Above: the shop in Tartane, Martinique (CJ Photo)
TARTANE — You can hear the bell.
It’s Sunday in Tartane, a beach town on the east coast of Martinique, and there’s a bell ringing all around the main road.
It sounds like a bicycle, until you realize it’s coming from something stationary: a tiny ice cream shop just steps across from the beach.
It’s called OI Delices de la Caravelle, and it only serves ice cream on the weekends (during the week, the little stand is all about Martinique’s famous smoked chicken).
The range is wide enough, focused on local fruit flavours.
But we had to go for the Coco, a choice that was rewarded.
It’s a kind of gelato-meets-sorbet, with the rich and creaminess of gelato with the icy-crunch of sorbet — and that’s without mentioning the specks of pistachio dotting the coconut.
On a breezy, warm Sunday in Tartane, it sounds just the right note.
— CJ