I wrote about a Michelin-starred restaurant last week, so it’s only right that I give equal opportunity to a more low-key spot, close to home, that I adore.  No food snobbery here.

Shortly after my husband and I met a number of years ago, he had his tonsils removed and could eat nothing but liquids or semi-solids for about 2 weeks.  Needless to say he was a complete baby about the whole affair, but I was a doting girlfriend at the time bringing him smoothies and soups to his heart’s content.

Sometime that second week, he decided that he wanted wonton soup…no, not from the Chinese place around the block, but from a Trinidadian-Chinese (umm, LeeKong anyone?) takeout spot deep in Brooklyn, the Royal Bakery & Roti House.

While he ordered his wonton soup, I ordered pretty much everything else on the menu for around $30!  Curried goat and potatoes wrapped up in delicate roti skins, fried, crunchy wontons with a soy dipping sauce, extra spicy chickpeas in two buttery, spongy pita-like wraps (doubles, my fave), rich and flavorful peas and rice, a thick, sweet, toothsome cake made from cassava (pone), chicken chow mein…the list goes on as did my eating binge that day.

This is now a go-to place for me when I’m craving some curried oxtail, shark and bake (a coconut bread) or even some lo mein.  I happen to have a real sweet spot for this drink called sea moss they make there; it’s creamy and sweet, made from a type of seaweed.   It’s also incredibly nutritious and (supposedly…) an aphrodisiac, but it’s unlike anything you’ve ever tasted.

It’s definitely a trek if you don’t live in BK, but completely and utterly worth it.  Authentic, delicious, rich with history, and so ridiculously inexpensive you can stock up and freeze some for the next time you crave it (which you will…).