Great Restaurant Adventure #4: Bangladesh

Today we went out to Jackson Heights, Queens for some Bangladeshi food.  A lot of the restaurants in that area are buffet style and you kind of have to know what things are.  We have no idea what's what, so we decided to go with our favorite cart food - Sammy's - on 73rd Street and Broadway.  They have this incredible chicken over rice with salad and white sauce.  They even won the highly coveted Vendy Award.  It's very South Asian, but I'm not sure if we could say it was specifically Bangladeshi.

There's always a line (pic from yelp)

Sooo, we stopped in an authentic Bangladeshi restaurant called Khaabar Baari to grab some dessert.  Thankfully, they were all in the glass counter up front and we were able to ask what they were, lol.  W and I chose little milk sweets.  One was called "sandesh" and the other was a type of "ras malai".  We ate them in the car on the way home.  They were sweet, milky-cheesy tasting and crumbly.  Really yummy.

Great Restaurant Adventure #3: Australia

From queen.brownstoner.com

W and I went to an Australian restaurant in Astoria, Queens yesterday called, The Thirsty Koala.  Our host and waiter seemed very Australian - accent and all - but who knows, lol.  W was all set to have a kangaroo burger - No, really, an actual hamburger made from kangaroo meat - but we both settled on the Ginger Beer battered Mahi & Chips.  I'm not a fish fan, but this was really really good.  They serve it with 3 sauce cups:  one was a Thai basil yogurt, one is a sweet chili sauce, and one is ketchup.   W said these were the best "chips" he'd ever had.  I loved all of it.  We each got an additional side with this, too.  I got the roasted fennel and beets and W got the mashed kumara (sweet potato).  The portion sizes are huge, which was great because we had a nice amount to bring home to B.

They serve handcrafted, organic sodas that are great.  The ginger brew is a bit on the spicy, throat-burning side.  It has little pieces of ginger in it.  The lemon-lime was really good.  The table comes with a carafe of water as well. 

                                              Didgeridoos and boomerangs are part of the decor

 I love their description, made me want to eat there more often:
The Thirsty Koala uses local, natural and organic fruits, vegetables, breads, pastry, eggs and dairy products. Our meats are free range, grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free. Our small goods are chemical free from local artisans who cure and smoke their meats naturally. We make our own goat cheese and farmers cheeses using organic milk. By using local producers and artisans and following best practices, we are working to minimize our carbon footprint. 
So thank you for eating with us and supporting our mission to make the world a better place one bite at a time.

From givemeastoria.com

Austrian cuisine is next...

The Great Restaurant Adventure #2: Argentina

The next restaurant we went to for our Great Restaurant Adventure was called La Fusta.  It's an Argentinian restaurant in Elmhurst, Queens.  J joined W and me this time for a great bunch of lunch specials.  For $9-$11 a lunch special included a large choice of entree (meat or pasta), one side, salad, a beverage, and flan.

I had "tira de asado" (short ribs) with real mashed potatoes, W had skirt steak with french fries, and J had chicken milanesa with french fries.  Before our food was brought out we had a basket of incredible bread for the table and the waiter put out a bowl of chimichurri sauce.  This is a green, garlic & oil sauce to put on grilled meat.  We LOVED the food here and the prices were amazing.  I think we'll be going back here one day soon.

Short ribs lunch special

Flan

Australian cuisine is next...

The Great Restaurant Adventure #1: Afghan

We began our Great Restaurant Adventure last week with a trip to a local Afghan restaurant.  Afghan is the first cuisine on our alphabetical list.

The name of the restaurant was Balkh Shish Kebab House.  It's in the Astoria section of Queens.  It's a small place with a lot of Afghan decor inside.  W and I started out with Manto (beef dumplings) and Bolanee Kadu (fried pumpkin turnovers).  Those were pretty good.  For the main dish, W had the combo kebabs (2 pieces each of chicken, lamb, and beef) on a big plate of brown basmati rice.  I had Kabli Palow, which is a huge lamb shank on a plate of the same rice but with raisins and shredded carrot on top.  They also brought us a plate of lamb curry, which was delicious mixed into the rice.  I don't even like lamb, but this was so good.  W loved his kebab - especially the chicken.  We ordered some sweet lassi to drink.  It came in a small pitcher and we each got a cute stemmed glass.  This was not our favorite.  It was plain, liquid, warm yogurt.  For dessert, we split an order of firni, which is a rice pudding custard with toasted crushed pistachios on top.  It was perfumy but nice and 1 order was the perfect amount to split.

Kabli Palow

W trying the sweet lassi

Afghan decor inside the restaurant

 Argentina is next!  Stay tuned...