More from Eat Up! the new food court in Flushing.

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

The Chinese characters below the English “Noodle Time” at booth #20 translate to “Chongqing Noodles” and its menu lists a dozen tempting choices in the “Chongqing Snacks” section – precisely what I was after since tids and bits were the order of the day. Deferring once again to my OCD to make the choice for me, I ordered the first item on the list, “Spiced Meat Roll” in English but the Chinese characters provided more of a clue about what flavor profile to expect: “五香卷”, 5-Spice Roll.

Not only was the seasoning distinctive, but treating the exposed sides of the cut roll to extra time on the grill definitely added to the experience. A cut above, as it were.

From Chongqing in southwest China we travel to the Uyghur Autonomous Region in the northwest. (It’s really not far – only three booths away 😉.) I’ve written extensively about the oppressed Uyghur people who reside in the Xinjiang region and their cuisine. Booth #17, “Uyghur Tandoor Samsa” offers several native dishes and almost all are accompanied by samsa, succulent meat pies filled with lamb, onions and cumin among other spices that are typically baked in a clay oven. Shown here in the wild…

…and domesticated (plated at home).

Let me know if you’d like to see more goodies from the new Eat Up!…or if you’d like to visit it with me first hand on my food court-centric Snacking in Flushing ethnojunket!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