Where To Eat On A Budget In Flushing, NYC
1) Roti Canai With Curry Chicken, PappaRich
Roti is a flaky, laminated bread that is the ultimate vehicle for dipping into different sauces and stews. Here it’s served with a trio of savory lentil dal, chicken curry, and sweet and spicy sambal sauce. Each sauce is super silky and packs an umami punch.
2) Chengdu Sweet Water Noodles, Alley 41
Alley 41 has an extensive selection of Sichuan dishes, and one of the highlights is their Chengdu sweet water noodles. Named after their city of origin, the chewy and bouncy noodles perfectly capture the beloved QQ texture. The thick sauce that comes with it is sweet, salty, and spicy. The star of the show is Sichuan peppercorn—the pine-y, numbing spice that you can find in many dishes from the region.
3) Sam Sa & Lamb Kebabs, Nurlan Uyghur Restaurant
Uyghur is a Chinese ethnic minority concentrated primarily in the northwestern region of the country, and their cuisine is marked by hearty flavors and plenty of lamb and cumin.
Nurlan’s sam sa is the ultimate to-go snack: a buttery, thin pastry surrounding spiced ground meat. You can pick up flecks of cumin seed with every bite. If you’re craving more, their lamb kebabs covered in dried spices balance the tender, juicy meat with glistening fat.
4) Pumpkin Pie, Hunan Kitchen Of Grand Sichuan
While the menu at Hunan Kitchen Of Grand Sichuan translates this dish as pumpkin pie, it more resembles a mini donut. The pumpkin pastry is chewy, bouncy, and sticky like mochi. And as if that wasn’t delicious enough, the red bean filling in the center is delicately sweet and super satisfying.
After guiding us through budget meals from her own kitchen, our Budget Queen June Xie is stepping out to show us the best bites in her favorite New York City neighborhoods. Our next stop is one of the city’s best culinary hubs: Flushing, Queens.