NYC Restaurants

Geman's Soup, which opened in Guyana’s capital of Georgetown in 1960, now has a larger storefront in Brooklyn's East Flatbush neighborhood. The popular destination for Guyanese Creole cooking is run by Clinton Urling, son of Hubert “German” Urling Sr. With a larger kitchen, Clinton also expanded the menu and added new items like popular Guyanese snacks pholourie and egg balls, roti flatbread and sweets like Mittai (fried cinnamon pastry sticks) and squares of Milk Fudge.

The Creole dishes are based on closely guarded recipes handed down from Clinton’s father. Five nourishing soups are built on a slow cooked yellow split pea base and loaded with meat, plantains, corn and more, making them heartier than broth-based soups.

New snacks include Pholourie, fried spiced dough balls served with mango sour chutney, and Egg Balls, hardboiled eggs covered in crushed yuca with sweet peppers and parsley, then fried - similar to a Scotch egg. Mains showcase the country’s ethnic diversity with a rotating selection of curries and stews with a choice of fried rice, raisin rice or plain, plus lowmein and roti flatbread. 

Snapper and chicken come either stewed or curried, alternating during the week but both preparations available on weekends. The popular BBQ Chicken is best paired with fried rice. Beverages include housemade Mauby, a fermented drink made from the bark of the Mauby tree with sugar and spices popular all over the Caribbean. Traditionally fermented in small batches, it’s now typically sold commercially as non-fermented soft drink or syrup to mix with water – at German’s it’s made from scratch.