queens night market!

nine bites from around the world

i went to queens night market this saturday, and i want to tell you all the dishes i ate!

pregame: duzan & al-sham pastries

we’re heading to queens from brooklyn, which is a 1hr 15min commute away, so we might as well make a day out of it. we started out visiting little egypt in astoria, where we went to duzan, a shawarma counter restaurant.

you can choose a meat/veggie item to be served in a wrap, pita, or bowl — i ordered a beef & lamb shawarma in a pita bread. the pita is super soft and was a perfect vehicle for the smoky, crispy yet juicy meat coated in silky tahini. it’s also served with pickled cabbage which serves as a much needed acid to cut through the heavy flavors.

of course we had to get desserts — and of course we had to go to al-sham pastries, a lebanese pastry shop just around the corner. the owner was so nice and gave us a rundown of the pastries & sweets they offer.

we ordered a pistachio maamoul, a date maamoul and a piece of knafeh. this knafeh is probably one of the best in new york; the syrup is perfectly caramelized and completely coats the semolina crust and the akkawi cheese gives a pretty satisfying cheese pull. the maamoul are not too sweet which perfectly complements the already sweet date filling. if you visit little egypt in astoria, al-sham is a place you should visit! i try to get something from al-sham every time i’m in the neighborhood.

queens museum

to kill time before the market opened we visited the queens museum, known for its world’s fair collection (since it’s located smack dab in flushing meadows-corona park) and its large diorama of new york city, as featured in the show pretend it’s a city.

it’s pretty mesmerizing to see a bird’s eye view of the city. i took the time to pay attention to individual buildings, including locating my apartment in brooklyn. my eyes were completely glued to the nooks and crannies of the model — it was fascinating to see a city of eight million represented in a room.

queens night market — the rundown

the queens night market is just a mere 15 minute walk from the museum, so we went shortly after opening and it was pretty empty, mostly because of the rain. we had no time to waste — we immediately went and ordered from the first food stall. here’s an overview of everything we ate at the market:

• ceviche from don ceviche (peru): this day was pretty hot so this was a much-needed bite. the fish was so fresh — it has a full chew on it — and the acidity of the sauce really pairs well with the fish. we ordered it spicy and the kick was perfect — it wasn’t mind numbingly hot but it still felt spicy. and the onions really added a variety of texture in there! mush + crunch + acid makes for a good opening bite.

• mantu from nansense (afghanistan): these dumplings are fabulous. it has a ground beef filling that pairs well with the silky dumpling skin. it was topped with yogurt sauce and some sort of bean sauce that contributes to a much needed savoriness and acidity. and the best part is the bread — which i’ve tried before at sami’s kabab house and been dreaming about it since — it was purposefully there to scoop out the remaining sauce and meat leftovers. genius!

• khoresh bademjan & tahdig from joon (iran): ok real confession — i’ve never tried tahdig before this meal, and to be honest this was a mini cup-sized tahdig so don’t know if it will compare to a real persian-aunty-flip-the-pot tahdig. but this was great! the crispy rice really is a great vehicle for the heavy beef & eggplant stew. but let me be a contrarian here and say: the best part is the tiny crackers they put as garnish.

• ote ote from warung jancook (indonesia): i’ve known ote ote as bakwan sayur (vegetable fritters) and grew up eating it so i was excited to find it here. the fritters were completely fresh out of the fryer so they were super crunchy outside and soft inside. it was the perfect ote ote for all i know! except the fact that they serve it with mayo on top, which in my opinion is lowkey blasphemy. but, to each their own, i guess. bonus: they also added some emping (crackers made from melinjo nuts). i’m not usually a fan of emping but it was pretty delicious after 2.5 years of not coming home and eating it.

• lahpet thoke from da rangoon (myanmar): a salad??? at queens night market?? i’ve never had burmese food before and after the stews and fried food we decided to have the fermented tea leaf salad. this might be one of my favorites in this trip! i don’t know if it’s because it’s a little different from the other foods, but this is such a refreshing break from all the rich foods we had. the tea leaf topping reminded me of pesto, and it has all the fresh crunch from the vegetables, nuts, and rice crackers. absolutely delicious!

• bbq skewers from chick’n rotunda (the phillippines): from the skewers they offered at this place, we had the chicken liver, pork intestine, and longanisa (filipino sausages). all of them is covered in this sweet savory sauce which was perfect for my javanese tongue! the chicken liver was a bit overcooked for my taste — the longanisa was amazing as always — but the star of the show here was the intestines. crunchy and smoky and doesnt smell or taste like intestine.

• kue pancong & sticky rice cake from moonman (indonesia): this was probably the best thing i ate this day. much like ote ote i had kue pancong growing up but this was the ~elevated~ version of my childhood snack. the palm sugar topping was caramelized (which was GENIUS to think of) and it created a creme brulee crackling kind of situation on the surface of the kue pancong. the smooth coconut taste really blends together with the sugar. we also ordered a sticky rice cake topped with palm sugar kaya and SALT (important) which was a great sweet savory mix much like salted caramel.

• pasteis de nata from joey bats (portugal): classic. icon. of course we had to order one of these to share. the thing i love about joey bats’ pasteis de nata is how custardy it is and how the custard melts through the pastry when you bite into it. yummy

• kürtőskalács from twister cake (romania/hungary): we had to pick a snack for the road so we grabbed one of these chimney cakes i’ve seen a lot on instagram and tiktok. the bread was really yeasty which creates some sort of tanginess to it. it’s nice and funky and so fluffy once you bite into it. the sugar coating creates a bite of sweetness and adds texture to the cake.

queens night market — places we haven’t tried

i was so overwhelmed by all the delicious food at the market that there were some stalls i initially thought of trying but ended up not trying. there are also some stalls i saw and was interested in for a second visit. here’s some of those:

• panades & garnaches from blaz inn (belize): i haven’t had belizean food before and i believe i haven’t seen it anywhere else in nyc, so this definitely caught my eye.

• greek grilled octopus from avli (greece): this was in the website but was nowhere to be found when i was there?? but i love grilled octopus so much i wouldn’t be able to miss this one.

• pupusa from los almendros (el salvador): again, this was in the website but not there when we visited. maybe it’s because of the rain? but yes i have another confession to make — i haven’t had pupusas before and i figure this could be a great place to try.

• chai tow kway from lion city cafe (singapore): i remember ordering chai tow kway from the cafetaria of the school i did my student exchange to in singapore back in elementary school. i don’t know if i’ve seen this anywhere else in nyc but this is definitely in my to eat list next time.

• ramly burger from the malaysian project (malaysia): i saw the ramly burger off a random youtube video and was so intrigued — burger wrapped in omelette?? — definitely a must try next time.

so yeah — that was my time at the queens night market. see you next time!