Chef Ting Brings Bold Flavors From Black Diaspora to New Oak Bluffs Restaurant

A new restaurant experience in Oak Bluffs is bringing the flavors and the culture of the Black diaspora to the Oak Bluffs community.

Dishes on the menu at Black Joy Kitchen reflect Chef Ting's culinary heritage, such as Maalay Qumbe (coconut fish curry from Somalia) to Doro Wat with Inerja (spicy chicken stew from Ethiopia). Every bite will envelop your palate with the flavor combinations of world cuisines without leaving the Islands.

According to the Vineyard Gazette's Vine publication, the family brought Chef Ting to the Island during the early 1970s. “My white mom and Black dad got married in the 1960s, and the Vineyard became a haven for them,” she said. “It was where we would see a lot of families like ours.”

Family is evident in everything that the Black Joy Kitchen delivers through its guest experience, including barbecue meatballs from Georgia and the crispy whole piri-piri snapper from Cape Verde.

Chef Ting's wife, Melissa Bradley, runs the business side of the restaurant. Two of their daughters and a niece handle the restaurant floor. Chef Ting's oldest daughter Gabriella — also a chef — created three recipes for the restaurant's menu.

 In addition to the dishes, Black Joy Kitchen features a curated wine list from the House of Brown, which is part of the Brown Estates, a Black-owned family winery in Napa Valley. Cocktails offer a blend of classics and old-fashioned favorites, and the mocktails pack their own burst of flavor with every sip. For example, Be Easy on the Beat blends hibiscus strawberry shrub, mint, lime, and club soda.

Black Joy Kitchen is at 7 Oakland Ave. in Oak Bluffs.