Eating In Translation

Northern Wangmandoo Dumpling

The name "mandoo" (or "mandu") might bring to mind the image of thin-skinned Korean dumplings that are boiled, steamed, or pan-fried. A "wang" ("king"-sized) mandoo, by contrast, generally resembles a bun; here the English language signage calls it just that. Shown: kimchi with pork.

For the evocation of eating "inside a small dumpling factory to get an intimate look at the process while you wait," H/T Wander Sauce, whose very name suggests napkins at the ready.

Northern Wangmandoo Dumpling (aka Northern King Dumpling — Wang Mandu)
14944 Northern Blvd. (149th Pl.-150th St.), Murray Hill, Queens
718-461-8878

Lhasa Fresh Food

Compared with tiny, windowless Lhasa Fast Food, hidden behind a Jackson Heights cell-phone store, its newer Elmhurst sibling Lhasa Fresh Food offers a large, sunny dining room, an expanded Himalayan menu, and the same great momo. This one's filled with beef and chives. For more photos, see my collection on Flickr.

Lhasa Fresh Food
8109 41st Ave. (81st-82nd Sts.), Elmhurst, Queens
917-745-0364
http://Lhasa-Fresh-Food.business.site

Tong

This Bangladeshi street cart prepares its own crisp shells for fuchka (Foosh-kah) and fills them with well-seasoned chickpeas. Here the shells are hard to see under a litter of grated hardboiled egg.

Tong
Street cart on 73rd St. near the northeast corner with 37th Ave., Jackson Heights, Queens
929-257-6996
www.Facebook.com/BangladeshiStreetFoods
Tuesday through Sunday, midafternoon till about midnight

Keki Modern Cakes

Heavy on purple yam, light on Amish cream cheese: ube "bouncy" cheesecake.

Keki Modern Cakes
315 Fifth Ave. (entrance on East 32nd St.), Manhattan
212-889-0251
Also at 79 Mott St. (Canal-Bayard Sts.)
646-863-2094
www.KekiNYC.com

Em

Just your basic banh mi: Em's namesake Vietnamese sandwich, spicy (by request), generously filled (by default). Maybe not so basic.

Em
1702 86th St. (Bay 16th St.-17th Ave.), Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
718-232-3888
www.Em-Restaurant.com

Perfect Taste

Evocative of Singapore, one vegetable notwithstanding: curry laksa with shrimp. If I could trade in that broccoli, I'd ask for more tofu puffs to soak up the "gravy" — a common name in its island home for the coconut-milky, spicy soup.

Perfect Taste
51B Canal St. (Orchard-Ludlow Sts.), Manhattan
929-269-6769
www.PerfectTasteUSA.com
Closed Monday

New York-area food events, January 10-17

Indonesian bazaar at St. James Episcopal Church
Saturday, January 12, 11:00-5:00; repeats monthly
Parish hall of St. James Episcopal Church, 84-07 Broadway (St. James-Corona Aves.), Elmhurst, Queens
www.Facebook.com/events/2443378135690861
Previously: www.Flickr.com/search/?user_id=61177627%40N00&sort=date-taken-desc&text=indonesian%20james&view_all=1
Free admission

B&D Halal Restaurant

In the Sahel — the semi-arid region of Africa between the Sahara and the tropical savanna, stretching from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west — fonio has been cultivated for millennia. A small-grained, slightly nutty variety of millet, fonio thrives in drier regions, and matures quickly. It can be made into porridge or couscous, ground into flour, even brewed as beer.

Adda

Superb paneer — blushing with chile sauce, mellowing with spinach. H/T Restaurant Fairy regarding the bona fides of that housemade fresh cheese.

Adda
31-31 Thomson Ave. (near Van Dam St.), Long Island City, Queens
718-433-3888
www.AddaNYC.com
Closed Sunday

Hanoi House

My sole reservation about this cơm nem nướng — a breakfast plate of grilled pork sausage and pork belly, a fried egg atop steamed rice, pickled vegetables, and a dipping bowl of nước chấm — was that it didn't feature cơm tấm. The grains of that broken rice are softer than intact rice prepared to the same recipe, and they readily take on other flavors, say, from pork sausage and pork belly. Hanoi House, however, is a North Vietnam-style restaurant, and cơm tấm (pronounced something like Gum tom, with a sweeping rising inflection on the second syllable) seems to be a Saigon thing.

Also shown, from a visit some years back: a Hanoi shopkeeper.

Hanoi House
119 St. Mark's Pl. (First Ave.-Ave. A), Manhattan
212-995-5010
www.HanoiHouseNYC.com
Brunch on Sunday only