Eating My Way Through New York City (12/2021)

I spent a week in New York City eating all the good food I was too broke for originally.

I have an entire massive Yelp list of places I want to go in New York City. I’ve been managing it since my freshman year of college, back when I dreamed of eating at all these places when I actually had money. Well, I ended up moving away from New York, but this December of 2021 I ended up in New York for almost two weeks. And since I’m someone who lives pretty simply and never spends money, I set a budget of $500 and I thought that was wild. Newsflash: most people who go to New York spend thousands of dollars. Not Ashley! I ate pretty good, so I thought to document my food journey in this post. I’ve got some big trips lined this year, from Hawaii to California, so I think I might turn this into a series. More on that later, when the time actually comes.

Farida (2x) —Theater District, near Times Square

Steak and onion manti. It’s topped with dill and served with either a garlic yogurt or sour cream.

Chicken kabob. Served with home-style potatoes and pickled onions with dill.

Lagman; a traditional soup with beef, thick noodles, and a mountain of vegetables.

Plov (lamb + beef), naan, and side salad.

I went to Farida back in college with a friend and I remembered how I loved it. It’s an Uzbek restaurant owned by an Uzbek-Kazakh couple, and the food is absolutely amazing. It’s a very small place—there’s only about twelve tables inside and because of COVID they have an outdoor tent as well. The walls are covered in Uzbek-style art and tapestries, while the flatscreen television typically has Uzbek television shows that involve singing or pop singers. It’s a very immersive experience here.

When I came here the first time, I had ordered a kabob and so had my friend. I remembered that the meat was so juicy and tender, but the price was too expensive for me, a broke college student, so I never came back. My work is right next to the restaurant so this week I stopped by twice and brought one of my bosses with me. She’d never heard of Uzbek food and had heard me raving, so she ended up ordering plov with lamb and beef the first time, while I got the traditional lagman soup with naan.

My boss loved her plov. I didn’t try any, but my lagman was absolutely delicious. I’d never had a soup like this before—the broth was an interesting mix of spices that was unfamiliar, but absolutely delicious. It had the thick noodles and beef at the bottom, while a pile of vegetables rested at the top of the dish. I’d dip my naan in the broth—that’s how delicious it ended up being.

The second time we came my boss got chicken kabob and I got the Turkish-style manti with steak and onions. She let me try one of her pieces of chicken and it was just as juicy and tender as I remembered. Absolutely divine. The manti was good, enhanced by a garlic yogurt that came with it, but I think I preferred the lagman.

We ended up paying about $50 each meal, which isn’t too bad if you know the area. Theatre District almost always is pretty expensive to eat at because that’s where the tourists go. Times Square is a ripoff that is migraine-inducing.

Dhaka Garden, Fuska House, Premium Sweets — Jackson Heights, Queens

The Fuskas from Fuska House

Morog polao from Dhaka Garden

Kashmiri chai

বাঙালি মিষ্টি । আমার মনে হয় এই মিষ্টি বেশি অনেক মিষ্টি …

Jackson Heights is known to be THE place if you want Pakistani or Bangladeshi food. I came venturing out to meet a fellow CLS alumni, the lovely Sarah (if you’re reading this hi!), and I’d never had Bengali food before. We ended up going to Dhaka Garden in our epic saga of eating our way through the neighborhood, where she got a soup and I ended up ordering morog polao, which she said was Bangladeshi wedding food.

As I gawked in awe at how I could understand the Bangla being said around me, I also gawked at the flavors of this dish. It was spicy but so full of flavor—even the rice had an interesting (but good) flavor to it. I left a happy customer. I also re-remembered that Bangladeshi people speak Bangla differently. Instead of saying like জল for water they say পানি.

We then went to the famous food cart right across the street: Fuska House. She wanted me to try their classic fuskas, so she ordered a container and instructed me on how to eat it. They’re little fried balls of dough stuffed with egg, cilantro, cumin, chili powder, and onion. They come with a sour tamarind sauce that you’re supposed to drizzle over them, then stuff the whole thing in your mouth. I was so amazed at the symphony of flavors that came with this dish—it was sweet, spicy, and sour all at once.

Kashmiri chai was the next—I’d never known such a wonderful drink existed in my life. We got this at a Pakistani restaurant, and when she said it had rose, pistachios, and milk in it I was originally skeptical, but I ended up loving it. It was like a warm hug, but it also reminded me of home. We then headed over to Premium Sweets for dessert, and they have a bunch of cases of hot food and desserts that you pick out and they’ll serve. This place was legit—the workers barely spoke English and the Bangladeshi cricket team’s match was being broadcasted. It was my kind of place.

