Today we are going to take you to the islands of the Caribbean and to the
northeastern coast of South America without buying a plane ticket or hopping
on a plane. We're going to Guyana and to Trinidad and Tobago today. So we're gonna
be in South Richmond Hill/South Ozone Park Queens. It's a very concentrated
community for Guyanese and Trinidadian groceries, food, culture. It's one of our
favorite food neighborhoods here in New York City - that we rarely go to. It's
because it's kind of far from us. Took the bus, now we're waiting for our train ride
So we're waiting for the A train and there's a little confusion here. So
if you're trying to come visit, there's two A trains. There's the A train that goes
to Far Rockaway and JFK Airport so you'll see a lot of people with their
luggage. And then there's the A train that goes to Lefferts Boulevard. That's the
one you want to take is the Lefferts Boulevard A train to get here.
After that long journey, we're at Lefferts Boulevard, last stop on the A train.
We are ready to eat! Gonna hit up about four to five spots today, depends how
we're feeling. Gonna have a lot of different foods. We're gonna get some aloo pies and
doubles, some roti. some pepper pot, some other baked goods and we're gonna see what else we could find out here too.
Right now we're at the corner of Liberty Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard. So Liberty Avenue
is the main strip here in Richmond Hill/Ozone park for a lot of shops here,
lot of restaurants, shopping centers, a lot of that. But actually our first
stop is gonna take us down Lefferts Boulevard off this main strip to our
favorite spot for Trinidadian food and snacks. It's our favorite spot for aloo
pies and weekend-only bake and shark. It's called Trinciti, so we're gonna take
you there now. Let's do it.
We're outside Trinciti. We've mentioned before that we come - we don't
come here often, but whenever we get on long flights to Asia, we make sure to
stop by. This spot is very convenient to JFK Airport is very close by. So we've
been coming here for about four to five years. And what we really love from them
are their aloo pies. Aloo pie is a fried dough - it has a little potato inside then
it's stuffed with chickpeas. Very portable - that's why we like to take it
on trips with us it's very easy to eat. And what's special here is on the
weekends, they have Bake and Shark. It's a classic Trinidadian sandwich that's
often found on Maracas Beach. We've not been yet - yet is the key. We're gonna go but they
only have it here on Saturdays and Sundays it's delicious, so we're gonna get that as well. Starving.
Hello. Can I have three aloo pie and one bake and shark please?
Everything please. Thank you.
Finally got it. Rip it open.
What is this? Bake and shark. Bake and shark
Bake is this fry bread on top
And we have fried shark meat buried in here with all these different
chutneys, mayo, there's mint chutney, there's cucumber, there's a slice of ripe
pineapple, there's cabbage, there's lettuce there's tomato. This thing is packed - look at that
Shark is so meaty, juicy. It's got the creaminess of the mayo, has got the
spiciness from the pepper, crunchiness from the veggies and you get the pineapple in there
too - that really puts everything together. All that pineapples so good
with the shark. Sweet, spicy, creamy and savory - man. I'm not sure if you can
really see it but this is pineapple tomato cabbage and of course shark.
You got so much going on
So bake and shark was incredible
Now, we got our favorite plane food - aloo pie
See how tightly packed all the ingredients are right there. So you have the channa
(the chickpea), the pepper sauce, the tamarind sauce all together in this fried bake
and it's actually stuffed with potatoes. So if you know what a knish is,
especially the old-school New York street knishes, this is very similar. So
let's take that first bite.
There's out-of-control flavor that one bite. That really spicy pepper that hits you.
Then you got the crunchy cucumber, then you have those soft curried chickpeas then
the inside itself the potato has cumin flavor. Spicy sweet tangy the
textures are soft, a little crunch - oh man. This is really one of my favorite foods.
Period. Not just in Queens, but period. This is like - and all it just it's a buck
fifty for it. A few of these and you're full, that's why we take these on the
plane. Every couple hours you eat one of these - fills you up. This is unbelievably good. It really is.
This little space right here used to be their old space. They're so popular
and so good that now they've expanded to a much larger store front. So we're very
happy for them - they're an incredible place. We are off to our second stop. First stop
was a great success, but our second stops gonna be really interesting. It's a fusion
of Chinese food and Caribbean food - both never been. Both never been to this spot -
it's called Good Hope, so we hope that the food is good right?
Hehe corny as hell, I know
We have made it to Good Hope.
Stop two - gonna see, should be some interesting stuff. Fried rice with jerk pork. Got that Caribbean, that Chinese.
I like those kind of mashups. We've had this kind of food before - it's really good so we're curious to see how they do it here.
Cha chi kai chicken and one more thing - jerk pork fried rice, please. Thank you.
Alright, so our first dish has arrived. It's called Cha chi kai chicken.
Fried chicken pieces with chopped scallions peppers - smells like it could be a little
spicy. It looks very crispy. This almost reminds me a lot of like the Chinese
American fusion like a General Tso or Sesame Chicken, but without the
heavy sauce on top. Looks like a dry spice - looks really interesting. Curious to check it out.
Seriously can't wait to eat.
We got the cha chi kai chicken and then we have jerk pork fried rice.
