Negril Village

In case you’re new to this blog, I’d like to give you a little heritage background on myself. My mom is Bajan (slang for Barbadian- a person from Barbados) and my dad is Half Haitian, Half Cuban. With all of that Caribbean blood flowing through my body, you would imagine that I would be a great judge on classic Caribbean fair. Turns out, you would be absolutely right and I am a very tough critic when it comes to West Indian cuisine.

I’d have to say my tough criticism comes from the fact that I grew up with a family full of amazing cooks. For instance, my sister, Tonya, can make a mean macaroni pie and oxtails and my uncle Richard makes the bomb Pudding and Souse. Having grown up eating their food has made me so spoiled.

Now you may be wondering how being a mix of Bajan, Haitian and Cuban makes me equipped to judge food from say,  Jamaica. Well, the Caribbean is a relatively small place and cuisine from different countries tend to overlap, so there aren’t very many Carribean dishes you could ask me if I’ve tasted that I can say that I haven’t. Even if they go by different names or have different preparations, flavors are generally consistent from Country to Country.

Now that I have given you a bit of my credentials, I’d like to discuss a bit about my experience at Negril Village. Negril Village is a cute Island themed restaurant near Washington Square Park and NYU in the Greenwich Village Neighborhood of Manhattan. They specialize in, according to their tag line, ” Jerk, Reggae, Rum and more.” The hubs and I decided to have brunch here one Sunday when we stumbling upon it after a blog photo sesh in Washington Square Park.

Upon entering the colorfully decorated restaurant, we were greeted by a beautiful smiling hostess, who promptly asked the number of our party and  seated us in the upstairs portion of the restaurant.

We sat down and shortly after our colorful waiter brought us menus. Before leaving, the table he gave us a run down of the specials and the popular dishes. We were starving, so we didn’t let him “give us a minute” and promptly order 2 bottomless Mimosa and the cod fish fritters, which I jokingly told the waiter, couldn’t be better than my mom’s version. In 2 minutes time we had our drinks, we both decided to start with the Tropical Mimosa, a blend or champagne, guava, passion fruit and mango juices. For the lack of better words, “Wow”. That was probably the best mimosa I’ve ever had. The tropical juices, all of which I’m obsessed with individually, came together with the champagne and made a delicious, bright and refreshing drink. Needless to say, we ended up just stick with the Tropical mimosas the whole meal.

About 10 minutes after our worlds were rocked with the mimosa, we got our Cod fish fritters. Though I was right that Mom’s are better, these were a great contender. They had a great texture and flavor but were missing a bit of the heat that I have come accustomed to with my Mom’s version. The unexpected addition to this dish, was a side of avocado dip, which I think was a brilliant accompaniment to the fritters and is something I’d like to try the next time I make them at home.

Half way through our appetizer course, we ordered our main dishes and 10 minutes after us finishing, they arrived. I ordered the ‘Jerk Chicken ‘n’ Waffles’ and hubs ordered the Jerk steak and eggs. My waffles were perfectly cook, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and the guava syrup was a delightful and delicious addition. The Jerk Chicken, was also cooked perfectly and topped with a flavorful and zesty salsa. Though it wasn’t bad, I was underwhelmed with the Jerk flavor of the chicken. I’m used to highly seasoned and spicy jerk and this to me was a very tamed version. The same could also be said for Robbie’s Steak, it was just not enough Jerk flavor for our taste, though he did really enjoy the eggs and side veggies.

 

After stuffing our self with delicious Caribbean fair, I didn’t think that I could have taken another bite, until I saw bread pudding on the dessert menu. We decided to be meager and only order one to split but that one was just enough,to knock the rest of our socks off. The bread pudding, which I think was made with brioche, was warm, gooey and dripping with a delicious (yet slight too alcoholic) butter rum sauce. The juxtaposition of the warm and textually complex bread pudding and the cold and creamy rum raisin ice cream, literally put the cherry on the Sundae.

Final Grades:

Food: 9/10- The food was really good, even for my tough Caribbean-girl standards. I took off a few marks for the “toned down” versions of the Jerk and Fish Fritters

Ambiance: 9/10- The decor was cute and stuck to the Caribbean theme without being cheeky and too contrived. The live steel pan player really brought it home.

The Service: 10/10- We had an awesome server. He was attentive and even tried to make us smile with a joke or two.

Final remarks:  I really enjoyed this restaurant and can’t wait to go there again. I highly recommend Negril Village as a pretty good substitute to Mom’s Caribbean cooking.