Shirley's - Whitehall b/t Pearl & Bridge

This cart, emblazoned with the flag of Trinidad, is right in front of the building where I work. There's always a line, so I thought I'd go on the late side for my first visit. Wrong move. By the time I got to the front of the sluggish line, the only choices left from the extensive menu were curry goat or vegetarian special. I was all excited for roti (available only on Mondays and Thursdays), but Shirley told me she usually runs out by about 12:45. She said to come at 12 on Thursday if I want roti. I opted for the vegetarian special and a homemade ginger beer. After I had the first bite of veggies, taken from right in the middle of the pile of hot sauce, I appreciated the sticky sweetness of the ginger beer. A little too sweet on its own, even with the strong ginger bite at the back of my throat, but a perfect foil for the hot hot sauce. The vegetarian special is a pile of chunky tofu, green beans, chickpeas, a little cabbage, and a few pieces of carrots over rice, with a lot of hot sauce on top. The veggies are quite cooked, not especially fresh (some are canned), but with all the hot sauce they were pretty tasty.

When I finally made it out early enough to snag a roti, I watched Shirley carefully lay the huge, slightly greasy, yellow pancake (perfectly browned and kept warm in a little red igloo cooler) down in the styrofoam container, top it with two pieces of curry chicken (on the bone - a leg and a thigh), a few potatoes and a handful chickpeas in a mild curry sauce (also a little greasy), and squirt a generous stream of hot pepper sauce on top. She folded the roti pancake over the juicy mountain of chicken, but there's no way you could pick up this thing. A knife and fork are required. My carefully balanced forkful of the bread, chicken, sauce and veg was spicy and full-flavored, with a little hot sauce kick. My lunch buddy from work, D (whose parents are from Trinidad and Grenada) says that he prefers a more mobile roti like his mom makes, one with boneless chicken, goat or shrimp so it can be picked up and eaten like a wrap. I'm sure I too would prefer his mom's roti, but no such luck today.

I copied D and ordered a sorrel to drink, even though I had no idea what I was going to get. I expected it to be green and vegetal and strange, but as it turns out sorrel is made not from sorrel but from hibiscus, and it is delicious! The sweet fruity taste is balanced by hints of cinnamon and maybe nutmeg? I love this stuff! It is a little too syrupy, but perfect after the particularly spicy bites of roti.


Next time I tried jerk chicken with rice and peas. The rice was doused in a dark brown gravy, topped with a couple of pieces of chicken, a small scoop of veggies (broccoli, cabbage, carrots) and a squirt of hot sauce. The chicken was well spiced and supertender, just falling off the bone. Gravy just tasted fatty and didn't add much flavor. My problem with jerk is that it's spicy, but it's a little one-note - nothing to round out the spice (other than my sweet sorrel), so no depth to the flavor. I prefer the curry chicken here.