Qahwah House, Martha’s Country Bakery — Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Yemeni tea, caramel macchiato, cheese samosa, and khaliat nahal from Qahwah House

Red velvet cheesecake + fruit tart at Martha’s

I’d shamefully never been to hipster-ridden Williamsburg before, but it was a nice neighborhood to visit! Could I afford to live there? Definitely not. My friend was swearing upon this Yemeni coffeeshop that she frequented and lured me in by saying all the young Arab people went there, and she was right. The place was packed. I didn’t feel like drinking coffee that day, so I ordered a Yemeni tea and she ordered a caramel macchiato. We split a cheese samosa and a khaliat nahal, and my god both were delicious. I preferred the khaliat though—it’s a Yemeni dessert where cheese is baked into the crust, then it’s drizzled with honey. It was the perfect savory dessert. I’d 100% go back there if I was ever in the neighborhood.

We then went across the street to Martha’s Country Bakery, which my friend swore she went to growing up in Astoria, Queens. We ordered a fruit tart, red velvet cheesecake, Nutella hot chocolate, and a fruit smoothie. I wasn’t impressed with the smoothie, but she liked her hot chocolate. The fruit tart was my favorite—the fruit was very fresh and the custard was good. The red velvet cheesecake was fluffy, not too bad, but I wasn’t in the mood. All in all, it was a solid place to get desserts. They do get you by offering table service only if you sit down and order by waitress.

Sofreh Cafe — Bushwick, Brooklyn

Cubana Cafe — Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn

Milk and barberi breads from Sofreh

arroz con pollo from Cubana Cafe (+ my friend’s burrito)

After my one friend and I went to Martha’s, the day merely couldn’t end there, so we stopped at Sofreh. I’d always wanted to go to the restaurant version, but it’s really hard to get a table there, especially since the owner catered the Met Gala this year. I’ve always wanted to go there because it’s contemporary Iranian fusion, but, alas, we settled for the cafe. Confession time: I hate Iranian sweets. I stayed far away from some of the options in the case like the rose-cream donuts or the pistachio cookies because I knew I would hate them. We settled for barberi bread (a classic) and a milk bread with sesame seeds on top. Both were good. The price was cheap too compared to other places (we paid $11 for both), so it was a win. I was stuffed at this point, but I do regret not picking up some tea.

The next day I went and got dinner with another friend in Boerum Hill. She lives on Restaurant Row there so we stopped at Cubana Cafe, which serves Cuban food. I ordered arroz con pollo, which is chicken legs smothered in red sauce and salsa. It was served with rice (a choice of white, yellow, or coconut) and spiced black beans. It was pretty good, not my favorite, but it was good. My friend’s burrito came with a salad and fried plantains. We both got drinks, but my piña colada hit my stomach hard—it was at this moment I realized every time I get alcohol somewhere I get sick.

Ramen Danbo — Park Slope, Brooklyn

Kashmir 9 — Theatre District, Manhattan

Classic chashumen from Ramen Danbo

Chana masala, Garlic Naan, Salad from Kashmir 9

Ramen Danbo was my first stop, right before heading to MoMA and Brooklyn Museum on my first full day. I read that this was one of the best ramen dishes in New York City, and it was cheaper than my local place back home, so I showed up at opening on a Friday. It was just me in there, I ordered a classic chashumen for $14, and they had it out to me in five minutes. And it was, indeed, worth the hype. I didn’t customize it, though you can literally customize every aspect of it, and I felt that it was a very good bowl of noodles. Worth it and was actually on the way to the subway stop I needed to get to the MoMA in Midtown Manhattan.

Kashmir 9 is a Pakistani place across from where I work. It was literally dirt cheap—you could get a massive curry for $8 like my boss did one night. I ended up with a chana masala, side salad, garlic naan, and a Kashmiri chai for $15 and had enough food for lunch the next day. I ended up periodically stopping here because they had Kashmiri chai for $2 a cup and I’d grab a cup before work. That’s the beauty of New York—there’s a tax for going outside. It is inevitable that you will spend money in this city.

My last shoutout goes to Jollibee. I was too afraid to try the Filipino spaghetti, but I did order a peach mango pie and it was absolutely delicious. Worth every bite.

And that’s a wrap y’all! I ate really well this trip and it showed. I’m already planning the menu for my next trip.