Christine Francis, owner of the Caribbean Grill in Grafenwoehr, Germany, flips her signature stuffed dumplings at the restaurant on Oct. 22, 2024. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

To sample the West Indian flavors at the Caribbean Grill in Grafenwoehr, Germany, you’d better get there early or call ahead and place an order.

The cottage-sized to-go restaurant several hundred feet from Tower Barracks’ Gate 3 serves Jamaican, Trinidadian and Tobagonian dishes, and on most days, all the food sells out less than two hours after the place opens.

Even though I drive past it every day, I don’t know that I ever would have found the Caribbean Grill had it not been for a trip to pick up a new car.

A queue at the Caribbean Grill in Grafenwoehr, Germany, starts before opening at 11 a.m. on Oct. 22, 2024. The restaurant has become one of the hottest tickets in town, routinely selling out of food within the first two hours of service. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

The restaurant is nestled in a nook between American Motors and CrossFit Grafenwoehr and can’t be seen from the adjacent Diessfurter Strasse.

I noticed the line, which starts forming shortly before the 11 a.m. opening, stretching to the parking lot. Being an avid fan of Jamaican music, culture and food, I came back with my wife the following day for lunch.

The oxtail at the Caribbean Grill in Grafenwoehr, Germany, is a medium-cooked combination of solid protein and gelatinous collagen. The dish is a culinary staple in Jamaica and elsewhere in the West Indies. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

The jerk pork at the Caribbean Grill in Grafenwoehr, Germany, has a spice level that manages to appeal to a range of palates. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

We made sure to be there when it opened to ensure we got a plate. My wife got the jerk pork, and I chose the oxtail. We shared our plates and also split a stuffed dumpling. The pork was tender with a crispy jerk crust.

The level of spice managed to thread the needle of being enough for me, a lover of spicy food, and not too much for the more modest tastes of my partner.

Having been to Jamaica and tasted the cuisine of the island at its source, I can attest to the jerk’s bona fides. The meat was complimented by chewy fried plantains, which were sweet like a raisin, and spicy soul rice and peas.

The oxtail arrived in a delicious but mysterious sauce that tasted somewhere between curry and beef stew. The meat was sublime, a medium-cooked amalgamation of solid protein and gelatinous collagen that melted in my mouth.

I felt like a caveman as I ripped the meat from the bone. The dish came with a side of rice and peas, as well as cabbage with green onions and carrots, cooked with various seasonings and butter.

The beef dumpling at the Caribbean Grill in Grafenwoehr, Germany, features finely minced meat and savory sauce inside what tastes like a semi-sweet, crispy doughnut. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

The beef dumpling was a shining star that truly represents the essence of the tropics. It featured finely minced meat and savory sauce inside what tasted like a semi-sweet and crispy old-fashioned doughnut. I washed it down with a spicy ginger beer.

And thanks to the generous portions of both dishes, we made two meals out of our lunch by bringing home the leftovers.

In addition to ginger beer, the grill also sells Baba Roots herbal beverage, a product of Jamaica, and Big Bamboo’s Jamaican Irish Moss, a thick, vanilla-flavored concoction.

Owner and chef Christine Francis shows off her popular jerk chicken at the Caribbean Grill in Grafenwoehr, Germany, on Oct. 22, 2024. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Christine Francis, owner of the Caribbean Grill in Grafenwoehr, Germany, stirs oxtail simmering on the stove Oct. 22, 2024. Francis opened the highly popular restaurant after finding a scarcity of options for West Indies cuisine in the area. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Owner Christine Francis, an Army spouse originally from the Queens borough of New York, prepares every dish to taste.

“As far as cooking, I think that’s just probably in my blood,” Francis said. “I don’t cook with recipes. My end result is what I want it to taste like.”

Francis arrived in Germany in 2010 and originally worked at the Tower Barracks commissary. Unable to find sufficient homecooked fare, she opened the grill in 2017, incorporating family recipes and flavors from her own island roots.

Christine Francis, owner of Bavarian hot spot the Caribbean Grill, poses for a photo with her son, Cameron Flanighan, at the restaurant in Grafenwoehr, Germany, on Oct. 22, 2024. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

She uses proprietary spice blends and swears off pressure cookers, saying that they degrade the flavor. Francis is aided daily by her 25-year-old son, Cameron Flanighan.

Her culinary offerings became an instant hit in this Bavarian outpost, with every bite imbued with the vibrance and passion of the tropics. Count me and my wife as loyal members of the Caribbean Grill clientele.

Caribbean Grill

Address: Diessfurter Strasse 18, Grafenwoehr, Germany

Hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-7 p.m.

Cost: 3.50 euros for a beef or curry chicken stuffed dumpling; 13 euros for curry goat; jerk pork is 12 euros and oxtail is 13 euros

Information: +49 0176 2471 8519; www.facebook.com/caribbeangrill.graf/