On November 1, local fast-food giant Island Grill rolled out its breakfast menu. Egg sandwich, cornmeal and hominy porridge, stew chicken, ackee and salt fish and callaloo with your choice of yam and salt fish banana and dumpling or festival, and fish and bammy, are available at nine of its outlets islandwide.

On Tuesday, November 3, some members of the editorial department of The Gleaner Company were given a chance to weigh in on the breakfast items.

Stew chicken with yam, banana, dumplings and callaloo

The stew chicken was good, however, the callaloo needed some more salt. Overall, it was all right.

I must first congratulate Island Grill on the look of the breakfast. It was great to have a breakfast from a fast-food establishment that was not in a Styrofoam container.

The stew chicken was well seasoned and tasty while the food, with the exception of the yam, was good. The yam had a bitter taste and I am not sure what was the cause. Outside of that, it was a good meal that I would buy.

Ackee and salt fish with yam, banana and dumplings

I am a bit biased when having ackee away from home. I am very picky, and similar to other ackee I've had, away from home, it was too soft and did not have enough seasoning. I prefer my ackee to be more solid and well seasoned.

Fried fish (sliced) with festival/bammy and vegetables

Escoveitch fish with bammies.

As always, great packaging. The fish is well seasoned and properly done (hope it's not a one-off thing). I would, however, want more pieces in the dish - festival and bammy. I would prefer real fish too ... but please ... it's great!

The festival was OK, but the fish had a slight bitter aftertaste. The lettuce was fresh and nice but the tomato was mushy.

I like the fish and festival but would prefer the bammy. The container is different and the added sauce adds authenticity. The tomato slices and lettuce were great. I do not like the hominy porridge, except for the flavour that is good. The texture and quantity of corn are not good. This is not unique to Island Grill; I have not seen anyone make this porridge the right way commercially so I do not think hominy lends itself to mass preparation.

Island Grill's breakfast menu is available at: two national airports, Central Point Montego Bay, Catherine Hall, Ocho Rios, Cross Roads, New Kingston, Twin Gates Plaza and Manor Park branches.