Eating In Translation

Taste Good

At one time Taste Good's kari laksa (now $7.25), with rice noodles, bean sprouts, tofu skins, chicken, shrimp, and half an out-of-place hardboiled egg, rivaled the laksas I've slurped down in Singapore and Penang; the coconut-chili gravy was particularly lip-smacking. The bowlful shown here, however, is a laksa of years past; since a change of ownership, the gravy has fallen back a step or two.

From a subsequent group dinner, the one dish I would recommend without hesitation features sizzling bean curd ($10.95) surrounding a savory pool of minced-pork sauce. The lightly fried bean curd is crispy outside, almost creamy inside.

Taste Good
82-18 45th Ave. (82nd-83rd Sts.), Elmhurst, Queens
718-898-8001

Taste the Tropics

You might want a drop cloth yourself.

Happy Star Bakery

Lai cheong fun, sliced and heaped.

Doma Na Rohu

(This venue is closed.) Grandma slices.

Bangkok Center Grocery

Better from the icebox than not at all.

Koglin Royal Hams

(This venue is closed.) This German-rooted provisioner's housemade ham lard — with onions, apples, herbs, and tiny cubes of schinken, or smoked pork loin — is absolutely decadent atop a crust of bread.

Charles' Country Pan Fried Chicken

(This location is closed, but Charles Gabriel's chicken is available at his restaurant a mile to the south.) Headed for Yankee Stadium? You can walk from the buffet to Babe Ruth Plaza in less than 20 minutes.

The Arepa Lady

Narrow and plump, or wide, flat, and folded, you can't go wrong.

Da Andrea

Tentacles and tubers may seem an unlikely pairing.

Sandy Restaurant

Lech.