Balloo

Down a long fluorescent hallway in a Downtown office building, you’ll find Balloo and its dozen seats wedged into a corner. The dining room has old photos, an antique cabinet, and is doing its best to make you feel like you’re in a house somewhere in the Caribbean rather than a block away from a Walgreens. No matter where you sit, you’ll be able to see everyone in the restaurant as they eat from a small but wonderful menu of Indian, Trinidadian, Carribean, and Chinese dishes. The menu changes a lot, but we like the spam fried rice, Singaporean chili crab tteok-bokki (stir-fried rice cakes), and amazing cheung fun with dried shrimp and scallion rice crepes. We’ll happily keep coming back here, especially if their phenomenal Thai-style micheladas are involved.

photo credit: Emily Schindler