A Love Note to Flushing

For someone living in Northern New Jersey without car (close to midtown Manhattan and far away from everywhere else), Flushing seemed to be on the other side of the world (I visited Flushing twice the first 4.5 years I was here. I only started exploring Flushing late summer last year because...

1.During last summer(too hot to cook) I went to the Manhattan Chinatown three times a week...That was a little too much.

2. I had gotten my prescription for contact lenses. As a first time user of daily disposable, I feel like I had to get out (as far away as possible) to get the most out of it... I decided to venture into other parts of NYC (Brooklyn, the land of yuppies intimidated me). Flushing seemed to be an easy choice because Chinese tummy. 

Sunset at Queensboro Plaza - I later discovered that it's not too that bad when I take the weekday trip via Express 7 train. 

This is a Taiwanese takeout restaurant by the Long Island Railroad Flushing Main Street station

I like their black glutinous rice ball. Southern China has this kind of onigiri (with youtiao, meat floss and pickle radish) but with white sticky rice. The black rice has a less sticky texture and a different kind of aroma.

Palace Restaurant selling very authentic Northeast Chinese "peasants" food

I like their braised tiger skin egg. Noodles was alright (not bad but I am super picky) 

Their Chinese style burger/肉夹馍 ($4) is humongous... I am not connoisseur but the best NYC Rou Jiamo I had was from Feilong Foodcourt at Sunset Park Brooklyn.

This guy comes out after dark (there is some day time street vendor ban) - In front of the post office...For 1.5 a piece. This is probably cheaper than China. 

Sliced and boxed mangoes (with a huge pit hidden in the middle)...Despite that pit, it's still fresher and half the price of Aldi. 

Tiger Sugar - I don't get what the long line is for. It's good but I would not wait for more than 3 minutes...The bubble is cooked in caramel and have great texture and varying sizes. They used a lot of milk  (duh I ordered caramel milk) , resulting a long and painful food baby. 

Another roujiamo

DC Meat market trying to sell 8 chicken butts for 3 dollars (no thank you). It has fresh soup/pork bone for only a dollar a pound though. 

Aiyu Jelly (local Taiwanese food)...It tasted alright. Maybe I will try to see if they have freshly made street food version.

I found Tanghulu! (Didn't get a good deal since there was only four pieces of hawthorn berry. 

Second try! Five balls of hawthorn berry!

Called a Spring Chicken is an internet-famous store 网红店 from Shanghai...The franchise name is so lewd (Literally means called a prostitute in Chinese/Btw that black banner reads: Dedicated whore house) that China only allowed it to register as 叫了个炸鸡 （Ordered fried chicken). Haha. 

I tried once (for science)...it tasted terrible. 

Rilakkuma jewelry from Lukfook! The price is almost 2x than the Hongkong retail though...I love that pair of studs but not for a full month rent. 

Inside New World Mall there is a big foodcourt, you can pick any store and get decent meal (Korean food isn't authentic). This one Guilin Rice noodles closed down last November...I feel bad for the store that took over.

Nanbei Xiaochi (same foodcourt) - Their roasted-fried chicken was good

Sauerkraut fish! (Should have asked for a more chili)

Actually I missed out some of my favorite stores (no picture because I ate on the spot and didn't remember as I bought from them everytime). Tianjin Pancake天津馅饼 for the pies with various filling and rolled pancake with crispy potato. 

NYC Go Go 快鹿小食 - Fried fritters, tea egg, chicken wings/stick, almost all the breakfast food you can think of. 

Floral Chen - A Florist and Tofu (soy milk and tofu jelly) store in one...I started making soy milk at home because it was too much plastic (carrying that much liquid from Queens back to NJ along with grocery gave me sore shoulders). 

While NYC is the current epicenter of the whole pandemic, Queens is the hardest hit area of NYC. I miss all the warm hearted store owners and hope all the small businesses there are fine. (My motive is  90% selfish...)

Sunflower from Queens Botanical Garden - I like how the price reflect the neighborhood too, being half the admission fee compared to Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 

 BBG always got their date off with their Sakura Matsuri (either still in bud or past peak bloom) but this year with the warm start and cooler days, the scheduled day is perfect (it's just that nobody can see it).