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A & A Bake and Doubles
Rating Details »
Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant481 Nostrand Ave
(between Fulton St & Halsey St)
Brooklyn, NY 11216
(718) 230-0753
- Nearest Transit:
-
Nostrand Ave (A, C)
Franklin Ave (C, S)
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
14 reviews for A & A Bake and Doubles
It says "The Doubles King" in a few places on this storefront, and they receive absolutely zero arguments from me in using such a royal moniker.
From Bedford-Stuyvesent through Crown Heights and down to Prospect Lefferts Gardens it is not hard to find yourself a good bake or doubles, but the best places are most easily detected by their lines out the door. On a weekend late morning you might be enjoying a queue of 20-30 minutes with other hungry souls, but at anytime of day these doubles ($1.25 each) are worth the wait.
Really it should not be photographed because without tasting you might be turned off by the look. But these flatbread delicacies are delicious, a flavorful curry combined with sharp tamarind sauce and spice. Three is most certainly enough for a filling lunch, making this an economic dream. A printed sign describes their urgent and apologetic need to raise the price a full quarter higher from the old $1.
They also have all the rest of the stuff you normally find in a Trini bakery, aloo pies, bus-up-shuts, and of course bakes, which are actually sandwiches with various choices of ingredients. You cannot go wrong with a bake n' shark.
The service here is quick and frank, but don't be put off by this, they just need to keep the line moving. And don't forget that "doubles" is singular and plural, so even if you just get one, it is still a doubles!
Even though A&A is pretty close to my home I don't come down to Fulton very much, but while visiting a job-related instillation this weekend I decided to make a little culinary adventure out of it. I walked into A&A pretty uninformed, other than having read that the food is royally delicious and that it is suppose to be vegetarian friendly, I really didn't know what to expect... and so made every newbie mistake. The second I walked through the door (no line) the girl behind the bizarrely tall plexiglass counter asked me what I wanted, but I stood there dumbfounded by the see-through menu for about 30 seconds while the girl asked me two more times. Panicked banter begins:
Me" "Ummm... can I have a vegetarian bake"
Girl 1: "What?!"
Me: "A bake with something that is vegetarian"
Girl 1: "Wha... oh" and she starts spooning something on to the bread as the other girl runs over and says
Girl 2: "siuufhj ksbvocafe ovbujo fva"
Me: "What?"
Girl 2: "Is siuufhj ksbvocafe ovbujo fva ok"
Me: (panicked) "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm"
Girl 2: "S m o k e d H e r r i n g OK!?
Me: "Oh... No, something vegetarian..."
Girl2: "Pumpkin ok?"
Me: "Yes please!"
Nonetheless the bake was really delicious, the pumpkin was smooth sweet and the "spicy" whatever they added was savory and hot, but not too hot. The "bake" is delightfully toothsome and slightly sweet, but has a vague fried fish flavor that was a turn off. Reading yelp now, I should have gotten a double, but I will be back soon, ignore those girls and finally read that menu.
This tiny place serves excellent Trinidadian food on the go. Their doubles and pholourie are great: fresh, rich, and spicy. I recommend to get doubles with pepper and pholourie with tamarind sauce. Beware: their pholourie are spicy (a lot hotter than Ali's on Fulton, for comparison). I also tried the bake with salt fish, which I like very much.
The staff are not exactly friendly, and if you are not familiar with the food and want to ask tend to get impatient. Try asking some of the other people in line instead: I always got great suggestions. Like the delicious dasheen cake I got last time.
PS; they accept T&T dollars.
Just discovered it was voted best vegetarian food in NY in 2004.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/28/2009
YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM! The double is amazing. My friend has been coming here for 8 years and he said… Read more »
Decedent little treats with overflowing chickpea mash, sweet tamarind and perfectly spicy chili sauce. At $1.25 for your savory breakfast or brunch, you can bring them for the entire office or for all of your roommates. Note: get lots of napkins! While there is always a line, no worries, it moves fast.
The doubles are so yummy! Make sure you get pepper and tamarind sauce on it. Also try the bake with saltfish!
Be ready to wait on line!
Dear A&A,
Your doubles are so yummy and delicious that I spend hours dreaming and salivating about when my next bite will come. Your filing is perfect. Your bara excellent. While I love your spicy hotness, I especially love your tantalizingly sweet tamarind sauce.
Please don't change -- except maybe your hours which I wish were a little more regular.
Love always,
Olive F.
it's taken me a couple of tries (and months) before i started wanting doubles for brunch on my own because well.. to be honest, the doubles do not look appetizing. it's a mashup of chickpeas and spices in brown sauce in a soft pitaesque bread. BUT, it smells and tastes AMAZING. (i wish i could bold that)
cash only, closed sundays! I wish it was open on sunday - perfect snack.
haiku for A & A:
have bad stomachache
consumed too many doubles
totally worth it.
It is a small place, and the staff is ambivalent to say the least, but the food is...Yummy! Never tried the bakes, but the doubles and phoulorie are excellent. They tend to be on the spicy side, but oh sooo good :)
A & A Bake and Doubles is a little tiny Trinidadian bake shop in Bedford Stuyvesant. Their doubles, named the "Best Vegetarian Snack" in the Village Voice Best of New York 2003, are smaller than some, but packed with flavor and only $1. These doubles (curried chickpeas between 2 small naan-like breads) are spicier than most.
(A & A opens early and closes early. There is consistently a line when I walk by around 9:00 each morning, and it is always closed when I pass again around 6:00 in the evening. They are closed on Sundays.)
Their doubles are absolutely delicious. I love that it isn't too spicy but just right. I love the fact that now they add pieces of mango to the mix. If I wasn't far from them I'd eat it everyday lol... the last time I had their bake with salt fish it was way too salty and rubbery. I have to try it again to see if that day I had it was just a bad day. Otherwise awesome
Located near the corner of the Nostrand/Fulton subway stop, this always busy shop caters to the morning breakfast and local lunch crowd. The bake is a salty fish and bread thing. The double is a savory spicy curried chickpea/lentil mash held by two chewy panfried flatbreads. So cheap and so hard to eat just one!
A "double" is two crazy pieces of naan-like bread with some CRAZY lentil tamarind thing going on, oh man, buy five, and often
