Island Cuisine

For its size, Tampa is pretty full of vegetarian/vegan restaurants. We have Grass Root, a vegan/raw restaurant in Tampa Heights (and also more recently in South Tampa), Udipi in Carrollwood, The Loving Hut, a quirky vegan-only restaurant that spreads the word of its founder, the Supreme Master Ching Hai (much more on that later!), and many other vegetarian/vegan-friendly restaurants, too. These restaurants are easily found on any Google search of "vegetarian Tampa" and are conveniently located on major streets like Florida Avenue or Dale Mabry Hwy.

But one of my favorite takeout spots is a little vegan gem hidden in the back of a strip mall between a Ross and a Payless shoe store. It's called "Island Cuisine" and serves Caribbean-style food out of a modest kitchen and buffet cart.


With "JERK CHICKEN" and "JAMAICAN BEEF PATTIES" written on the windows and glass doors, you'd never guess that this place serves some of the best vegan food in town.
Here's a picture of the counter where you order your AMAZING food. You can also get a 2-liter of Faygo if you nasty.

The owners are actually vegetarian. I got to talking with one woman who said that she'd like to serve vegetarian food only but she would lose too much business. She tries to keep it as veg-friendly as possible, though, so all the side dishes are completely vegan and along with a list of different meat and chicken dishes, the menu features items like tofu, seitan and even "tofu fish bites." She told me that some people order collard greens and ask, "Why isn't there any meat in these greens?" Shaking her head and smirking she said it was something else that most people can't even eat meat-free vegetables.

The last time Melissa and went to Island Cuisine we ordered a mix of jerk tofu and spicy seitan with bow tie pasta. All the dinners come with two sides so we got red beans with rice and collard greens. We also got a side of plantains because I have never left a restaurant that serves plantains without them.
Although there are some tables outside to eat on, we always take our food home. There's something about a view of the Ross parking lot that doesn't do much for the appetite.

Before finding Island Cuisine, I assumed that Jerk food and especially greens from Jamaican restaurants (almost always cooked with chunks of meat) was a thing of the past. Not so!

They know how to cook a meal. The saltiness of the greens brought out the spicy-sweet marinade on the tofu and the beans and rice were perfectly seasoned. I'm always completely stuffed after eating only half of this meal, as it's FULL of protein and fiber.

Hands down one of the best vegan takeout places in Tampa.