Canje

"Caribbean fusion - get the jerk chicken and pepper pot with roti"

@freeroamfamily

"This Caribbean restaurant serves up delicious roti, jerk chicken, oxtail beef patties, and tres leches. They also highlight the lively atmosphere with loud music, beachy decor, and attentive service."

@krobinson

"Austin best Caribbean food"

@ryan.vaughn

"It was alright. Jerk chicken was not as tender as I would have liked. Civiche was ok. All around mid. "

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"Can’t go wrong with anything in the menu! Favs are ceviche, pepper pot, and tres leches."

@mirodriguez0706

"Recommended by Aaron Franklin"

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"Bon Appetit best new restaurants 2022. Try wild boar pepper pot; fish with rum butter sauce; Guyanese style roti; tres leches"

@mikeya

"Naan was so good. Chicken too. Tbh everything was good but somethings were not great. Like ok. Service was good "

@isadeo

"Where do I even start! The decor, the service, the music, and the food Amazing! A must when in Austin. The curry beef, the spicy peppered pot, plantain chips were sooo delicious. Cocktails yummy and the tres leches cake will have your mouth and stomach so happy"

@opokuadvisors

"Best new in US. Austin’s Canje is the brainchild of Tavel Bristol-Joseph, a Guyana-born pastry chef who’s been at the helm of some of Austin’s most beloved eateries with his business partner, chef Kevin Fink. But what separates the pair’s newest endeavor from the rest is not just that Bristol-Joseph is taking the lead on savory dishes, but that it’s the first time in his restaurant career where he’s cooking the kind of food he grew up with. In this chicly tropical and warmly welcoming restaurant, Bristol-Joseph and his team seek to represent not just the country he’s from but the entire Caribbean, with all its layers of influence: African, Latino, Chinese, Portuguese, Indian, and beyond. The results, from the crispy-skinned wild bass swimming in rum butter sauce to the cloudlike, coconut-milk-soaked tres leches cake, are impossible to forget. What to order: Wild Boar Pepper Pot ($26); Fish With Rum Butter Sauce ($28); Guyanese Style Roti ($5); Tres Leches ($10). I was not hungry when I arrived for dinner at Canje. In fact, I was wishing for oblivion. Scouting restaurants is all fun and games until you’re halfway through a cross-Texas road trip, soaked in meat sweats and staring down the barrel of your fifth meal of the day. Minutes after I sat down on the shaded patio, my foul mood was but a memory. I’m not sure if it was the frosty charred-coconut mezcal cocktail, the highly informed server, or the atmosphere—stylish yet welcoming with a palpable party vibe. But by the time our red snapper ceviche hit the table, I felt like my stomach had miraculously grown three sizes, like the Grinch’s heart after he learned the true meaning of Christmas. The feast intensified: salty-crisp hunks of bacalaíto kissed with zingy mint mojo sauce, one of the most flavorful beef curries I’ve ever tasted, golden brown lily pads of Guyanese roti to soak it all up. Then came the dish I still dream about: a pillow of crispy-skinned wild bass resting in a pool of rum butter sauce so plush and creamy I wanted to bathe in it. I knew before the coconut-milk-soaked tres leches cake hit the table that I was absolutely dining at one of the best new restaurants in the country. For this I have one key person to thank: co-owner Tavel Bristol-Joseph, a Guyana-born pastry chef who’s been at the helm of some of Austin’s most beloved eateries (Emmer & Rye, Hestia, Kalimotxo, Henbit, TLV) with his business partner, chef Kevin Fink. As Bristol-Joseph later told me, Canje is different from the other businesses—not just because he’s taking the lead on savory dishes, but because it’s the first time in his restaurant career that he’s cooking the kind of food he grew up with. “When I first moved to Austin, I googled Caribbean food and the only thing that came up was a food truck,” he says. “I was like, Wow. There’s not even a space that I can take my girlfriend, sit down with her, and say, ‘This is my culture.’” At Canje, Bristol-Joseph and his team are committed to representing not just the country he’s from but the entire Caribbean, with all its layers of influence: African, Latino, Chinese, Portuguese, Indian, and beyond. He’s also representing himself—a product of these layers, who moved to Brooklyn at 17, trained to be a chef and, in the process, found himself. “That’s what I want this story to be about,” he says. “It’s a story of hope, which is bigger than just food on a plate. It’s about a human who found their way through the world.”"

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"Highly recommend by Kristine Bell"

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"From insta @khushandoj. Modern Caribbean food and cocktails in east Austin "

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"Caribbean restaurant with bright beautiful food. Spice level might be attached high, but looks worth it"

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