Eating In Translation

Lucky Eight

Interesting at the least, delightful at their best.

Hong Fung Bakery

This pancake (60 cents) had an odd glutinous texture, and it was thin on sweet potato flavor.

Hong Fung Bakery
5124 Eighth Ave (51st-52nd Sts.), Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-854-6290

La Guera

In Mexico, arroz con leche ("rice with milk") might be served as a chilled pudding, but it's not uncommon for the cooked rice to be thinned with milk, sweetened with sugar and cinnamon, and offered as a hot beverage. At La Guera, it's dispensed from a large Thermos-like container near the door ($1.50).

Rocco's Calamari

This old-school Italian eatery has Calabrian roots, according to Robert Sietsema (which makes it "practically paisan" to Sicilian, according to the younger Vito Corleone).

3 Guys from Brooklyn

"No samples" was a reasonable sign for the outdoor produce racks; "You eat, you pay" seemed a bit brusque. The loss-prevention vibe pervaded the rest of the market, too. Junasar brand dried golden cherry apples (10 oz.; $3.49) weren't worth the hassle.

3 Guys from Brooklyn
6502 Fort Hamilton Pkwy., Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-748-8340

Tan Thanh

Relative newcomer to the neighborhood, serving banh mi and pho and offering a spread of packaged Vietnamese snacks like this presliced lotus seed paste cake (5 oz.; $1.25). More cakey than pasty.

Tan Thanh
5818 Seventh Ave., Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-439-1690

Pacificana

Even the "simple" dishes have a certain elegance at this expansive Cantonese restaurant.

Yun Nan Flavor Snack

That's quite a snack, especially for $3.75: ground "spicy pork," chopped vegetables (both fresh and preserved, it seemed), and a tangle of thick, toothsome rice noodles. Yunnan province, in southwest China, borders Myanmar and Vietnam, so I wasn't surprised by a prevalent note that was almost more sour than spicy — except for that dab of purplish sauce just above the noodles, applied in a Chinese version of the "fresh pepper?" routine.

Next time I've got to try the version with "coconut skin."

Yun Nan Flavor Snack
774 49th St. (near Eighth Ave.), Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-633-3090

Thanh Da

Custard apples weren't available on this visit; a very thick durian milkshake ($2.50) was its customary pungent self. Another time, at the smaller, Eighth Ave. outlet, banana-peanut-sesame candies (10.5 oz.; $1.75) were compact, chewy, and tart.

Thanh Da
6008 Seventh Ave., Sunset Park, Brooklyn
(Also at 5624 Eighth Ave.; entrance on 57th St.)
718-492-3253

Lan Zhou Hand Pull Noodle

There's the beef. They call this beef stew in sauce ($4.50); lots of it, some tending toward the stringy or pleasantly chewy and all of it good. Piled underneath, the lamian ("pulled noodles" freshly made just behind the counter) were firm-textured but pliable. Friendly staff.

Lan Zhou Hand Pull Noodle
5924 Eighth Ave., Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-492-7568

Hong Kong Supermarket

Sweet rice banana candies (6 oz.; $1.25) are marshmallow light, if droopy; though the banana "flavoring" tastes phony, they're addictive. Many other curiosities beg a look; I may never take a live turtle or bullfrog into the kitchen, but charcuterie prepared from duck and quail deserve a try.

A plum drink (30.43 fl. oz.; $1.79), from Taiwan, had many flavors competing for attention — dried hawthorne, dried orange peel, liquorice, osmanthus, honey, and sugarcane — though prune predominated.

Yeo's kaya (320 g.; 99 cents), from Malaysia, is a pandan-flavored coconut spread that's also a traditional toast-topper in Singapore. The pandan — a leaf widely used in Southeast Asian cuisine — gives it a greenish cast and moderates what otherwise would be an overly cloying flavor.

Hong Kong Supermarket
37-11 Main St., Flushing, Queens
(one of many locations)
718-539-6868

Ba Xuyen

A jackfruit milkshake ($2.50) had a mild, vaguely tropical flavor, perhaps like pineapple without the acidity. This Vietnamese snack shop is a good place to rest your feet for a while, perhaps with a banh mi, too.

Ba Xuyen
4222 Eighth Ave., Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-633-6601

Kai Feng Fu Dumplings

The beef pancake isn't a patch on the version at Dumpling House on Eldridge St.; all it offers is beef and a little hot sauce.

Kai Feng Fu Dumplings
4801 Eighth Ave., Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-437-3542