by Ernest Barteldes
very time people
tell me how expensive it is to have lunch in New York, I think of how
they simply seem not to have been looking hard enough.
Recently, I started a new teaching job in Jackson Heights(Queens).
Once in a while, I have to stay there all day, which leaves me no
option but to eat in the surroundinng area, which makes me shop around a
lot before I decide where to reenergize my body for the rest of the day.
Among my usual concerns are the quality of the food, the cleaniness
of the place, the service and others, but one of the strongest ones is
price. After all, I might be going to a certain place every day, which
means that expensive eateries on a daily basis are certainly out of the
question.
Which bring us to The Rasa Sayang Restaurant, which is not far
from the 74 St/Broadway subway station in Queens, where the 7, E, F and
R trains stop.
This inexpensively-priced eatery was unsurprisingly missed out by The
Village Voice's guide of New York City's cheap eateries, which
makes me wonder how they came up with their results which are all
pricier than the ones I am able to find.
The place is not exactly comfortable - The restaurant is small and
the capacity is limited, but there are enough tables to accomodate their
hungry weekday patrons. On the wall there are copies of articles from
The New York Times, The Daily News and Newsday
reviewing the place.
From what I saw, all of them seemed kind enough to deserve a place on
the wall.
The menu is Malaysian, which is a mixture of Chinese, Indian and
other cuisines. The food is spicy but not too much as to hide the true
flavor from your taste buds.
The dishes, all priced on the 4 - 7 dollar
range (except for the house specials and seasonal seafood dishes that
can be a bit more pricey), have a unique taste that you don't usually
find in other Asian-styled places.
One of the dishes I mostly enjoyed was the Dried Noodles with Shrimp
Wonton, which consists of shrimp dumplings (in paper-thin pastry) in
soup followed by a dish of noodles with a very tasty and mildly spicy
sauce.
Another very interesting dish is the dried curried shrimp, which can
be served on dried noodles or rice.
I ordered the first option, and I wasn't sorry for that. The shrimp
is very tasty and spicy without being too hot, and the noodles are just
the right thing to go with them. For poultry lovers I reccomend the
Ho Fun noodles with shredded chicken and mushrooms, which are
rich and satisfying.
My only disappointment was the Malaysian Salad, which is composed of
cucumber and jicama juliennes, bean sprouts, shrimp crackers and a sauce
that I could not place from taste itself, and no matter how much soy
sauce I added, I couldn't make myself enjoy the dish, even though I
tried very hard to do so.
Malaysian cuisine can be quite a different option, specially in a
neighborhood that is rich with Colombian, Equadorian and other South
American restaurants.
Considering the quality of the food and service, it is certainly
worth a trip just to satisfy your taste buds.
Ernest Barteldes is an ESL, GED and Portuguese teacher. In
addition to that, he is a freelance writer who has been contributing to
the Gazette since September 1999. His work has also been published by
The Staten Island Advance, The Staten Island Register, The SI Muse,The
Downtown Express, Brazzil magazine, GLSSite and other publications. He
lives on Staten Island, NY. He can be reached at
ebarteldes@nycny.net
