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NYC's Ten Best Places To Buy, Eat Exotic Foods

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Published Mar 20, 2012

Modified Jun 20, 2012

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Published Mar 20, 2012

Modified Jun 20, 2012

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The balut at Maharlika (Katie Sokoler/Gothamist)

For those with an adventurous palate, New York is the ultimate edible playground. Between the city’s creative top chefs and our vibrant ethnic enclaves, there’s plenty of unusual fare to challenge and delight your tastebuds. Here’s a look at ten places—some restaurants, others markets or grocers—where you can satisfy your urge for exotic eats.

And if you like what you read below, tune in to BBC America’s "No Kitchen Required<,” a new food travel adventure series that takes chefs and viewers to some of the most remote, exotic locations across the globe. Premieres Tuesday, April 3rd at 10pm Eastern / 9pm central only on BBC America. (Continue reading to watch an exclusive trailer.)

Cuy, or guinea pig, at El Pequeño Coffee Shop (image courtesy Navigeaters)

Ali’s Kebab Café: Chef/owner Ali el Sayed himself takes up most of the space at this tiny sliver of an Egyptian restaurant in Astoria, Queens. Tell him you want “the good stuff” and he will oblige, piling you with airy pan-seared brains, meaty sautéed lamb heart with garlic and peppers, spicy sweetbreads, and, if you’re lucky, finely chopped, peppery goat testicles.
2512 Steinway St, Astoria, Queens // 718-728-9858

El Pequeño Coffee Shop: The name is somewhat misleading at this Jackson Heights, Queens Ecuadorian restaurant, whose menu goes way beyond café au lait. The off-menu house specialty is cuy, or guinea pig, spit-roasted and served whole, head intact. It helps to order ahead of time with a Spanish-speaking friend, and don’t forget to eat the best part—the crispy little ears.
86-10 Roosevelt Avenue, Jackson Heights, Queens // 718-205-7128

Henry’s End: This old-school, neighborhoody Brooklyn Heights joint boats an annual “game celebration” that’s less Monopoly and more spice-rubbed kangaroo and turtle soup. If you simply can’t decide, go all out with the mixed game platter, featuring herb-crusted elk chops, wild boar belly and venison sausage.
44 Henry St, Brooklyn // 718 834-1776 // website

A sampling of the spices at Kalustyans (Katie Sokoler/Gothamist)

Kalustyans: This epic Curry Hill spice shop is the place to find any “hard-to-find” ingredient—two stories and hundreds of shelves are crammed full of spices, sauces, dried herbs, bottled and jarred sauces, nuts, fruit and frozen treats from more than 70 different countries. Bitter gourd pickle? Fermented black garlic? 57 varieties of lentils? Kalustyans has you covered.
123 Lexington Ave // 212-685-3451 // website

Crack the shell and this is what you'll see inside the balut, or fertilized duck embryo. (Katie Sokoler/Gothamist)

Maharlika: One the city’s hip new Filipino restaurants, Maharlika nonetheless nods to tradition with their offering of balut, a fertilized duck embryo that’s a popular street snack in the Phillipines. It looks like an egg from the outside, but crack the shell and prepare to slurp down bits of bones and feathers swimming in their own broth—delicious!
111 1st Ave // 646-392-7880 // website

Mandani Halal: This family-run Ozone Park, Queens halal slaughterhouse (and the subject of the fabulous documentary “A Son’s Sacrifice”) allows customers to choose their own live lamb, poultry or goat to butcher. While you wait, the animals are given a last Islamic prayer, then quickly and humanely slaughtered for you to take home. It’s the freshest meat you’ll ever eat, guaranteed.
100-15 94th Ave, Ozone Park, Queens // 718-323-9732 // website

Sahadi’s: This Middle Eastern supermarket is stocked to the brim with specialty olives, nuts, fruit, sauces, spices and other hard-to-find delicacies, though the prepared foods section merits its own mention for ready-to-eat vegetable spreads, luscious stuffed breads and delicate homemade pastries you won’t find outside of Beirut.
187 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn // 718-624-4550 // website

Sik Gaek: While the menu at this Korean standby is huge, the dish they’re arguably best known for is the one that’s hardest to swallow: sannakji, or live octopus. The cephalopod is technically killed just before it’s served, so it arrives still wriggling about wildly. Let the staff chop the tentacles into smaller pieces with a pair of kitchen shears, dip in accompanying chili sauce, and dig in.
161-29 Crocheron Ave, Flushing, Queens // 718-321-7770 or 49-11 Roosevelt Ave, Woodside, Queens // 718-205-4555 // website

The fish at Tan My My (Katie Sokoler/Gothamist)

Tetchan, or large cow intestines, at Takashi

Tan My My: There are plenty of streetside fishmongers in Chinatown, but Tan My My has some of the freshest, cheapest fish and shellfish in town, with well-marked English signs, to boot. Check the eyes and gills of the whole fish and make sure your live crab and lobster are still kicking to ensure maximum freshness and therefore deliciousness.
249-253 Grand St // 212-966-7837

Takashi: This sleek Japanese restaurant specializes in one thing: beef offal. Expect exquisitely cut, carefully sourced cow stomach (actually, expect four different parts of stomach to be served), intestine, cheek, tongue, and more, served both raw and yakiniku style (marinated and grilled tableside).
465 Hudson Street // 212-414-2929 // website

Like what you've read here? Tune in to BBC America’s "No Kitchen Required,” a new food travel adventure series that takes chefs and viewers to some of the most remote, exotic locations across the globe. Premieres Tuesday, April 3rd at 10pm Eastern / 9pm central only on BBC America. And to further quench your thirst for foodie facts, read Anglophrenia to see why British cuisine is actually important as a gateway to exotic ones.

Tagged

Ali’s Kebab Café

El Pequeño Coffee Shop

exotic food

Henry’s End

Kalustyan's

maharlika

Mandani Halal

Sahadi’s

Sik Gaek

takashi

Tan My My

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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