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Isle
of the Tropics
Bakery & Restaurant
211-61
Jamaica Avenue,
Queens Village
718-217-4646
Cuisine:
Caribbean
Hours:
9 a.m. to 11 p.m.,
Monday to Saturday; closed Sunday
A
recent afternoon spent in Queens Village left one visitor with the
sniffles, but it wasn’t the weather that made it happen.
The
visitor had lunch at the Isle of the Tropics Bakery & Restaurant, a
multi-purpose establishment that has been serving some of the spiciest
Caribbean food in Southeast Queens for the last seven years.
The
owner was so confident about his food that he declined to describe
it—and therefore spin this review—before we tasted it.
“It’s
real good,” he said.
“You just try it; you’ll know what I mean.”
We
know what he means!
We
tried the jerk chicken, which our friend said is the restaurant’s
specialty, its best seller and representative in style and taste of all
the dishes he serves.
The
cheap $6 dish was fantastic—served in a huge portion, it was fresh and
full of flavors and textures, the dominant one being spicy, of course.
We
like the way the restaurant implements the jerk seasoning, too.
Unlike the thin broth used at many Caribbean restaurants, Isles of
the Tropics uses a thick, paste-like sauce that sticks to the meat in
glorious clumps.
Sounds a little murky, but it tastes great—the best jerk chicken
one recent visitor has had in a long time.
The
dish is served with fresh vegetables, rice and peas and a plantain.
Other dishes include oxtail (the No. 2 specialty at the
restaurant), curry goat and chicken, stewed chicken, and cow foot. They
all cost between $6 and $7.50.
For
breakfast, the usual Caribbean choices are available, with the most
popular being the classic ackee and saltfish combination.
It’s
important to note that even though there’s no seating at Isles of the
Tropics—two counters are constantly occupied by diners—the restaurant
is a lot more than just that.
Three
other mini-sections—covering bakery, grocery and pharmacy items—give
Isles of the Tropics some utility to make up for the seating.
The
general store format sounds tacky in writing, but it’s actually quite
quaint. It’s
common in the West Indies and many business owners in Southeast Queens
import it here.
The
one characteristic that defines all three mini-sections is that they are
stocked mostly with items imported from the West Indies and that most
American customers aren’t familiar with.
The
grocery section—just a couple of shelves in the back of the
restaurant—stocks mostly cooking ingredients, including canned saltfish,
powdered milk and table wine.
The
bakery section is stocked with meat and vegetable patties whose baked
aroma fills the restaurant; at less than $2 each, the snacks are popular
with local students on their way home from school and anyone else looking
for a quick, tasty bite.
The
most interesting products sit on the restaurants two pharmacy shelves.
In
addition to common formulas like NyQuil and Robitussin, you can find
popular Caribbean remedies and tonics like Seven Seas Cod Liver Oil, Bay
Rum and Zion Organic Roots Drink.
Bedroom
Bully Herbal Tonic, with 2.5 percent alcohol content, is a virility drink
just for men. It’s
made with various herbs, roots and barks, including Echinacea, gingko,
guarana, ginseng and horny goat weed.
It
sells well, the owner said, but its effect comes more from the alcohol and
the psychological effect of drinking something called “Bedroom Bully.”
A
similar tonic on the same shelf, called “Panaxea Roots,” he said, has
a similar effect.
—
Shams Tarek
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