Eating In Translation

Singapore Chili Crab Festival

Is this the world's messiest national dish? Imagine gnawing on a heavily sauced rack of ribs, then replace the bones with an exoskeleton that serves as a "meat shield" around some of the best tidbits, and you'll have a feel for Singapore chili crab. Once I found myself a seat — two free hands are essential — I needed about half an hour to slurp dry those legs and claws and worry loose most of the remaining crabmeat with a plastic knife and fork. (For a change, I'd also remembered to pinch open the plastic bag containing the cutlery, and my napkin, before I was wrist-deep in sauce.)

This version ($5) was very coconutty, but it needed more chili, and the chicken curry I tried later ($5) was also sweet and mild; the festival organizers may have calibrated the spice level with an eye on potential U.S. tourists. I didn't venture the dry-looking chicken satay or the roti prata, but at the demonstration table I snared a fine sample of kueh dadar, a crepe wrapped around coconut and palm sugar.

Singapore Chili Crab Festival
Center Blvd. near 50th Ave., Long Island City, Queens

Manetta's Ristorante

Accompanied a large group here on short notice after a couple of hours at P.S. 1. Fresh fettuccine alla bolognese ($12) was a fair-sized portion topped (if somewhat sparingly) with a dense, meaty sauce. For dessert, homemade ricotta cheesecake ($5) was pretty good, but the lemony flavor and bits of orange zest distracted from the ricotta. Cappuccino was OK.

No one's food seemed exceptional, but at 5:30 on a Saturday, the staff here handled about 20 of us on 15 minutes' notice and did a terrific job.

Manetta's Ristorante
10-76 Jackson Ave. (49th-50th Aves.), Queens
718-786-6171

Brasil Coffee House

A freshly baked pastel ($1.85) packed a rich blend of chicken and cheese, plus a little mushroom. My "Brazilian scone" ($2.50), roughly the shape of an enlarged hockey puck, sandwiched a thin layer of dulce de leche between two cookies. What little sweetness there was, though, came from the coconut that crusted the rim. Very dry; best washed down with a BCH Media coffee (medium; $2). All the beans here are from Brazil, but the BCH version of coffee — in this case, also foamed with a little half-and-half, the way my server takes it — is "a little stronger than American coffee."

Brasil Coffee House
48-19 Vernon Blvd. (at 49th Ave.), Queens
718-729-5969

Slovak-Czech Varieties

In addition to music, books and magazines, and miscellaneous items for homesick Slavs, this small store also offers an OK selection of packaged sweets, instant soup, baby food, and other edibles from Mittel Europe. Perhaps ten different chocolates with hazelnuts, but nothing that caught my eye. Instead I chose the one homemade item: a slice of apple strudel ($1.50) dusted with confectioner's sugar. Moist and not overly sweet.

Slovak-Czech Varieties
10-59 Jackson Ave. (49th-50th Aves.), Queens
718-752-2093