Depending on which direction you’re eating through Liberty Avenue, some locals say that Little Guyana begins with S&A West Indian Restaurant and ends with Sybil’s. At the western Ozone Park section of Little Guyana, Indian-Trinidadian co-owner Savi Samsair has been bringing homestyle West Indian classics to Queens since 1996 (originally on Hillside Avenue). Here, locals flock to her aloo pie, a boat of fluffy, fried dough lined with mashed potato that eagerly soaks up its fillings. Ask Savi to make an aloo pie for you, and she’ll stuff it with boneless chicken curry, stewed pumpkin talkari, and a smattering of her housemade sauces like mango, tamarind, pepper, and a spicy “mother-in-law” made from about 20 different ingredients. Mango curry, oxtail stew, and bake and salt fish are also local favorites.

The labor-intensive coconut choka makes it a hard find (even in Little Guyana), but GT Rice Bowl, one of the few sit-down table-service restaurants in the area, has been dishing it out since opening its doors 20 years ago. A de-husked coconut is fire-roasted then finely ground and mixed with onions, garlic ,and hot peppers for a kick. The nutty flakes are then scooped on top of rice and dhal for one of the abundant home-style treats the restaurant excels at.

This neighborhood newcomer opened its doors in September 2020. The extensive Guyanese-Chinese menu reads like those you’d find at Chinese takeout spots but with West Indian flair. Highlights include goat curry, chicken in-the-rough (fried chicken), jerk tofu, lap chong, fried pacu (a South American freshwater fish related to the piranha), and pepper duck. Particularly delightful is the popular chicken fried rice: generous golden chunks of bone-in roast chicken nestled on top of rice lightly fried with chopped-up bora, or Chinese long bean, and a side of hot sauce.

In an ode to memories of “cooking up by the savannah” in Trinidad, the mother-and-son team of Sarah Singh and Adam Singh opened up D’Savannah with Trinidadian classics in November 2019. The counter spot is open as early as 6 a.m., so commuters can get their hands on breakfast staples like roti with stewed pumpkin or a saltfish and bake (a sandwich of Atlantic codfish that’s been salted, dried, and sauteed). A hit among the lunch crowd is the combination platter with jerk chicken and barbecue chicken over fried rice and chow mein with a side of their homemade peanut punch.

Named after the largest single-drop waterfall in Guyana’s sector of the Amazon rainforest, this low-key neighborhood spot invites guests to lay back with a Banks Caribbean lager or a Tomboy ginger beer with cutters (appetizers and bar snacks). Its Chinese-influenced cha chi kai chicken (crispy, breaded wings with hot peppers and scallions) is a hit here as are the fried shark and banga mary (a light white-fleshed Caribbean fish), and chicken over fried rice.

Guyanese locals line up here daily for their bread pantry essentials like plait bread (a breakfast-favorite white bread that’s soft, buttery and braided), tennis rolls (sweet rolls that you can break off from the fluffy loaf), and bags of bara (spicy, golden fried orbs of chickpea flour and spinach not to be confused with Trinidadian bara that bookends doubles) coupled up with little containers of tamarind chutney. Bakewell serves all the other freshly baked Guyanese favorites like pine tarts, salara (swirled red coconut bread), and dhal puri (paper-thin roti stuffed with ground yellow split peas), among other items. A family-owned halal enterprise,  

the father-and-daughter duo of Chief Samsair and Sasha Samsair brought the shop from Guyana in 2016.

The Trinidadian family-owned Singh’s Roti Shop has been a beacon for the metropolitan West Indian community since it swung its doors open in 1990 and has since lured line after line of compatriots even throughout the pandemic. Sure, there are steaming trays of glistening goat curry, spicy mango curry, tender oxtail stew, and chunky stewed pumpkin ready to be dipped into shreds of dhalpuri roti, but Singh’s number one allure is its doubles. Singh’s crew tops two warm, fluffy discs of bara flatbread with channa (curried and stewed chickpeas). Pre-pandemic, crowds packed the ample, neon-lit space for live chutney soca music (calypso with Indian instruments).

Legions of longstanding loyalists would easily crown Veggie Castle king of vegan cooking in New York. Since 1998, Viburt ‘Cookie’ Bernard, current owner of both his mom’s eponymous Sybil’s bakery and Veggie Castle, has been doling out Caribbean vegan fare favored by local Rastafarians at the latter. The soy-based garlicky ginger “chicken” is a hit here. Other menu highlights include jerk “chick’n,” vegan “fysh,” lentil patties, stewed black eyed peas, collard greens, and a creamy rasta pasta. A medium-sized meal with two sides and two proteins will run you $11.43. Dishes can be paired with beverages at the juice bar, which proposes antidotes to life’s ailments like the Hangover (watermelon, ginger, orange, and cucumber). A second Flatbush location that closed last year is set to open soon.