry goat and oxtails. With hearty portions and steaming hot plates, Afrodish becomes a madhouse when the lunch rush comes around.
My personal favorite from the menu is the Jerk Chicken Combo, totaling about $8.59. The meal is served in a styrofoam tray with two pieces of slow-cooked, spicy jerked chicken, rice and two vegetables. The chicken carries a tongue-tingling kick, meat falling from the bone if held too long. Rice comes with or without peas, soaked in the sauce of whatever meat is chosen for the plate.
For those with a sweet tooth, the sweet plantains are a delicious option as a primary vegetable. Cut into large, salted sections, the plantains bear even more flavor than the chicken. Black eyed peas and collard greens are also viable options to complement the chicken as hot vegetables.
Also, although they add an extra dollar or two to your plate, you can never go wrong adding a beef patty to the combination.
Seating at the Auburn Market is competitive; on a busy day, finding a location to enjoy your meal can become quite a task. There are only a handful of seats located near the establishment and the vast area spanning the Auburn Market can be tiresome to travel. The only real way to secure a seat is to come outside of the main lunch hours between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Any time after offers better positioning, although it is more likely that rations may be gone.
Afrodish’s fresh flavors and grease-less preparation make it one of the better choices for lunch downtown, although there are some shortcomings with this diffident attraction; due to its small dimensions, a limited amount of food is prepared for daily business and will run out on occasion.
Also, many establishments in downtown Atlanta bear what I call “the five o’ clock curse”: shutting down at 5 p.m. every evening. When you add in the fact that they’re closed on Sundays, getting your fix of stewed goat becomes rather difficult with such a small window of availability.
Despite these shortcomings, Afrodish is one of the more delicious and cost effective choices for a lunchtime excursion with no combos costing more than $10. For any Jamaican cuisine lovers seeking a big meal with even bigger flavor, make a trip to the Auburn Municipal Market for Afrodish.
