How can you tell if you’ve just entered a good restaurant? Simple. There’s a feeling that comes across and let’s you know you can relax yourself and prepare to nyam! When you step into Sisters Caribbean Cuisine on East 124th Street in Harlem USA, you can sense the high regard they have for the food they serve. It feels like you just reached home from church and you’re about to eat the supper your grandmother just spent hours cooking. It’s all in the details.

Too many restaurant owners act as if common courtesy, cleanliness, and ambience should come at a premium. Not so at Sisters. It’s about pride, quality and an earnest desire to feed the souls of the people who travel from all over New York to patronize them.

Marlyn Lawrie –Rogers, owner of Sisters Caribbean Cuisine, started this family business nine years ago on a block that was an eyesore in a neighborhood that was in steady decline. But she used faith, hard work and family support to grow that business into a restaurant that has received honors from the city and the press. Sisters has been reviewed by the Amsterdam News, appeared in the New York Times Restaurant section twice in the last six years and is twice the recipient of the Eric Asimov Award for Best Restaurants in the Below $25 class.

Notice the name on the awning is Sisters Caribbean Cuisine. Marlyn, a native of Guyana, recognizes that the Caribbean is also a melting pot of preparations and cooking styles. To show her commitment to embracing them all, she employs cooks that represent Antigua, Trinidad and Jamaica. Her menu also reflects the various cuisines, for example, the oxtail is prepared Jamaican style, while the calaloo is prepared Trinidadian style with okras, and the curry chicken is done Guyanese style. No pork is used in any of her dishes. The vegetables are made without any oil or butter, yet are fresh and flavorful as they melt in your mouth. The chicken is always skinless because at Sisters, food is also about health and treating your body well.

Marlyn shared some of her personal philosophies that make Sisters such a wonderful place to eat. “I am set in my ways of standards and quality”, she says. “The distributors assumed that because my restaurant is [located] uptown I would accept anything they send, but my customers deserve the best, so I never hesitate to send an order back if it is not up to my standards. As a matter of fact, we only serve fish Wednesday through Sunday when I am able to go downtown and select the fish personally. And, cleanliness doesn’t have to be downtown only.”

These high standards are reflected in the food which is visually appealing, and ‘nuff. The rice and peas, with a subtle taste of coconut just glides over your tongue, anxious to fill your belly. The Trinidadian Style Chicken, in a caramelized brown sauce with herbs, is tender and delicious. The menu can be mixed and matched to suit the customer’s palette, so you can have any combination of dishes appearing on the daily menu.

Sisters Caribbean Cuisine is a fine example of a popular island phrase…. ‘only the best is good enough’!