by MARK SLUTSKY

Guyanese cuisine contains a mix of influences that reflect the makeup of the West Indian country itself. With an East Indian-African-Portuguese-Aboriginal population, the country's cookery's lends itself to an interesting variety of dishes: curries and chow meins, fried rice and jerk chicken. It's like West Indian food with an Asian twist.

I first experienced this particular brand of South American cooking at Jardin de Cari on St-Viateur, which still remains one of my faithful standby restaurants - I can always go for a chicken roti with pumpkin there, especially on a freezing winter night. It's practically a Mile-End institution.

Recently, the same family who originally opened Le Jardin, and who have since moved on, started a new roti spot on the other side of the neighbourhood. Caraïbe Delite is a high-ceilinged but still cozy room, with the familiar Guyanese tourism posters on the wall. Actually, there's a lot that's familiar about this place - on first glance, the menu is similar to the one at Jardin de Cari. Very similar, actually, with both restaurants offering roti, chow mein, fried rice, potato balls, homemade peanut punch and phulori dumplings, among other things. Even the yellow menu looks the same. But a closer examination reveals some differences, with Caraïbe Delite throwing jerk chicken, rotis and curries made with the enticing tropical gilbaka fish, and a few other things into the mix.

Try the Mulligatawny soup ($3.50) for starters - available with either goat or chicken. The Anglo-Indian name literally means "pepper water," and that should give you an idea of what it tastes like: mildly spicy and rich. My only complaint was the use of frozen vegetables - peas, corns, and carrot - in the soup. For a dry appetizer, go for the pulouri ($3 for five), crispy fried chickpea dumplings.

Rotis are probably the restaurant's main attraction, available in shrimp, goat, boneless chicken, chickpeas and gilbaka variations (all $8.50, except for the chick pea roti, $5.50). They're tasty and filling, great big beasts stuffed with curried yellow split peas and potatoes, as well as your choice of filling, of course. The roti bread itself, both here and at the Jardin de Cari, is doughier than what you get at other West Indian restaurants, almost nan-like in its consistency. Don't forget to add stewed pumpkin to the mix, and don't ignore the bottle of homemade Scotch bonnet hot sauce on the table. Its citrus-y taste makes it extremely flavourful for a sauce this spicy, so don't miss out - it's an essential element. (It's also, unsurprisingly, very similar to Jardin de Cari's homemade sauce, if perhaps a little hotter.)

Order a curry and you'll basically get the filling from a roti (or would it be more accurate to say order a roti and you'll get a wrapped-up curry?), plus a green salad, rice and plantains (all are $9.95, save the chickpea curry, at $7.50). I recommend trying the gilbaka, a tasty whitefish with meaty flesh that soaks up the curry's spices very nicely. The fried plantains are also available as a side dish for $3.

Chow mein and fried rice appear under the menu's "Guyanese Style" heading. The chow mein, available in veggie, chicken or shrimp variations ($9.95, save for the veggie, which is $7.50) is tasty enough, soft noodles sautéed with your choice of meat and vegetables and tossed with lettuce. It's not such a substantial meal, though, and a little pricey for what you get. The fried rice is much the same, though not as flavourful as the chow mein. Both were improved immeasurably by a liberal application of hot sauce. As was the jerk chicken ($9.95), which was tasty but not particularly distinguished - there was a little too much bone and not enough meat when I ordered it. Still, ain't nothing that can't be perked up by that sauce.

Questions? Comments? Hot tips? Drop a line at eattothebeat@gmail.com.

Caraïbe Delite
ADDRESS: 4816 Parc (just above Villeneuve)
PHONE: 274-4509
HOURS: Mon–Fri 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Sat noon–9 p.m.; Sun 4–9 p.m.
BEST FEATURES: The homemade hot sauce and the pulouri dumplings
ALCOHOL: Yes
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Yes
CREDIT CARDS: No
NO-SMOKING SECTION: Yes
PRICE: $6–$13 per person, before booze or tip
RATING: *** out of ****