Mauritius is a tiny (Mississauga-sized) island in the Indian ocean, but it’s actually quite interesting with a storied past and beautiful vistas. I haven’t been to Mauritius yet (my fiancee is from there), but if the Blue Bay Cafe is even a half decent representation of the food there, I will love it!
I thought it would be a fun surprise to take my fiancee here on her birthday, and she wasn’t expecting it at all! It’s pretty
awesome that we have a Mauritian restaurant in Canada, given that Mauritius’ population is barely over 1 million, and even better that it is really good.
I’ve given away my bottom line, sure, but I wasn’t expecting this place to be this good. It’s very Toronto (I’m from the burbs), so small, quaint and very non-corporate (all good things I suppose) as well non-trendy. It’s like, real, man.
We ordered the crevette au couer de palmiste (shrimp served with tangy palm hearts) for her, and I ordered the carri ourite (octupus curry). Both of these came with rice and two kinds of chutneys.
The shrimp dish wasn’t bad at all. The shrimp, not bad in portion was well-cooked and flavourful, but the palm hearts lacked discernible taste and the sauce they were in was bland as well. My fiancee really regretted not ordering the octopus (we usually order different dishes to be able to sample more) since she loves her mom’s octopus curry, but more so because it was absolutely fantastic!
This dish was the showstopper, the dish you go to this restaurant for. Octopus is a difficult protein to cook right. Unlike other kinds of seafood, you don’t just cook it fast & high and simply make sure you don’t overcook it. Octopus needs to stew… for a while. It goes from just tender (when its not really cooked) to hard to 
tender again at some point in the cooking process, and you will find that most places do not do it right. The Blue Bay cafe does. The curry itself was just delicious, and even now, after much time has passed, the flavour lingers on in my mind, beckoning.
You don’t need to worry about what Mauritian food is or isn’t, or whether you’ll like it. Like a 
restaurant of the highest grade, the people at the back of the Blue Bay cafe really care about their food, and it shows. This is what all restaurants should be like… good food, served without fuss.
