Beachstro - Cosy Bistro by the Beach

by Iyath Adam

For our Eating Out article this time, we checked out Beachstro – a small café and bistro at Hulhumale’.

Located on the beach road, Beachstro has mainly outdoor seating with a small area cordoned off at the very back as an ‘inside area.’ Wooden tables and chairs for groups of two or more people, along with the sea paint tones really gave it the feeling of a beachside café.

The menu was quite extensive and featured different rice options, pasta, breakfast dishes and even some delicious-sounding burgers and sandwiches. 

We decided to go for the jerk chicken with garlic rice and the grilled chicken & mash. The staff were friendly and accommodative about preferences – as we wanted to have boneless chicken for the jerk chicken dish. We opted not to try any drinks as the portion sizes seemed to be quite large from pictures – thank you, Instagram! And a good thing too!

The food arrived relatively fast and looked good. First up, the jerk chicken – the grilled jerk chicken was served with garlic rice, some pineapple salsa, fried plantains, and jerk sauce. The chicken was well cooked, despite being boneless, and the rice had a savoury, herby, garlic flavour. 

But the thing that really pulls this dish together is the sauce – tangy, spicy with just a tiny hint of sweetness – it goes well with the robustness of the garlic rice, the zingy pineapple salsa and even the starchiness of the fried plantains. Overall, all the components together made for a perfect bite. 

Next up, the grilled chicken & mash. The grilled chicken was tender and flavourful and went great with the mashed potato underneath. Here also, the accompanying black pepper sauce is what pulled the dish together and truly made for a hearty meal – although we do wish they had a side of salad or steamed vegetables to cut through the richness.

On the whole, the food was delicious, and we definitely recommend checking Beachstro out for an easy, tasty, filling meal!