Take-out: Yes Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Good for Kids: Yes Good for Groups: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
2 reviews
Divina Stickle
Had samosa chat, medium spicy. The samosas, be honest, are kind of bland, but the sauce is really tasty. The chutney and yogurt are perfectly balanced, neither too salty nor too sweet.
They have no menu, and their place is pretty tiny and old. It is quite clean though.
This Jackson Heights eatery is the last 20 years of the neighborhood in miniature, I don't just say that because the place eats just over a dozen in the back of a phone card kiosk. It's run by a Tibetan augmenting the Nepali cuisine of his former home with a buffet serving the street food of Central India.
This is food that looks back on the days when this area was exclusively an Indian street. Now many of the Indians are in their second and third generations, and have moved to fancier, more tony residences in Queens or out on Long Island. The Indian places here are becoming drive destinations, while the Himalayan migrants of Nepal and Tibet are taking over.
For almost all Tibetans exiles of a certain era, Kathmandu was a necessary and virtually required stop when fleeing the People's Republic. The goal was usually the court-in-exile in Dharamsala, but it could take months or years to assemble the cash and contacts necessary for the journey. So migrants settled in and learned how to make the local curries and chutneys. Eventually, many made their way to India, where they learned new traditions. Some headed further afield to the United States and Queens.
Thankfully all of that migration means that even the chaat novice is in for an easy time here. The proprietor is more than happy to explain the various ingredients (something I did together to my mother, who was with me for our visit). I assembled a pretty traditional combination of chick peas, yogurt, onions, a spicy masala and crisp topping, which I later ate for a cold, spicy dinner later in the evening. My mother took a couple of samosas and a pakora to share with my father on the drive back upstate.
There are more Nepali and even a couple Tibetan specialities served at the steam table part of this tiny eatery, but considering it's name, I'd like to think that this is best fare the chef can serve up after all of his travels.
Had samosa chat, medium spicy. The samosas, be honest, are kind of bland, but the sauce is really tasty. The chutney and yogurt are perfectly balanced, neither too salty nor too sweet.
They have no menu, and their place is pretty tiny and old. It is quite clean though.
This Jackson Heights eatery is the last 20 years of the neighborhood in miniature, I don't just say that because the place eats just over a dozen in the back of a phone card kiosk. It's run by a Tibetan augmenting the Nepali cuisine of his former home with a buffet serving the street food of Central India.
This is food that looks back on the days when this area was exclusively an Indian street. Now many of the Indians are in their second and third generations, and have moved to fancier, more tony residences in Queens or out on Long Island. The Indian places here are becoming drive destinations, while the Himalayan migrants of Nepal and Tibet are taking over.
For almost all Tibetans exiles of a certain era, Kathmandu was a necessary and virtually required stop when fleeing the People's Republic. The goal was usually the court-in-exile in Dharamsala, but it could take months or years to assemble the cash and contacts necessary for the journey. So migrants settled in and learned how to make the local curries and chutneys. Eventually, many made their way to India, where they learned new traditions. Some headed further afield to the United States and Queens.
Thankfully all of that migration means that even the chaat novice is in for an easy time here. The proprietor is more than happy to explain the various ingredients (something I did together to my mother, who was with me for our visit). I assembled a pretty traditional combination of chick peas, yogurt, onions, a spicy masala and crisp topping, which I later ate for a cold, spicy dinner later in the evening. My mother took a couple of samosas and a pakora to share with my father on the drive back upstate.
There are more Nepali and even a couple Tibetan specialities served at the steam table part of this tiny eatery, but considering it's name, I'd like to think that this is best fare the chef can serve up after all of his travels.