In Brooklyn, an Afro-Caribbean restaurant's flavors are seasoned with sense of history

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN -- Mango Bay is the brainchild of chef London Chase who has been trained in Michelin-starred kitchens, but for his first restaurant, he's going back to his roots.

"Mango Bay? It's an eclectic experience. Mango Bay represents the islands and also spots of Northern Africa," Chase said of his Fort Greene, Brooklyn, restaurant. "My background is this place. I think the ideal of what we're doing here is centered around my upbringing and how I translated what cultural food was to me. I'm a bit of in and out, kind of right? I was going back and forth from French Guiana to England, but also coming here to New York a lot. So I was maybe a transplant of different places."

He continued: "For specifically Caribbean or African, Northern African kind of cuisine, it reflects in the culture, the vibrancy and flavors and spices and just bringing things together just makes something amazing. So I think all of that reflects what we're doing here at Mango Bay," Chase said.

Chase said he started cooking through necessity as one of 11 children.

"Even when going to school within I feel like I didn't really learn anything that I needed to learn to apply into going into a space and being a commie where you just washing dishes and you thinking you about to be a chef," he said. "I think a lot of that shaped me through humility, you know, and it grounded me a lot."

During his childhood, there was a focus on seafood and fruit.

"I grew up on a fish region, so everything was just coming out from the sea, anything that you visually wanted, you know what I mean? Um, one thing that stood out for me are prawns. Like we got them in variety of sizes, from big to small," Chase said. "I grew up on a farming compound where we had mango trees, guava trees, cherry trees, a lot of the food was being reflected with fruits."

Everything they serve is rooted in history.

"You have to, like, kind of curate your food to people and let them know the history behind it and the history behind you, because that matters when you're selling food. Food is alchemy. It comes from love, regardless of what. So I think people need to know who that person is to learn to love your food," Chase said.

Shamah Levy, beverage program director and co-owner of Mango Bay, grew up in this building.

Born and raised in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, Levy said his father "got very lucky in the '90s and bought this building. It's been many different things."

Levy said the neighborhood has changed a lot over the years.

"We were once called Papa's Place, then a time I really remember we were called Red Bamboo," Levy said. "There was a South African restaurant down the block. There was a French restaurant called Che Oscar. The South African restaurant was called Madiba. So, there was a lot more going, a lot more popping back in that time."

Now, the neighborhood has more Italian restaurants and upscale French restaurants.

"Opening this restaurant has been nice because we're kind of bringing back that culture of some Caribbean food, some good backgrounds of African Caribbean fusion," Levy said.

Levy said their customers are responding and loving Mango Bay.

"I just want to see this place thrive. I want to see it be successful. I want people to come in and have a good time and feel like, you know, this is the only thing that they can think about when they're going to bed after, you know, coming to a place like this," Levy said.