Sweet Sosumba Jamaican Vegan Cafe

This new offering along Georgia Ave. has been open about a month. It has some strengths and some minuses. The counter service restaurant had two people working there when I arrived, with one patron waiting for take-out. The big plus is that the food was pretty good and the staff friendly. I could see a return trip. The bad news are the kind of things which can be worked out over time. I got the Coconut Chickpea Curry (which comes with rice and beans and slaw) and a side of fried bananas with avocado. I also got the "mellow ginger" drink. The curry sauce was kind of amazing. There weren't many chickpeas in the curry, however. It was mostly potatoes and carrots, which was fine but was indicative that first thing in the day they were missing a good deal of ingredients for dishes they were offering. When I ordered the callaloo green drink they were out of callaloo, when I ordered the ginger drink they were out of something needed and asked if they could add pineapple. The resulting drink was very unusual and not the least bit sweet, which was fine but left me wondering what it would taste like with the full ingredients. The purple cabbage slaw was simple and nicely tangy, the red beans and rice a bit dry but a nice complement to the curry. The fried plantains were very sweet and not greasy but paired with avocado which was unnecessary. Not sure why people feel the need to put avocado on everything, culturally appropriate or not. The recyclable take-out container had a friendly message but it took more than a half hour to get the meal, which was difficult given the lack of AC in the space (another one of those DC summer days).

Bottom line: Food is worth it. They need to put the menu on a chalkboard and do better inventory control to keep needed ingredients stocked. Pre-prepping would also be a good idea so wait-time is not as long. Price points are very low making it super-affordable.

Vegan Jamaican Food
3501 Georgia Ave, NW -- Unit B
http://sweetsosumba.com/

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