Little Caribbean, Flatbush: The Ultimate Food Guide

A guide to Brooklyn's Little Caribbean along Flatbush, Nostrand, and Church Avenues, the food you will find, the history of the corridor, and how to eat your way through it.

Little Caribbean is a real place, an officially recognized cultural district in central Brooklyn. It runs through Flatbush and East Flatbush, roughly along Flatbush Avenue, Nostrand Avenue, and Church Avenue, and it is the densest concentration of Caribbean food and culture anywhere in the United States.

If you want the full spread of the islands in one walkable stretch, this is it.

Where It Is

The corridor sits in central Brooklyn, south of Prospect Park. Church Avenue and the stretch of Nostrand Avenue below it form the spine, with Flatbush Avenue running through the middle. Crown Heights borders it to the north.

Getting here is easy. The 2 and 5 trains stop along Nostrand and along Flatbush, and the B and Q reach the edges of the neighborhood. Most of the good eating is a short walk from a station.

What to Eat

The whole Caribbean is represented, but a few things stand out on this corridor.

• Jerk chicken and jerk pork, often cooked over charcoal in a steel drum right on the sidewalk.
• Oxtail and curry goat, stewed slow and served with rice and peas.
• Roti, both the Trinidadian and Guyanese styles, wrapped around curried meat, channa, and aloo.
• Doubles and other Trini street food.
• Jamaican beef patties, coco bread, and the full run of West Indian baked goods.

These are the sit-down and takeout spots along the corridor.

The Bakeries

You cannot understand Little Caribbean without its bakeries. This is where the hard dough bread, coco bread, tennis rolls, currants rolls, black cake, and beef patties come from. Grab a patty and a coco bread and you have lunch for a few dollars. Grab a black cake around the holidays and you have tradition in a box.

A Little History

The neighborhood grew through decades of migration from Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, Haiti, Barbados, Grenada, and beyond. By the time the city designated Little Caribbean as a cultural district, the food scene was already generations deep. The Labor Day weekend carnival along Eastern Parkway, just to the north, is the largest celebration of Caribbean culture in North America.

That history is why the food here is the real thing, not a version made softer for outsiders.

Before You Go

• Go hungry and go early. The best oxtail and curry goat sell out by mid afternoon.
• Bring cash for the smaller counters and bakeries.
• Ask before you add pepper sauce. It is hotter than it looks.
• Order a side of festival or fried plantain. You will not regret it.

Walk the corridor, follow your nose, and use the list above to find a real spot near the train.

Written by See The Five · kept current from the directory, last checked 2026-09-07