By Rosemary Parkinson, Freelance WriterMain Street, Lucea, Hanover
Phone: 837-2901
Open: for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 6:30 a.m. until ...
I HAVE often noticed the cutest little place as I venture through Lucea, the Hanover parish capital. Located on the left hand side (coming from Montego Bay), just before you enter the town, one tends to fly past it, the brightly coloured exterior wall remaining in your mind's eye with promises to check it out. I am glad that I only checked it this week otherwise I might now look like an oversized manatee. I do pass through Lucea a lot, you see.
Parking just outside this 'hut', with the words Tapa Top reigning large on the sidewalk sign and pictures of people, food and coconut trees painted right across the top of the building, the first impression you get is that this is definitely a people friendly place. A line of chairs in the alley beside the hut suddenly became empty as men jumped up and invited us in with large smiles. A lady behind the tiny bar within reiterated the welcome as you enter. To the left there was a window looking out onto said alley beneath which there was a single table with stools.
This is Tapa Top. Simple. Cute. Small. Clean. Some of the stuff that good cookshops are made of.
I asked whether lunch was being served and my lady, the barmaid began shouting in true Ja-stylie at the air. "Chef Brown, di lady 'ere want to know what you 'ave fi eat."
From the back came a gentleman introducing himself as Chef Vassel Brown who then called out for Chef Orville Taylor. On arriving at the single table in the hut, both men proceeded to recite the menu: "Brown Stew Pork, Baked Chicken, Curry Goat, Conch, Fried Chicken, Stew Beef, Pepper Steaks, Curry Shrimp, Pig Trotters and Cow Foot."
"Pig Trotters?" asked I with that lustier-than-thou look in my eyes. "Oh no, not today. No trotters today."
All was not lost, however, for there was Cow Foot. My to-die-for delicious cow foot. Joy! From behind the bar, Madame put out to the air again that here at Tapa Top the chefs only cook with fresh home-made coconut milk. Okay then. So with that music in my ears, it was Cow Foot fi mi and Stewed Pork for Oral Anderson (yep, of home fast food review fame) -- both to be served with rice and peas and mixed vegetables.
'NUTTIN' WRONG WID DAT'
While the chefs disappeared into the back, I learned the following: The 'barmaid' is Rosemarie Thompson who hails from St. Elizabeth. Why Lucea? Well, she was "looking for a new environment and came here". Good answer. Nuttin' wrong wid dat.
A gentleman at the bar called "Indian" (I thought that's what I heard) is the landlord of the building. He loves hanging out at Tapa Top because he lives next door. Good thinking. He comes from Yallahs, St. Thomas, and there was no reason forthcoming as to why Lucea. Nuttin' wrong wid dat either.
Tapa Top opens from 6:30 a.m. with breakfast -- Steam Fish, Callaloo, Ackee & Saltfish, Brown Stew Fish, Cabbage, Steam Vegetable, Brown Stew, Curry Chicken and, of course, Johnny Cakes and food. For sure, nuttin' wrong wid dat.
Sometimes 'white' people come to Tapa Top. "In fact, last Wednesday we had a few," said Rosemarie, pointing at me but talking to the air again. "Dem drinking 'til 6 o'clock the next morning. It was fun. We had music, mi give dem a little dance, everybody laugh and drink and love it."
Certainly nuttin' wrong wid being nice to 'white' people at all at all especially if they have enough bills to drink until 6:00 the next morning.
There's a supermarket, come-bar, com-eatery, come-everything, a few doors from Tapa Top. It's also part of this 'family of food'. Every Little Ting opens from 5:30 p.m. until... For those who do not wish to enter the portals of Tapa Top, some of the food hut's fare is sent over to be sold there. Makes food sense.
SHEEER DELICIOUS ECSTASY
The mammoth servings arrived and the chat stopped. I did my perfunctory tastings with closing of eyes in sheer delicious ecstasy. Chat start again. I asked Chef Brown from whence came his desire to be a cook.
"Mi like to cook. It's 25 years mi cooking. Mi just watch somebody and like it."
I prodded to find out who was 'somebody'. Laughing, he informed me that he used to work at Verny House Hotel in Montego Bay and watched 'somebody' cook, deciding then that cooking would be his life. None the wiser on who this 'somebody' was, I requested that he divulge his special secret for cooking.
"He use good seasoning, di tings he put in it to give di food a good taste," came a reply to the air from Miss St. Elizabeth-whose-environment-is now-Lucea.
The overwhelming aroma of 'John Cravatty' being poured ever so carefully into plastic glasses filled with ice permeated the room. "This is the favoured rum in this bar. JB Overproof. Trelawny Blend," she offered. At 63 per cent overproof, I was not surprised.
Chef Taylor (from Mountainside, St. Elizabeth) was a little more informative. "My aunt, Martina James, taught me to cook." Taylor was once a chef at Thatched Hut in the West End of Negril. Why Lucea? "Because I want to establish great cooking across Jamaica."
Like a travelling chef, said I. The whole bar, now deep into the overproof, began laughing heartily, slapping shoulders in sheer joy. Chef Brown, not to be outdone, shouted over the din: "Wi just love to cook. Wi know what wi do and the people just leave us with our t'ing and dat is cooking. Wi like it here. Come let mi show you our kitchen."
With many warnings about ducking the low doorways, I was led into the back. There, Franklyn White, the hut's own scullion, watched as pot covers were removed, tastes were made, the oven doors opened and all manner of delicious looking local dishes proudly shown off. I tasted one kiss-mi-neck-good curry goat with my fingers, the gallant chef insisting on daintily wiping off the curry with a damp napkin.
"I hope your husband does not mind", he said. I did not bother to squash the belief that I would even consent to having one.
I paid my bill of J$400 and after saying my goodbyes left the little gang to enjoy the rest of the day -- the taste of incredibly good cookshop fare lingering on my palate all the way home.
Let me tell you, between that Brown Stew Pork, Curry Goat and Cow Foot, I don't think I will ever pass through Lucea again without a stop at Tapa Top. And for those who want to know why the name Tapa Top? It means high quality stuff, according to owners Levy Dickson and his girlfriend Vilma Baugh. Not wanting to confuse myself or my readers any further with this cosmopolitan set, I did not ask these two where they came from.
'Love flourishes like an ackee seed watered by the dews of tropic nights'.
- Taken from a collection of poems 'De City' by Elombe (Elton Deighton Mottley).
