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This Issue 11/29/2007

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Brown Sugar Café

219 S. 52nd Street

(215) 472-7380

Though the Brown Sugar Café doesn't look like much from the outside, this nondescript corner bakery offers authentic Trinidadian cuisine you can't find anywhere else.

The service at the take-out window is personable and offers free samples. All the dishes boast hearty portions of succulent meats (including Caribbean specialties like goat and oxtail), soya chunks or warm channa (chickpeas) and spiced potatoes. The most popular item to accompany these dishes is a flat bread that you can order plain or smothered in butter. The menu also is littered with some unique and unusual choices, like callaloo - a flavorful Caribbean soup - and Escovitch fish.

The real reason to head to the Brown Sugar Cafe, however, is the bakery. Apple, currant, and coconut turnovers, bread pudding and a host of other Caribbean goodies are baked fresh daily. Coconut is the ingredient of choice in most items, but there are many other fruit preserves from which to choose, including mango, tamarind and plum.

The food and drink menu is exhaustive (try one of their many fresh fruit juice options), the staff is cordial and the atmosphere casual. Don't fret the trek out West.