Eating In Translation

Delicious Jin

Dongbei hand pies? The proprietors of this stall come from Dalian, a port city on the southern tip of Liaoning province, in northeastern China. (A century ago, one district of today's Dalian was an independent city then called Port Arthur, the namesake of a celebrated restaurant in Manhattan's Chinatown.) Shown, in biteaway view: a purple yam bing, not so sweet as it might appear, and a chive-and-egg pocket. Mine concealed a few baby shrimp, too.

Delicious Jin
13621 Roosevelt Ave. (Main-Union Sts., inside the Landmark Quest Mall, several stalls past Joe's Steam Rice Roll), Flushing, Queens
917-868-9518
www.DeliciousJin.com

BapBap

Celebratory sujeonggwa soft-serve, flavored by gotgam (Korean dried persimmon) and spiced pear.

BapBap
16006 Northern Blvd. (at 160th St., inside New Age Market), Murray Hill, Queens
718-353-3425
www.BapBapNYC.com
Closed Tuesday

Tian Jin Dumpling House

This beef-filled bing is very juicy, and the waxy wrap offers little protection from drips and stains. If you've ever propped yourself against a counter to eat a Philly cheesesteak, why not adopt that posture here? Call it the "Tian Jin lean."

Tian Jin Dumpling House
41-41 Kissena Blvd. (Barclay-Sanford Aves.), Flushing, Queens
212-518-3265
(A takeaway-only successor to a former stall inside the Golden Mall)

Han Shi Bao Zi

Ring bell for service: a socially distant ramp-and-basket bao delivery system. Inevitably these fluffy steamed buns flatten when you take a bite. Mine was filled with vegetables — presaged, on top, by a tiny curl of carrot.

Han Shi Bao Zi
4002 Bowne St. (Roosevelt-41st Aves.), Flushing, Queens
917-687-1789

Tu Jia Jiang Xiang Bing

Jiang xiang bing is a spicy griddled flatbread that's dressed with sesame and scallion, then served in one- or two-bite snippets. Wait for a fresh batch, and get 'em while they're hot!

Tu Jia Jiang Xiang Bing
13621 Roosevelt Ave. (Main-Union Sts., inside the Landmark Quest Mall, three or four stalls past Joe's Steam Rice Roll), Flushing, Queens

Sweet rice ball vendor

This glutinous rice and black bean ball originally appeared on a street vendor's display, one of many along the lively stretch south of the 7 train terminal. Evidently the rice ball, after its skin was filled and then sealed with a bit of leaf, was rolled in whole rice grains, after the fashion of nonpareils. The skin left exposed was still very, very sticky.

Sweet rice ball vendor
Hand cart on the west side of Main St. south of 41st Ave., Flushing, Queens

Curry Leaves

The namesake ingredients in my prawn mee, shrimp and noodles, were accompanied by sliced fish cake, pork, and hardboiled egg; water spinach; and bean sprouts. (Although it's common to combine thick egg noodles and thin rice noodles, I chose just the first.) The foundation of this Malaysian soup is a stock prepared from shrimp heads and shells; these are strained out, and so no visible evidence remains. From the leavings at the bottom of the bowl, however, you do get a sense of the spiciness.

Curry Leaves
13531 40th Rd. (Main St.-Prince St.), Flushing, Queens
718-762-9313

Max & Mina's Ice Cream: Taste Makers

Bruce and Mark Becker of Max & Mina's Ice Cream, in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, have a repertoire of more than 10,000 flavors (not all at once, of course); the current house favorite reflects the shop's wildly diverse decor. Read more on Culinary Backstreets.

Heat Noodle

"Wuhan style cool noodle" was the one menu item whose name (English name, that is) suggested a regional cuisine. I loved the chewiness of the thin noodles, even as I despaired of identifying all the toppings, and I was surprised by the accompanying cup of soup — chilled, lightly sweet mung bean soup. The chef-owner himself does come from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in central China, according to a lady who placed her own order a few minutes later.

She also pointed out that the first item on the menu, "hot dry noodle" (热干面, rè gān miàn) is Wuhan's emblematic dish; her husband "has them every day." On a recent visit, after passing a mandatory temperature check at the food-court entrance and later stripping the takeout trappings from my order, so did I.

Heat Noodle
New World Mall food court, stall 10
136-20 Roosevelt Ave. (Main-Union Sts.), Flushing, Queens
917-908-0908

Henan Flavor

This restaurant serves five varieties of kou wan — literally, "invert bowl," or upend the cooking vessel, over the serving plate. Even when dining in, the practice is not universal, and it certainly would have been unwise at an improvised setting by the roadside. My bowl featured 16 loose-knit pork meatballs in anise-scented broth. A small surcharge added a portion of roughly torn wheat noodles for which the province of Henan, breadbasket of central China, is also famous.

Henan Flavor (aka Henan Fengwei)
136-31 41st Ave. (Main-Union Sts., downstairs), Flushing, Queens
718-762-1818