Brooklyn Suya
African restaurant · Crown Heights
717 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Highlights
Nigerian street food bowls with grilled meats, plantains & spices
Nigerian street food bowls with grilled meats, plantains & spices
"She admitted that she hadn’t yet visited my favorite Nigerian restaurant, Brooklyn Suya, a street-food counter in Crown Heights." - Helen Rosner
"Named after one of Nigeria’s popular street foods, Brooklyn Suya in Crown Heights sells just two things: suya and suya bowls. Suya is roasted and skewered beef (or chicken) marinated with suya seasoning - a dried spice made with ground cayenne pepper, peanuts, salt, and a few other unique (and secret) ingredients. The bowls include a base of rice or kale, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, red onions, and suya beef or chicken. You can customize yours with fried ripe plantains or avocado and you also get to choose how spicy you want your suya seasoning, with three levels from mild to very spicy. Keep in mind that this place only does pickup or delivery orders, but they’re available on most delivery apps." - jiji ugboma
"West African steak bowls and other vegetarian options available for delivery and takeout - call or order here." - hannah albertine, nikko duren, bryan kim, arden shore, matt tervooren
"Generally speaking, fast-casual bowls are about as exciting as the transcript of a filibuster. But the Nigerian food at Brooklyn Suya is different. This is a tiny spot with a few stools, and only enough room behind the counter for a single employee, a rice cooker, a cash register, and an oven full of incredible smoked and grilled meats. Each bowl comes with your choice of protein, a rice or kale base, add-ons (plantains are essential), and spice level (even the mild is intense for those sensitive to heat)." - Kenny Yang, Bryan Kim, Nikko Duren, Hannah Albertine, Matt Tervooren
"Suya refers to a peanut-and-chili-based spice mix used on meat skewers, which is popular throughout West Africa and, increasingly, in New York—Brooklyn Suya (717 Franklin Ave.; $9-$20), another excellent Crown Heights takeout counter, opened in 2019. Both the chicken and the steak there were quite juicy one recent afternoon; the salmon, glazed in a peanut-based sauce, better still." - Hannah Goldfield
