Asia in Queens: Exploring NYC’s Largest Chinatown

TL;DR: it was great and would highly recommend. Also, spoilers ahead if you want the tour stops to be a surprise. I first heard about Culinary Backstreets through Tom Sietsema’s chats on the Washington Post. It seemed that whenever someone asked for a recommendation where CB was located, Tom would bring them up. I decided to pull the trigger and try it for the first time in the town where I was born, in the city of my childhood, Flushing, Queens, NY. On my birthday no less. Here’s where we went: Go Go Dim Sum New World Mall John Bowne House Flushing Post Office Free Synagogue Xing Fu Tang Shanghai You Garden White Bear New York Food Court Kulu Desserts We met our guide Sierra at the corner of Roosevelt and Main, right above the terminus for the 7 line. They were great right off the bat, explaining roughly what we were going to do that day and that there would be some history involved in addition to all the eating. Lucky for us, we were the only two on the tour that day, although there can be up to nine people on any given tour—so it’s still fairly intimate even at its max. Our first stop was at Go Go Dim Sum for a fried Chinese cruller (油條) and soy milk. It was a bit later in the day for breakfast, so the cruller was somewhat limp. The soy milk was fresh though, as you could tell by the tofu products they were preparing for the rest of the day. Our next stop was the New World Mall food court. Even growing up in NY, the idea was mind blowing that there were all these stalls out of plain sight serving regional specialties from all over China in the tiny radius around us. Sierra picked out three places: one for pan fried soup dumplings (生煎包), mala dry pot (which I tried for the first time) and Xinjiang lamb pastries. All were great, but the pan fried soup dumplings were the best I’ve had in a long while—plenty of soup, not dry and not an overly heavy wrapper. Definitely worth a trip back before or after a Mets game. This was my first time trying mala dry pot and won’t be the last for sure—great taste and portion size. The Xinjiang lamb pocket had good flavor but was a little lackluster compared to everything else. And there were a bunch of other places that we didn’t get to try. We moved onto a walking tour afterwards to learn more about the neighborhood, and Sierra’s knowledge at the non-food stops was more like that of a museum doyenne than that of the chef they are. Great knowledge being shared without getting mired in too many details. We stopped at Xin Fu Tang, which I had only read about as having a reputation for one of the best bubble teas around. They did not disappoint—the boba was fresh and unctuous instead of the being firm and bouncy like more mass production places. Then we went to Shanghai You Garden for a two (or one depending on the size of your cranium) bite Peking Duck bun. Good idea, and definitely want to go back to see how the rest of their Shanghainese menu holds up, as an aficionado. From there we went to the White Bear, a bare bones store front where a couple sells handmade Shandong dumplings (with a chili sauce that is more aromatic than spicy), and pretty much nothing else. Sierra mentioned that it’s an institution where there’s a line around the corner on weekends, and that it’s one of those places where once the couple has decided to move on, there won’t be another place like it in the neighborhood. From there it was to the modestly named New York Food Court, home to another plethora of offerings. We enjoyed cold noodles in sesame sauce (涼皮), a refreshing dish on a warm summer day like this one. There was also popcorn chicken from a Taiwanese stall. I had expected something like Japanese karaage, but this was in an almond and rice flour—more like a cornmeal dusting than the Japanese version, with a bit more of a sweet and nutty character. Our last stop was at Kulu Desserts for a traditional Cantonese dessert, a chilled mango/pomelo/sago soup. Great way to finish things off. All told, could not recommend this tour more—Sierra was informative, engaging, accommodating and just plain fun. It may be on the pricey side, but I thought it was every bit worth it: for tourists, sure, but even for locals who would like an introduction to this neighborhood. Highest recommendation.

Toured Flushing with Sierra. Sierra is a great guide - so friendly with a vast knowledge base about the food and history of the neighborhood. Among my favorite stops was sampling the most incredible dumplings and enjoying the best Boba Tea. I was so full by the end of the day. I highly recommend this experience!

My husband and I had a fantastic time learning about food, culture, and language in Flushing, all thanks to Esneider. He could not have been a better guide - funny, fascinating, beyond knowledgeable. He also took us to so many spots that were not only delicious, but tucked just far enough off the beaten path that we likely wouldn’t find them even if we lived in the area. Cannot recommend this tour and Esneider enough!

The tour exceeded expectations with an amazing combination of delicious food and history. Sierra is an enthusiastic, attentive, knowledgeable, and resourceful guide who gave us food for thought. We can’t wait to return to Flushing and take other tours with Culinary Backstreets.

We've done two of the Culinary Backstreet tours in Europe, and were interested to try out one in the US. (Someone else in our group was on her 5th tour with them.) The remarkable thing is that every one is different, but equally interesting and full of great food because they are so rooted in the guides being locals and deeply invested in their locations. Our guide on the Asia in Queens tour, Esneider, was just amazing, both in terms of finding delicious and unusual food (can this be right? 9 different experiences?) in all different kinds of settings, and in telling us about interesting culture, history and other background. I won't tell any more, because the surprises were part of the experience. Already someone we know is planning a birthday trip based on this tour after hearing about our experience. We are hoping to do the other Queens tours sometime soon.