Callaloo Trinidadian Kitchen

Sep. 7 - For me to have a favorite anything is a big deal. I tend to love a lot of things, and have been known to exaggerate a little. Especially when it comes to food, I love SO MANY different things, and so many different restaurants, that you'd think it'd be hard for me to pick a favorite. But it's just so easy to choose when you've been to Callaloo.

A tiny, beautifully decorated restaurant, with a bright green hummingbird on the front window, Callaloo serves immensely flavorful Trinidadian cuisine. I've been there probably ten times now, and every time it blows me away. I'm convinced that I'm their biggest fan, and they should pay me for advertising. Seriously, it's just so good. Anyways, the food.

The first time I went I had studied the menu beforehand, but I was so not ready for what was to come. We ordered three different sharing plates; the aloo pepper roti, roasted cauliflower, and the soup special, which was butternut squash served with a complementary piece of coconut bread. It amazed me how every bite was so different; the roti crispy and spicy, the cauliflower tangy, and the soup beautifully rich and sweet. My eyes opened wider and wider with every bite and I knew I had found somewhere special. For the main course, we shared buss up shut (a flatbread meant to be ripped apart) with the chicken curry. Now this, this is a dish you can take home to mom. It's both exciting and comforting, the kind of thing you could eat every day and not get sick of. Perfectly tender chicken, potatoes, pumpkin, and a mix of spices that I could never replicate, come together to make such an impressive dish that I've raved about ever since. It's been almost a year since that first trip and I still think about it far too often.

In the time since my first visit, I've brought lots of people (mostly as an excuse to eat there myself), and have pretty much eaten the whole menu. Doubles (a street food with similar ingredients to the curry) never disappoint as a shared plate, and most recently I was amazed by an eggplant stuffed bread special, and what they call calypso corn, a simultaneously sweet coconut-y and spicy dish that rocked my world. As for vegetarian options, they've got plenty, and the curried vegetables stand out as one of the most delicious things I've eaten there. Oh and don't even get me started on the ginger and lemongrass creme brulee. Just bring everyone you know and order the whole menu, I promise you'll love it all.

So, if I haven't convinced you (what is wrong with you??) check out the menu for yourself, and if you're ever in the bustling metropolis of Lancaster, PA, stop in and try it out!

(Menu changes seasonally, some dishes mentioned may not be there anymore.)

#restaurants #Trinidadian #food #Callaloo #cherrytable #review