I've been known to take a food tour or two when I travel. And, if a walking tour company called Culinary Backstreets is offering one wherever I am headed, it's a must-do. I've been lucky enough to take some of their tours in Lisbon, Porto and Athens. (Still dreaming of that food in Athens!)
For years I've been promising that I would check out one of their tours in my own backyard - Queens. This is the borough that the company has chosen to embrace in its New York food tour offerings. They have two Queens walking adventures. One dives into Flushing's Chinatown and the other starts in Corona and then hits Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. I adore all things Chinatown, but I had to go for the United Kitchens tour that would start me off in Corona Plaza.
Let me say this before I go any further: Sign up for this tour. It is fantabulous. Go hungry. Very hungry. You will surely not leave hungry. I can vouch for that!
Mexican pastries and freshly squeezed juice started us off as we ventured on a side street.
That kitchen above and the lovely lady doing her thing in the window? Looks pretty darn good, doesn't it? It was...
Hell to the yeah. This was a Quesadilla that had me transported far from Queens and straight to a table in Mexico.
Of course, eating that amazing Quesadilla made me hungry for a humongous sandwich...
That was quite the Cemita specimen. Napkins were deployed as we polished it off. Then, not the least bit peckish, we stopped for some Peruvian snacks. Then we headed to an Argentinian butcher for some seriously delicious Empanadas...
So good!
We kept walking, stopping into an Uruguayan bakery for a few sweets before we hit Jackson Heights.
Once we arrived, Asian food took centerstage. We quickly lined up at a food truck to get a platter of Nepalese dumplings called Momos...
We could hardly down more than one Momo each, when we asked for them to be wrapped to go. (Momo-to-go sounds like the next great fast food joint, am I wrong?)
A stop for Samosas was had before we had what we believed would be our last morsel of the tour. And, what a morsel...
These are the crowned jewels of Bangladeshi street food. Called Fuchka, they are deep-fried spheres of wafer-thin dough stuffed with spiced chickpeas and potato, garnished with chaat masala. We drizzled some tangy tamarind chutney atop and enjoyed - thoroughly.
But how could we finish the tour without something sweet to send us back home? Never fear. Our trusty guide knew exactly where to take us. We walked into a small Thai mom and pop grocery and were presented with icy cold pandan treats. We ate them so quickly that there is no photo to behold. Just the memories of a very full stomach.
By the way, if you think that I won't be signing up for Culinary Backstreets' tour of Flushing, you are mightily mistaken!
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