Most locals know that Tip Top Cafe offers one of the best breakfast spreads on the island. But what about its lunch menu? From 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., the cafe offers a full lunch menu filled with island favorites,
Most locals know that Tip Top Cafe offers one of the best breakfast spreads on the island. But what about its lunch menu?
From 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., the cafe offers a full lunch menu filled with island favorites, including oxtail soup, bento, grilled mahi mahi and roast pork. Most dishes are served with rice, macaroni salad and fried noodles.
Tip Top Cafe also offers its spin on mainland classics, including teri sandwiches, burgers, grilled ham and cheese and French fries.
It’s not often that you see cheeseburgers sitting next to wun tun min on a menu.
Tip Top Cafe is reasonably priced — nothing on the menu costs more than $11.75 — which means the seats fill quickly.
The restaurant itself is a step back in time — the seats are covered in vinyl and the staff uses rolling carts when they stop by to take orders or fill up your glass with water.
What the cafe may lack in ambiance, it more than makes up for by serving onolicious foods with hearty portions.
For starters, I sampled the shrimp tempura (which came with three pieces for $3.50). It was fried to a golden brown and crispy on the outside, with tender shrimp within.
I then moved onto Tip Top Cafe’s “famous oxtail soup.” I chose a half order for $8.95 (the full order costs $11.75).
Even though I ordered the smaller bowl of soup, I was only able to eat half of the enormous portion.
This dish combined a healthy amount of vermicelli noodles with fall-off-the-bone pieces of oxtail. It came with a side dish of fresh cilantro and chopped ginger, which complimented the flavorful broth.
I moved on to the “Brownie’s Special,” which came with wing dings, hamburger steak, macaroni salad and rice for $10.50.
The wing dings (fried chicken wings) were both crispy and juicy, and the meat easily fell off of the bone. The hamburger steak was served with a healthy dose of gravy topped with a mound of onions. It had a bit too many onions for my taste, but the chef definitely gets praise for cooking the steak perfectly — it was perfectly moist and not overcooked.
For dessert, I tried one of the cafe’s freshly baked cookies. The oatmeal raisin cookie can be a meal in itself — the cookie is easily the largest cookie I’ve seen. It had a soft, chewy texture and was packed with raisins. I’m definitely planning another trip at Tip Top Cafe to try the chocolate chip.
Tip Top Cafe is open from to 6:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. It is closed Mondays. For more information call 245-2333.
