Eating In Translation

Amandla

Not-so-sloppy joe: a bobotie sandwich, plump with minced meat, at this new South African restaurant. Also shown: an overly prim serving of malva pudding. I like my malva messier.

H/T Kim, @Garsleat

Amandla
214 Greene Ave. (Cambridge Pl.-Grand Ave.), Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
347-689-3021

Like Cafe

Before and after: a fishball-shumai-noodle combo, "noodle" being the cafe's shorthand for the rice noodle rolls called chee cheong fun. These would have been better if more tightly wrapped, less limp; I was hungry enough not to mind much.

Like Cafe
6205 18th Ave. (62nd-63rd Sts.), Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
718-975-2188
www.Facebook.com/LikeCafeNY

Neerob

Bangladeshi restaurant Neerob, which reopened last year just steps from its original location, now also serves Chinese food calibrated for South Asian palates. Note the unzipped peppers in the chili onion beef (first photo). I haven't surveyed the entire current roster of food for which Neerob is best known; this was an unplanned second lunch of the afternoon, for which all items (including several not shown here) were comped. But I can vouch for the potency of the mustard oil in the chicken bharta, and for the fire-quenching properties of the mishti doi.

Neerob
2096 Starling Ave. (Olmstead Ave.-Unionport Rd.), Parkchester, Bronx
718-918-1234

F.O.B.

For your consideration in the category "costume design": the halo-halo waffle, crowned with a scoop of ube ice cream. Moments later it also made a bid for "live action short" — but, from the finale of our Filipino brunch, no footage is available. Also shown: octopus salad; bangsilog, a plate meal starring smoked milkfish.

F.O.B.
271 Smith St. (Sackett-Degraw Sts.), Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
718-852-8994
www.FOBBrooklyn.com

Shelsky's Brooklyn Bagels

Perhaps I've become too accustomed to "Flushing spicy." I chose the tamest possible pairing, an egg bagel, to take the measure of Sichuan chili crisp cream cheese, but, if I'd been sitting at a dumpling house, condiments at hand, I would have dabbed on a little chili paste, too. That said, the bagels themselves are delightfully chewy. An early favorite: cracked pepper and salt.

H/T Diana Kuan and Andrew Coe

Shelsky's Brooklyn Bagels
453 Fourth Ave. (at 10th St.), Park Slope, Brooklyn
718-855-8817
www.Shelskys.com/Bagel-Store

Exquisite Express

Five large squeeze bottles, each with a different sauce, sat at the pickup station. The counterman recited their virtues (the labels seemed to have fallen off long ago), but none were needed — not on the skin, not on the meat underneath. Late afternoon tide-me-over: jerk quarter-chicken.

H/T (from years back) Katie R

Exquisite Express
2847 Church Ave. (Nostrand-Rogers Aves.), East Flatbush, Brooklyn
718-693-4643

Raúl Candy Store

(This venue is closed.) Two-course dessert from this Loisaida kiosko, which closed in 2019 after more than 40 years. Also shown: a detail from the sign, illustrating a use for spare quarters that was more in vogue when the shop was new, and the storefront as it appeared in 2008.

H/T EV Grieve

Raúl Candy Store
205 Ave. B (12th-13th Sts.), Manhattan

Hari Deli

Next door to the Honduran consulate, tiny Hari Deli serves tamales and baleadas, delivered each morning by an outside provider. My chicken-and-potato tamal was good once rewarmed on the flattop (I imagine that baleadas get the same treatment), but it would have been better with some of the bacon that had sizzled beside it.

H/T Burlap & Barrel

Hari Deli
255 West 36th St. (Seventh-Eighth Aves.), Manhattan
Honduran food probably available weekdays only, in sync with the consulate's schedule

KC Gourmet Empanadas

Panamanian brunch: picadillo de bofe con hojaldas. In most of Latin America, "picadillo" denotes a mince, but this chunky style is typical for Panama. And although "bofe" (Bo-fay) is literally beef lung, this word might be a colloquialism in the spirit of "man-and-wife lung slices." That is, the meat might have come from some other part of the beast instead.

As for the hojaldas (oh-Hahl-dahs), these derive their name from the Spanish for "leaf." Torn bits of this excellent fresh-made frybread helped me scarf up the bofe. If you're dining with a buddy or two (the shop's tiny counter seats only three), consider an extra order of hojaldas on the side.

H/T EV Grieve

KC Gourmet Empanadas
38 Ave. B (3rd-4th Sts.), Manhattan
917-675-7039
www.Instagram.com/KC.Gmt.Empanadas

A&A Bake & Doubles Shop

Doubles are typically eaten by hand, like a burger, but even when unwrapped carefully, they're very difficult to photograph unless you set them down just so. (Same goes for this sloppy joe.) A basic order of doubles (that's the singular) consists of two baras, or fried flatbreads, that sandwich a layer of curried channa, or chickpeas. By all accounts, doubles are a popular street food in their native Trinidad and Tobago; despite that country's considerable community in New York, however, only the Trini Paki Boys, in Midtown, seem to sell doubles from a cart. Just as well, if you'd rather sit.

A&A Bake & Doubles Shop
1337 Fulton St. (Nostrand Ave.-Verona Pl.), Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
347-425-0016
www.AandABakeDoublesandRotiShop.com
Closed Sunday