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  • 9 minutes ago
The latest episode of The Special brings us to a full-on Caribbean party, also known as the top U.S. restaurant on our 2026 Global Tastemakers list: Kabawa. In this video, Chef Paul Carmichael picks out 3 quintessential dishes for us to try. Where should we head next?
Transcript
00:00One restaurant, one roll.
00:02I don't order anything.
00:03The chef sends everything.
00:05No menu, we're going in completely blind.
00:08Cabala is a restaurant located in the East Village.
00:11I re-rep everything Caribbean, top to bottom.
00:14We'll be sending out three dishes
00:15that we love here dearly.
00:17First thing chef sent is the plantain
00:19on a bed of scrambled egg, topped with salt cod,
00:23which is one of my personal favorite ingredients.
00:26The plantain is almost brule-ed.
00:27It shatters when you bite into it.
00:29It's a really soft custardy, like delicious plantain
00:32that's at the perfect level of ripeness
00:34where it has that touch of tang.
00:35Really soft custardy, scrambled eggs, delicious.
00:38This next dish that chef sent out is a madai,
00:43aka red sea bream, served on a banana leaf.
00:46And it comes with a bunch of sides.
00:47We've got rice and beans and these Japanese sweet potatoes
00:51that have been finished in the oven with pineapple juice.
00:54It says it's made with ginger
00:55and it's set it with its whole chest.
00:57That is gingery.
00:59Not gonna lie, when these hit the table,
01:00I got extremely excited.
01:02It's very earthy.
01:02It's very sweet.
01:03It's very nutty.
01:04The pineapple juice gives it this whole other layer
01:06of like citrusy, acidic flavor.
01:08It's delicious.
01:09You guys are gonna love this one.
01:11Finally, for dessert, chef has sent us a coconut sorbet.
01:15I love coconut flavored anything,
01:17so this is very exciting to me.
01:19It's like a coconut fell from a tree overhead,
01:22landed, and it has sorbet in it.
01:24Love like the smooth coconutty flavor,
01:26and it's kind of just what you need after a meal here.
01:28It's a nice, smooth, sweet, light finish.
01:31We have some eating left to do.
01:34Kabawa was a spectacular experience.
01:36I like to have some in my family here.
01:36I like to have some organic flavors,
01:36like buttery, Durst and I want to try to
01:37And this question is that you guys,

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