By Anne DesBrisay

Next best thing to a winter holiday in the sun is transporting your tastebuds to a Caribbean restaurant. When my Jamaican-born buddy Janine is looking for the tastes of home, she heads to Mugena. One chilly afternoon last week, I followed her there. I had the jerk chicken — I opted for dark meat — served with rice and peas and a little cabbage-carrot slaw.

The jerk’s punch was there, to be sure, but the impact was somewhere between a poke and a jab. She had a goat roti — a Jamaican classic, the  slow cooked meat in a fragrant gravy with soft potatoes and chickpeas.

We sipped ginger beer and listened to reggae, paid the bill, then shopped for plantain, scotch bonnets, and a bottle of Mugena’s hot pepper sauce in the neighbouring shop. We then zipped up our parkas and ventured back to reality.

$10 for both roti and jerk dinner

Mugena Caribbean Restaurant and Bar, 911 Richmond Rd., 613-722-8228