Manjay Aims to Bring Caribbean, Latin American Cultures Together Through Culinary Arts

The city of Doral, which constitutes about 86 percent of the Hispanic population, is considered one of the Latin American culinary destinations in Miami-Dade.

Photo credit: Christian DominiqueBut Manjay, a Caribbean restaurant, is making a splash by exposing its Haitian, Jamaican and Bahamian dishes to the predominantly Hispanic community with a population of 75,874, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.

And that's the concept Manjay's owner Christina Dominique is fostering since the two cultures' dishes are similar in preparation, style and taste.

Manjay, which expanded in Doral several years ago at 2000 N.W. 87th Avenue, serves a variety of delicious, colorful, and high-quality foods inspired by Dominique's Caribbean roots.

 Dominique was born and raised in Haiti.

"We prepare our food efficiently, and we make sure that we provide our customers with safe, high-standard ingredients at a reasonable price," he said.

Manjay opened its first location in Little Haiti, 8300 N.E. 2nd Avenue, in the Citadel, a mixed-use complex, which also offers shopping, entertainment, and office space, houses a food hall with concepts from a handful of Miami’s most popular chefs and restaurants.

Dominique said he chose Doral when he decided to expand to bring the Caribbean and Latin American cultures together through the culinary arts.

In addition, opening up in Doral, which encompasses 15 square miles, was Dominique's opportunity to expose Caribbean dishes in a big city with shopping centers, financial institutions and other businesses, and attract tourists since the municipality is just west of Miami International Airport.

"When I started the concept, I wanted to expose Caribbean food to diverse people," he said. "We felt like Doral is a good place.. the flavors are similar and we exposed a lot of people to ours at the Doral location."

But Dominique, 42, experienced some ups and downs in the restaurant business.

He said at first, he was planning to open up the restaurant in Delray in 2017 but ran into some issues.

Dominique said he was searching for a new location and chose the spot inside the Citadel in Little Haiti in 2019 after saving up enough money to finally open the business.

"The Citadel was the perfect place to open," he said.

But the COVID-19 pandemic struck with government restrictions limiting operation for all restaurants in Florida.

Dominique said he bought a food truck because he thought the Citadel was planning to shut down.

"We didn't want to lose that momentum so we operated the food truck for a while."

He said when the restrictions were lifted, he reopened in Little Haiti and first expanded in Wynwood, but the restaurant business was still reeling from COVID-19 and he decided to sell the location to avoid financial issues.

That's when the opportunity to start a location in Doral was staring him right in the face.

"I love the process of exposing Caribbean culture to other people," he said. "I think it's unique but the culture doesn't get enough credit for making some great food. Caribbean culture is about flavors and where they come from in general."

Dominique decided to follow his grandfather's footsteps.

His grandfather owned a restaurant and hotel in Haiti for years and Dominique decided to study hospitality management at Florida International University.

After he graduated with a bachelor's degree, Dominique returned to Haiti to work for his grandfather's first hotel, which by that time was a bit rundown and was experiencing insolvency.

During his time there, Dominique was able to turn it around and get the hotel back to its prominent years, posting record revenues in his first 2 years.

After 3 years, he decided it was time for him to do his own thing, so he left the hospitality industry and tried different things.

He then started to work with his father who owns a shipping company, which led him to travel throughout the Caribbean.

But Dominique still held on to his dream of owning his own restaurant someday.

It wasn’t until he spoke to his wife about it that he started to put his dream to work.

Dominique said she was supportive of his dream and she started doing some research on his behalf.

She knew he didn’t just want to have a restaurant, but that he wanted to do something that was different and that reflected his personality.

Dominique said when he started his concept in 2014, Haiti's economy was in decline and he needed a contingency plan, which gave him the opportunity to demonstrate the Caribbean flavor, especially Haiti's flavor, in Miami.

"That is what we are about," he said.  

Dominique said he created all the recipes for his restaurant himself.

The menu includes Caribbean conch fritters, Tootay, a Haitian style Ratatouille, Haitian fried chicken sandwich, Creole style braised pork, jerk chicken, coco loco shrimp, jerk shrimp, steak frites and vegan bowls.

Dominique employs a staff of 11 people at his Doral and Little Haiti locations.

He said sometimes he sits down at tables to watch people's facial expressions while they are eating, especially customers eating Caribbean food for the first time.

"Some smile and some people dance," he said. "People appreciate what we are doing and some don't. You can't please everyone."