It's got a little vinegary tang to it definitely hot, you can see the little seeds with the
scallions chopped up. It's a really nice dish. It's not saucy, it's really
crispy, really good. Bone-in chicken too - that's where all the good stuff is, you know? Let's try a bite of
this jerk pork covered with a little bit of rice. Definitely has that Chinese char siu
roast pork flavor, that classic Chinese roast pork flavor. It's a little bit of
jerk, it's not a not a very dominant jerk flavor in there.
Looks like they lacquered a little bit of sauce on there, but this actually reminds
me much more of like a classic Chinese American roast pork fried rice. Very much so.
It was a very interesting experience. It was more like
a bar it was definitely like a spot for bunch of guys to chill and drink with
some food on the side. It was a very interesting place with full of dudes.
So that's 5:35 p.m. We started this crawl at around - we actually got here at like
1:30/two o'clock. Yes. And now we are on our third stop. Trying a new
dish tonight a traditional Guyanese dish we have never tried before
called pepper pot. We've been to Sybil's many times but we've never tried this dish.
Yeah - very excited to check it out.
Got some stuff. Got a little more stuff
than I expected to get but that's what we do.
Like little baked goods.
Just to let you know this is our third stop
This thing - called tennis roll
What's in here?
It's like with cheese. It's a slice of cheese inside. But it's a traditional Guyanese roll
Whoa I got these chicken patties. Heard they were supposed to be really good.
And pineapple tart
And then we got the pepper pot, which I'm very excited about.
The famous pepper pot. We have pieces of oxtail, there's a little piece of star anise
right there too and there's cinnamon cloves. I don't think is in this specific batch
but there's cinnamon cloves in here as well. So it looks very tender look at
this strikingly dark sauce here. A very slow cooked dish looks like
a lot of love is put into this. Whoa look at this cartilage
Could really taste that star anise, slightly sweet. Oh then the little heat comes through
after kinda feel a tingle in my nose there a little heat. Now let's get a little piece on
the bone
The flavor combo - that dark sauce with the oxtail and beef is just such a nice
combination. Look at this tender meat just comes right off the bone. This is delicious. Dark
sauce comes from cassareef, which is part it's made from cassava root. This is a
real dark liquid so it really goes well with this kind of meat. Get that nice
cartilage it really feels like that collagen it's like eating cow foot,
chicken foot. It's all that good stuff good for your skin. I grew up eating
Jamaican patties a lot. Jamaican beef patties and later on Jamaican jerk
chicken patties, but never tried a Guyanese patty before. So this is the
Guyanese chicken patty, let's check it out.
Chicken's got a nice spice to it. The outside pastry is really flaky it's
really nice. Chicken is densely packed inside
You still have that layer of pastry on the outside. It's good it's not too
buttery either it's really nice. Great first time trying this.
As you can see, it's night time.
We are heading to our last stop
Well, may not be the last. Heading to our next stop. Which is Singh's
So we're - Sybil's was Guyanese
and now we're going back to Trinidad and Tobago once again to Singh's. Yes.
Singh's is a long time favorite. First place I tried Trinidadian food way back in the day
15 years ago we'll say. My mom introduced me to it she heard it from some friends.
So this spot is great - they have awesome dhalpuri roti. Gonna get that with
some goat curry. And we're gonna get some doubles the classic Trinidadian snack.
The two pieces of bake - the fry bread with the chickpeas inside. Similar to the
aloo pie we had earlier but without the aloo - without potato.
We have our first dish from Singh's this crazy double right here. It's packed to the brim
with channa, the chickpeas. Though it's similar to the aloo pie we had earlier,
except there's no aloo in here - there's no potato. There's just the bake - the two
pieces of bake, the fry bread on the outside with the channa (chickpeas) inside
with tamarind sauce with pepper sauce, cucumber I believe, carrots. Chickpeas for sure
Let's take that bite
It's a nice switch up from the aloo pie because the potato doesn't block out the
flavor of the chickpeas and you taste more of the bake as a result. As much as we love
aloo pies and we do, the doubles are very nice too. They're both so
delicious and the channa was exploding out of that bite. Trinidadian food
Guyanese food - some of our favorites because you get that Indian and that Caribbean fusion. It's beautiful.
Ahh I love this place! First, we're gonna tell you how big this order they gave us.
With potatoes in curry. So much curry in here.
And the dhalpuri roti - look at this thing! It weighs about a pound or two you know it's heavy.
It was all under ten bucks!
Alright so the first bite is gonna be of this potato
It's so soft. Some potatoes can be underdone, tough. This is really soft it
absorbs all the flavor of that curry. It's been stewing in that curry in the
front for hours. And, now that it's been in this container with the goat for a
little while, it's absorbed some of that nice goat
flavor too. It's great. Let's actually get to the goat meat. Look at this big chunk of goat
You have some bone-in, but this is a boneless piece right here. Let's take a bite
It's nice that the goat is chewy in a good way
but a bit of tenderness. It's not like fall-off-the-bone melt-in-your-mouth
tender, but it's got that good combo of chew and tenderness it's really good.
It's very meaty
We're not done. We're gonna go to another spot. This spot called Veggie Castle.
Do a lot of vegan Caribbean food but they also have a juice bar.
We definitely got napkins. Look at all the napkins we got. Napkins for days, for years, for centuries.
Oh my god this is a lot a lot a lot a lot